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Malaysian airliner feared lost..

The timeline still remains fuzzy and the occurrence of events in what order is pretty important to having some idea of what happened. Right now indications seem to be that left-turn and the reprogramming of the flight computer came BEFORE the handoff call to ATC. Again, in the "gap" between controllers which would be potentially a good time to "go missing."

So if this is the case it could rule out the possibility of the diversions being due to an emergency because if that were the case then the plane would have had opportunity to give its intentions and any problems to ATC so help and aide could have been provided.

Still a lot of questions in all of this and, really, the timeline could be the key to what happened. If the turn happened AFTER the last contact with ATC then the loss of the transponder, ACARS and turn could all be due to some-kind-of onboard emergency that necessitated some-kind-of diversion to the nearest capable airport. (The scenario proposed in the Wired article above.)

If the turn happened BEFORE the last contact with ATC and it was around this time the transponder and ACARS systems were lost the emergency scenario seems less likely given that the pilots had the ability to contact the ground to let them know of the emergency. Either verbally or by putting the emergency code into the transponder, or both.

Still and again a lot of questions.
 
BillJ said:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

An interesting theory from a pilots point-of-view.
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I don't understand how that's consistent with the satellite ping map. If it went west to reach that airport, and kept going on that course once everyone died because the autopilot was flying, how does it reach either of the arcs in this map 6 hours later?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_last_ping_corridors.jpg

Here's more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t...ellow_s_theory_about_a_fire_and_langkawi.html
 
I'll go ahead and disagree with Trekker4747 on this. Speculation is not fine. We have reached the point where the pilot of the plane is being defamed as a @!*&-ing terrorist and there is in fact no indication at all in any way shape or form that there's anything at issue other than an accident and crash. The frenzy itself is sickening at this point, and the attempts to stoke it (by the Malaysian government in particular) even moreso.
 
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Yeah, as if the families are not going through enough with the likely loss of their loved ones, the families of the pilots now have to contend with them being written off as terrorists or hijackers without a shred of concrete evidence to that effect. I don't begrudge law enforcement for pursuing that angle, because they have to follow through on all plausible leads, but the rampant assumptions about the pilots being made in the media are pretty irresponsible and callous until there's actually some hard evidence that supports the theory.
 
Police in the Maldives are investigating claims by natives on the remote southern island of Kuda Huvadhoo that they had spotted a large white aircraft with red stripes flying low over their island on the day MH370 went missing. It might turn out to be a red herring but the description matches Malaysian airlines aircraft livery. It could also mean it was a regular scheduled Malaysian airlines flight to the Maldives that the natives saw.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/maldives-police-probe-reports-mh370-sighting-042515467.html




 
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Locutus of Bored said:
Yeah, as if the families are not going through enough with the likely loss of their loved ones, the families of the pilots now have to contend with them being written off as terrorists or hijackers without a shred of concrete evidence to that effect. I don't begrudge law enforcement for pursuing that angle, because they have to follow through on all plausible leads, but the rampant assumptions about the pilots being made in the media are pretty irresponsible and callous until there's actually some hard evidence that supports the theory.
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I can't say I've seen any news organization call the pilots terrorists, all they've been saying is that their homes were searched and their being looked at with the most scrutiny since it seems the course changes made by the plane had to be done by someone with experience/knew what they were doing and, well, they we're the ones in control of the plane.

But I can't say I've seen anything yet, at least by CNN, that the pilots were terrorists. Even the report someone shared a couple days ago about the pilot being a member of some radical organization I never saw on CNN.
 
Seems the Maldives sighting has been proven untrue, according to Yahoo Malaysia. Also seems there was no dangerous cargo on board. China says it may have had short sighting on its radar and has sent nine ships to search the waters in the Bay of Bengal and west of Indonesia.

This is quite good page for live updates:
http://my.news.yahoo.com/mas-aircraft-goes-missing--says-airline-023820132.html

I have to say that the suffering of the relatives of the missing passengers is truly heartbreaking to see, something that has been somewhat sidelined by the tech stuff and all the conspiracy theories out there. Many seem to forget that the pilots and other crew members on that flight also have families and friends..and reading all the accusations, that so far have not been proven, must just add to their agony.
 
Trekker4747 said:
Locutus of Bored said:
Yeah, as if the families are not going through enough with the likely loss of their loved ones, the families of the pilots now have to contend with them being written off as terrorists or hijackers without a shred of concrete evidence to that effect. I don't begrudge law enforcement for pursuing that angle, because they have to follow through on all plausible leads, but the rampant assumptions about the pilots being made in the media are pretty irresponsible and callous until there's actually some hard evidence that supports the theory.
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I can't say I've seen any news organization call the pilots terrorists, all they've been saying is that their homes were searched and their being looked at with the most scrutiny since it seems the course changes made by the plane had to be done by someone with experience/knew what they were doing and, well, they we're the ones in control of the plane.

But I can't say I've seen anything yet, at least by CNN, that the pilots were terrorists. Even the report someone shared a couple days ago about the pilot being a member of some radical organization I never saw on CNN.
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Well, it might help if you consulted more sources besides CNN, because I've see this particular narrative all over the place.

One thing that's come out as part of this fiasco is that India and Thailand apparently don't monitor their radar at night. India in particular had their military radar switched off at the time the plane might have been in range of it, so they have no idea if it was ever within their radar range or not. I suppose China should find that pretty comforting for whenever they want to do naval maneuvers. Thailand's radar was on but evidently no one was watching it, because their records show an unidentified blip on their southern airspace that no one bothered doing anything about.

This investigation hasn't been very illuminating in terms of what happened to this flight, but it's sure exposed a lot of incompetence, blind spots, and lackadaisical security and safety procedures throughout southeast Asia.
 
BigJake said:
I'll go ahead and disagree with Trekker4747 on this. Speculation is not fine. We have reached the point where the pilot of the plane is being defamed as a @!*&-ing terrorist and there is in fact no indication at all in any way shape or form that there's anything at issue other than an accident and crash. The frenzy itself is sickening at this point, and the attempts to stoke it (by the Malaysian government in particular) even moreso.
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+1
 
Starting to feel like a religious debate; in the lack of definitive proof of what happened, people seem perfectly content to make up whatever nonsense fits their level of inner conspiracy theorist. And despite things like the link above, where experienced pilots that have flown that type of aircraft in that area give their opinions about how things could have likely played out (without having to invent any crazy narratives), people still feel like their crazy theory is just as valid.

just because we didn't video record the Big Bang doesn't make "a wizard did it" an equally valid theory. When there are much easier ways to explain what happened to the plane, terrorists, hijackings, aliens, meteors, industrial espionage, landing the plane like a boat, landing at a busy airport and having no one notice, or repainting and pretending to be another plane are NOT just as valid as the opinions of people with actual knowledge and experience in the subject...
 
Scout101 said:
When there are much easier ways to explain what happened to the plane, terrorists, hijackings, aliens, meteors, industrial espionage, landing the plane like a boat, landing at a busy airport and having no one notice, or repainting and pretending to be another plane are NOT just as valid as the opinions of people with actual knowledge and experience in the subject...
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I agree wholeheartedly, and while I have mentioned a couple of odd possibilities in this thread, I in no way lay claim to even close to equal authority in laying those out to the people who are actually being paid to investigate this matter by governments/relatives/the airline. But I would hope everyone realizes that WE are just *making conversation* in this thread. We're almost certainly not going to find the missing plane here, nor solve world hunger or bring about world peace. What we're doing is the equivalent of bar chat, and no one is going to take anyone here's theory about repainting the plane any more seriously than a theory that they slipped into a parallel universe or were consumed by a briefly extant black hole. At least, they shouldn't be, and I would certainly hope that those actually responsible for investigation are taking their investigations in rough order from most likely to least likely - which would put those down the list quite a bit, to say the least. ;)

That said, when *the press*, which has a responsibility to the public to make their best effort to accurately report on matters, mistakes these sorts of Internet BS sessions as a legitimate source for news, either through laziness or because they prefer to ignore what is proper to put out a sensational story that will bring them more ad revenue, then that is truly disgusting.

I've only been watching the Beeb on this matter, myself. So far, I haven't heard any mention of terrorist pilots, repainted planes, OR bigfoot involvement from them. :techman:
 
Scout101 said:
Starting to feel like a religious debate; in the lack of definitive proof of what happened, people seem perfectly content to make up whatever nonsense fits their level of inner conspiracy theorist.
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The passengers are probably gathered around the great baggage carousel in the sky.

Hrm... The flight included Chinese, Muslims, and Christians. Do any of the world religions include the Great Baggage Carousel as part of their theology?

Also, it seems the pilot flew the plane to 45,000 feet, probably to kill the passengers by decompressing the cabin and turning off the oxygen system. But that won't kill those emphysema codgers who have their own carry-on oxygen units. So at some point the geezers probably stormed up to the cockpit door, banging on it with their walkers. Things probably got ugly from there.

Note to self: Buy one of those hip-mounted LOX rigs.
 
gturner said:
Hrm... The flight included Chinese, Muslims, and Christians. Do any of the world religions include the Great Baggage Carousel as part of their theology?
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A Great Baggage Carousel sounds like it could be involved somehow in the Celestial Bureaucracy that some Chinese believe/believed in. ;)
 
:facepalm:

And he said "it took us 100 years to find the Titanic," ummmmmm 100 years would have been 2012. The Titanic was found in the 1980s some 70 yeaes after the sinking. God, I hate Fox news.
 
The Australian PM has announced that two objects spotted in the southern Indian Ocean might be part of the plane. Aircraft from the Australian Air Force have been dispatched to investigate.
 
BillJ said:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

An interesting theory from a pilots point-of-view.
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Mr. Goodfellow's theory, while appealingly simple and seemingly plausible, has a few holes in it.

Link

Quoted from the linked article:
Goodfellow’s account is emotionally compelling, and it is based on some of the most important facts that have been established so far. And it is simple — to a fault. Take other major findings of the investigation into account, and Goodfellow’s theory falls apart. For one thing, while it’s true that MH370 did turn toward Langkawi and wound up overflying it, whoever was at the controls continued to maneuver after that point as well, turning sharply right at VAMPI waypoint, then left again at GIVAL. Such vigorous navigating would have been impossible for unconscious men.

Goodfellow’s theory fails further when one remembers the electronic ping detected by the Inmarsat satellite at 8:11 on the morning of March 8. According to analysis provided by the Malaysian and United States governments, the pings narrowed the location of MH370 at that moment to one of two arcs, one in Central Asia and the other in the southern Indian Ocean. As MH370 flew from its original course toward Langkawi, it was headed toward neither. Without human intervention — which would go against Goodfellow’s theory — it simply could not have reached the position we know it attained at 8:11 a.m.

To make a good theory, Einstein is said to have asserted, “everything should be kept as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Unfortunately, Christopher Goodfellow’s wildly popular theory errs on the side of too much elegance.
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Captrek said:
And Jim Garrow:
The Story (or distraction)

So let me get this straight. A fly by wire capable jet goes missing. It is on one course, turns and goes in almost the opposite direction on a heading which would take it to the US base at Diego Garcia. . . .
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Jesus Christ on rollerskates. This guy's tinfoil hat is bigger than Speedy Gonzales' sombrero.

And he doesn't even know what "fly by wire" means. He's apparently confusing it with "flying by remote control."
 
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