News Contact lost with 777-200ER of Malaysia Airlines

[Urwumpe]

I don't agree there. Nothing human on this planet is so serious, that you can't make jokes about it.

Not everybody might be laughing right now, and some jokes are really bad. But often you also have the good ones that make it really hard to decide if you should laugh or if you should cry. And also, you should remember: Making jokes about something bad is also a way for many to bear their ordeal. There are people who lost a leg and make jokes about it, to not get pulled deep into the depression.

 

[garyw]

This is getting interesting:

Officials 'convinced' two communications systems on missing jet were deliberately shut off 14-minutes apart as it emerges aircraft DID keep 'pinging' for hours after vanishing at 35,000 ft

Interesting? it's getting crazy. We are certainly well into Tom Clancy mystery novel territory now.

So, It seems that the reason the plane hasn't been found is because it's not there. Could we be looking at a pressurisation problem? I still discount it because of the amount of alerts.
Could we be looking at an on board fire? Again, unlikely due to how the fire suppression systems work.

In other news:

China’s biggest telecom operator, China Mobile, attempted to locate some of the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by testing whether their cellphones were connected to mobile networks but the carrier wasn’t able to locate any of them, a company executive said.

The tracking of passengers’ mobile phones began shortly after the Boeing 777 disappeared early Saturday en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the executive, who declined to be named, said Thursday. The telecom carrier, with more than 770 million subscribers, is the world’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers. According to a passenger list released by Malaysia Airlines, just over half of the 227 passengers on the flight were Chinese citizens.

The executive said China Mobile began the test at the request of family members of some of the passengers that used the carrier’s services as well as the Chinese government. He said none of the mobile phones were connected to a mobile network.

“There are certain limitations to our mobile networks. We won’t be able to track the mobile users if users switched off their phones or the plane is in the air above 10,000 meters or in the deep ocean,” said the executive.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03...ellphones-on-missing-malaysia-plane/?mod=e2tw

and

Meanwhile, a Chinese research institute on Friday said it had found evidence of a "sea floor event" some 90 minutes after the plane disappeared.

The seismology research group at the University of Science and Technology of China said it happened 116 km north-east of the last point of contact of the plane, in an area not known for seismic activity, according to state media.

The research group said the vibrations could have been caused by the plane plunging into the sea.

however, that doesn't tally with two reports of the plane being in the air for 4-5 additional hours.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26572172

I don't agree there. Nothing human on this planet is so serious, that you can't make jokes about it.

I agree. I posted the 'missing' photo because I found it amusing and in the hope that it would bring a few smiles. I would not have done so if there had been anyone on here who was involved or affected by this incident. I truly hope that the plane is found and that everyone is alive but I also think that the odd bit of humour cannot hurt.

 

[TMac3000]

What I'd like to know is, if the plane was not shot down or destroyed, then who might have it? It makes no sense for terrorists or drug dealers to go to the trouble of highjacking or stealing a plane full of passengers, for long term use, when they could just buy one on the black market. And what would you do with the passengers? Shoot them all and put them in a mass grave?

 

[Urwumpe]

What I'd like to know is, if the plane was not shot down or destroyed, then who might have it? It makes no sense for terrorists or drug dealers to go to the trouble of highjacking or stealing a plane full of passengers, for long term use, when they could just buy one on the black market. And what would you do with the passengers? Shoot them all and put them in a mass grave?

It would only make sense for some obscure "9/11 reloaded" scenario. But this plot has so many holes that you really have to wonder if it is a realistic option at all. Maybe an option for the first 30 minutes after disappearance, but no option 6 days after the loss of signal.

You can be sure, that the plane crashed somewhere far away from civilization - this has the lowest conflicts with the data. Only the why can't be explained. Why did it leave its route? Why has communications and transponder been disabled? Who was really flying this plane?

Even a suicide scenario would be thinkable - but there is no indication at all, that any of the pilots had been depressed or left a suicide note.

The latest information: According to Reuters, the plane was intentionally steered west and was really the plane that the military detected in the Andaman Sea. It flew a course that followed navigational fixes, so it was either controlled by a pilot or by an autopilot. The US investigation team seems to know position, altitude and velocity of the plane for 5 hours after take-off and the Malaysian officials are now cooperating closer with the USA to find the plane in the Indian Ocean.

Reports of a Chinese source, that a seismic event that represents an aircraft crash in the Gulf of Thailand (as doubtful as they had been by description), are completely wrong.

 

[TMac3000]

I know, right? This is starting to feel like the opening episode of "Lost":hmm:

 

[garyw]

It would only make sense for some obscure "9/11 reloaded" scenario. But this plot has so many holes that you really have to wonder if it is a realistic option at all. Maybe an option for the first 30 minutes after disappearance, but no option 6 days after the loss of signal.

Possibly, but they'd have to fuel it and then fly it to it's target. That is going to take some organisation.

You can be sure, that the plane crashed somewhere far away from civilization - this has the lowest conflicts with the data. Only the why can't be explained. Why did it leave its route? Why has communications and transponder been disabled? Who was really flying this plane?

Agreed. I think we are looking at a hijacking where the hijackers thought the plane had more range than it did and so told the pilot to fly to somewhere and it ran out of fuel en-route and off course. five hours endurance would be about right for Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

 

[Urwumpe]

Possibly, but they'd have to fuel it and then fly it to it's target. That is going to take some organisation.

Also it requires a runway close to your potential target that is long enough for such a large aircraft, but also a runway far enough away from it to not have pictures of your stolen aircraft on Twitter. And you need two 777 pilots who you can trust to not sabotage your mission.

 

[garyw]

You can forgo the runway near the target if you are not planning on landing but you're right that any place this 777 shows up will draw attention especially if its the sort of place that doesn't have anything bigger than a cessna under normal operations.

 

[Urwumpe]

You can forgo the runway near the target if you are not planning on landing but you're right that any place this 777 shows up will draw attention especially if its the sort of place that doesn't have anything bigger than a cessna under normal operations.

Well, if it was supposed to fly directly somewhere and crash there, we would know it already.

If it was supposed to land somewhere and wait for being used as 9/11 cruise missile special, you would use a runway that is not at the maximum distance that the plane can travel to the target: The more fuel you have left, the better.

But really: That nothing of the plane appeared on Twitter, Facebook or planespotter pages is a clear hint that it did not land somewhere on this planet.

 

[garyw]

If it was supposed to land somewhere and wait for being used as 9/11 cruise missile special, you would use a runway that is not at the maximum distance that the plane can travel to the target: The more fuel you have left, the better

True enough. The only place I know of where a plane can land and have no pictures taken of it is Area 51 and I doubt it ended up there!

I'm leaning more towards the hijacking and off course fuel exhaustion crash.

 

[N_Molson]

If it was supposed to land somewhere and wait for being used as 9/11 cruise missile special, you would use a runway that is not at the maximum distance that the plane can travel to the target: The more fuel you have left, the better.

Yes, and be sure that every landstrip known to be or to have been a runway has been watched over and over by "gold-plated Delta 4 Heavy lanched" military satellites :yes:

Or their russian counterparts that haven't been buried into the ground by the Proton-M

 

[Artlav]

every landstrip known to be or to have been a runway has been watched over and over by "gold-plated Delta 4 Heavy lanched" military satellites

I'm not so sure this event is important enough to distract spy satellites from staring at the clouds over Moscow...

 

[RGClark]

Quote:
China’s biggest telecom operator, China Mobile, attempted to locate some of the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by testing whether their cellphones were connected to mobile networks but the carrier wasn’t able to locate any of them, a company executive said.

The tracking of passengers’ mobile phones began shortly after the Boeing 777 disappeared early Saturday en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the executive, who declined to be named, said Thursday. The telecom carrier, with more than 770 million subscribers, is the world’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers. According to a passenger list released by Malaysia Airlines, just over half of the 227 passengers on the flight were Chinese citizens.
The executive said China Mobile began the test at the request of family members of some of the passengers that used the carrier’s services as well as the Chinese government. He said none of the mobile phones were connected to a mobile network.
“There are certain limitations to our mobile networks. We won’t be able to track the mobile users if users switched off their phones or the plane is in the air above 10,000 meters or in the deep ocean,” said the executive.​

​

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03...ellphones-on-missing-malaysia-plane/?mod=e2tw



Both Android phones and Iphones offer services where you can track your phone even if it is turned off, useful if your phone is lost or stolen. But you have to activate the service on your phone first. For over two hundred people on the plane I would think at least one person would have had the service activated.

Bob Clark

 

[Urwumpe]

Both Android phones and Iphones offer services where you can track your phone even if it is turned off, useful if your phone is lost or stolen. But you have to activate the service on your phone first. For over two hundred people on the plane I would think at least one person would have had the service activated.

Mobile phones have hardly more range than 30 km to the next base station. On the ocean, you can forget it. Also most airlines require you to switch the mobile phone into an aircraft mode, in which all EM emissions are inhibited.

 

[ISProgram]

Possibly, but they'd have to fuel it and then fly it to it's target. That is going to take some organisation.



Agreed. I think we are looking at a hijacking where the hijackers thought the plane had more range than it did and so told the pilot to fly to somewhere and it ran out of fuel en-route and off course. five hours endurance would be about right for Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

What I'd like to know is, if the plane was not shot down or destroyed, then who might have it? It makes no sense for terrorists or drug dealers to go to the trouble of highjacking or stealing a plane full of passengers, for long term use, when they could just buy one on the black market. And what would you do with the passengers? Shoot them all and put them in a mass grave?

Almost like [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961"]Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961[/ame]...

 

[garyw]

Yes, that's what I am thinking. The captain of that flight did what he could to stay near the coastline which is why there was no mystery as to where it ended up. In this case it seems that they were over the Indian Ocean when the fuel gave out.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes, that's what I am thinking. The captain of that flight did what he could to stay near the coastline which is why there was no mystery as to where it ended up. In this case it seems that they were over the Indian Ocean when the fuel gave out.

Not sure there... the last position that is observed by ground radar is between two normal waypoints. It could also be that he was following an alternative route, like a secondary flight plan. Maybe he also choosed such routes, for improving chances to be detected despite the disabled transponder.

 

[kamaz]

But really: That nothing of the plane appeared on Twitter, Facebook or planespotter pages is a clear hint that it did not land somewhere on this planet.

That depends. If you are not interested in getting the plane up again (i.e. you want something that is in the cargo bay) then your choice of landing sites greatly increases. Including locations that are unlikely to have spotters.

 

[MattBaker]

Based on the reports Urwumpe mentioned earlier there's this map.

Note: It's entirely unknown at this point if this aircraft was MH370, a thunderbird or the Enterprise on atmospheric flight.

Although it would explain why they didn't find it yet. They're not looking at the right place.

 

[palebluevoice]

I'll add my crazy conspiracy theory to the mix.

The plane is still in the air. The passengers are all in on it--drug smugglers. They've been rendezvousing in the air with old air to air refueling planes--that have also been filling the planes up with cocaine. Then they just airdrop cute little boxes of cocaine to their clients.

(No, I don't actually believe this)