News Contact lost with 777-200ER of Malaysia Airlines

[MaverickSawyer]

That IS bizarre... Looks like things just got a hell of a lot harder.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Note, that this is not solid information, there are MANY weasel words in it to suggest that the source of the information is not reliable. I recommend letting this information cook for a day, to see how it develops.

Well of course, but I would slightly trust this more than many of the debris-seeing reports, right?

And not every single theory associated with this information needs to involve some malignant scenario: maybe a cockpit fire like this one happened in mid-air damaged the cockpit systems enough AND caused depressurization - such that the plane flew with no-one at the controls for hours until it ran out of fuel and crashes (a la one 737 that did that in Greece in 2005).

But as you said, let's see if there's any truth about this report.....

 

[Urwumpe]

That IS bizarre... Looks like things just got a hell of a lot harder.

Actually not, since the ACARS data also contains position information (based on the navigation system of the aircraft).

It is possible that the investigators might know more about the events. The question is just: Which information is really out there....

 

[garyw]

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have flown on for four hours after vanishing from radar screens, based on engine data, according to sources close to a US investigation of the incident.

Sources close to the investigation? What, like the chief investigators wife? Intriguing information but unsubstantiated at this time.

If true, then my Tom Clancy theories just got a lot more possible and I'm sure some hollywood writer is already working on the script.

Edit: And now we have this:

WSJ news about #mH370 is inaccurate says Minister Hishamuddin

 

[Urwumpe]

How unexpected... :facepalm:

And what has minister Hishamuddin to say about the investigation anyway... oh yes, Minister of Defense and acting Minister of Transport. Of course, he has to report something.

 

[N_Molson]

Mh. The more I think to it, the more I suspect something like rapid decompression at high altitude, near U-turn at maximum descent rate under autopilot, then automated flight under radar cover until the fuel runs out somewhere over the Indian ocean. For some reason, the crew would have noticed hypoxia too late and only had time to engage the AP manoeuver. There was the "Helios" flight that encountered that kind of tragic fate near Athens.

 

[garyw]

Possible but on the 777 you'd get alerts at 7,000ft altitude, Warnings on the displays about cabin altitude and verbal call outs. It is pretty much impossible to miss.

 

[statickid]

Well, to be fair, if you fly planes all Willy nilly and are unresponsive/noncompliant on the radio, it can be expected that your plane will be indiscriminately shot down. I think this will be true in any part of the world.

 

[kamaz]

Mh. The more I think to it, the more I suspect something like rapid decompression at high altitude, near U-turn at maximum descent rate under autopilot, then automated flight under radar cover until the fuel runs out somewhere over the Indian ocean.

Errr... how do you get hypoxia if you're low enough to be under the radar?

 

[Urwumpe]

Errr... how do you get hypoxia if you're low enough to be under the radar?

Flying a 777-200ER under 200 ft takes your breath away.

 

[garyw]

The Malaysian authorities are at it again.

Chinese satellite images that were said to show debris from a missing Malaysian airliner were released by mistake, Malaysia's transport minister says.

Hishammuddin Hussein also denied a US report that the Boeing 777 might have flown for hours after contact with air traffic control was lost.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing late on Friday, with 239 passengers and crew on board.

The minister said the disappearance of the plane was unprecedented.

Mr Hussein told reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport that the Chinese embassy in the Malaysian capital had said the satellite images were released by mistake and "did not show any debris from MH370".

The grainy satellite images were released by China's State Administration of Science on Wednesday.

Mr Hussein also denied a report in the Wall Street Journal that the plane had sent engine data to the ground for more than four hours after it lost contact with air traffic control.

He said that his team had spoken to Malaysian Airlines and Rolls-Royce, the engine's manufacturers, who both said the report was "inaccurate".

"The last transmission from the aircraft was at 01:07 which indicated that everything was normal," Mr Hussein said.

He added that efforts to locate the aircraft were ongoing, promising to "spare nothing in our efforts to find MH370".

"There are currently 43 ships and 40 aircraft searching the South China Sea and Straits of Malacca," he said.

In a separate press conference in Vietnam, an air traffic official said five ships and three aircraft had been sent on Thursday to the area indicated by the Chinese satellite images but had found nothing.

The BBC's Nga Pham in Vietnam says the official declined to answer a question on whether he was frustrated with Malaysia's communication and co-ordination, referring the matter to the foreign ministry.

He said Vietnam would continue to search for the plane on Friday.

 

[steph]

And here I am ruining the thread with SF scenarios...
The hijacking for later use idea seems interesting, albeit it's way out in the 007 domain.
Let's assume a worst case scenario...suppose someone intends a nuclear attack on a city, but has problems scaling down the bomb or has doubts that it would pass undetected by the authorities in the targeted country. Wouldn't it be easier to load it on a plane and just fly it over there? Perhaps having an airburst might increase the damage.
Also, I see North Korea is barely reachable on some range maps, though inconsistent with the southern turn. Pakistan maybe? :lol:
However, I agree that the most likely outcome unfortunately is that it crashed somewhere. The aforementioned hijacking scenario is highly unrealistic and should only be taken as a "what-if".
I'm a bit annoyed by the contradicting info coming from news sources though, as well as the almost total lack of progress, days after the crash.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

How unexpected... :facepalm:

And what has minister Hishamuddin to say about the investigation anyway... oh yes, Minister of Defense and acting Minister of Transport. Of course, he has to report something.

And now this:

U.S. officials have an "indication" the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner may have crashed in the Indian Ocean and is moving the USS Kidd to the area to begin searching.

It will take another 24 hours to move the ship into position, a senior Pentagon official told ABC News.

"We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean," the senior official said.

The official said there were indications that the plane flew four or five hours after disappearing from radar and that they believe it went into the water.

The U.S. action came hours after Malaysian officials said they had extended their search into the Andaman Sea and had requested help from India in the search for the missing plane and its 239 passengers.

........

 

[Screamer7]

Well, to be fair, if you fly planes all Willy nilly and are unresponsive/noncompliant on the radio, it can be expected that your plane will be indiscriminately shot down. I think this will be true in any part of the world.

I think you may be on to something.
Why all this conflicted reports and denials.
Something really sinister is going on here.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. In fact I dislike them very much.
But this incident let me think in some way's that I'd never thought possible!

Maybe it just crashed and nobody can find it or maybe there is something more to this.......

Anyway, it's the most chaotic search and rescue operation I've ever saw.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

With all the conflicted information that's being released to the public, and apparently not much to go on until that ACARS data popped up, it's not surprising how scrambled things have been...

 

[Urwumpe]

Why all this conflicted reports and denials.
Something really sinister is going on here.

Rule 0x25 of Software Development: Never attribute something to malice, if incompetence is not yet ruled out.

 

[statickid]

MODIS is of course no help, there is a swath gap there on this day

Modis subsets

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

MODIS is of course no help, there is a swath gap there on this day

Modis subsets

Latest reports put the crash site more likely at the Straits of Malacca - Andaman Sea, which is shown in your satellite photo. :tiphat:

 

[Artlav]

MODIS is of course no help, there is a swath gap there on this day

Good luck spotting debris on a 250m per pixel image...

 

[statickid]

not debris, i was thinking of a smoke plume. You can see smoke plumes very easily on MODIS.

more unfortunately, the air quality has to be good, and there looks to be tons of smoke from countless other fires on nearby land. Of course the wreckage would have to be floating and smoldering to make such a visible plume but it's not impossible

---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:45 AM ----------

I must admit that if there were such a plume it would have been spotted very easily from the search crews.