Malaysia Airlines 'loses contact with plane' (and search effort updates)

[Albert]

at the current state of media feeding frenzy, anyone who's actually found the plane will be blamed for crashing / hijacking / stealing / joy-riding / twerking it.

[webeagle12]

From what I've read, there are thousands of 777's in use.

 

And other jets use the ACARS system.

  

News networks have no gd clue what they saying most of the time. They even can't get terminology right most of the time.

 

ACARS system was disabled way before that. The last ACARS report was transmitted at 1:07am (climbing report to Rolls Royce). Next report was due at 1:37am (cruise report) but that never happen. There 2 way to disable ACARS, cockpit or E/E bay. There is a way to disable how ACARS communicates from cockpit, SATCOM, HF or VHF. If you disable all options (through software), then there is no way for ACARS to upload it's data. ACARS is just a software ( or like app in your phone)

 

SATCOM on other hand is an actual hardware that is set up sends/receives info from satellite. Each SATCOM box in a plane sure have some kind of "serial number"  so satellite knows who it's connecting to.

 

Easiest way to see this is ACARS = app on you phone, and SATCOM= your actuall phone ( hardware).

[Praetor]

the hijacking theory, while really an elaborated plan, it seems kind of odd that it's taking that much time to anyone see and conclusion of it; if they wanted to use the plane as a weapon then they should have done that in the first hours, not more than a week later (the surprise factor is gone by now). so what gives? they are gonna ask for a ransom? a week later??

[COKid]

On the pilot suicide theory: If the pilots reduced speed enough before hitting the water, would the plane even break apart? I suppose it would depend on the angle. But theoretically, couldn't they have simply done a soft landing and then sunk? Thus no debris field. I just can't see how with all the satellites up there that no one has found a debris field.

 

Another question for you guys. Once in the water, would the emergency doors open? Or not, because of the water pressure? I forget if those doors open in or out.

[SuperJediMedia]

No debris would be very unlikely.

After 11 days they say this?

 

FOX News reports that Maldives islanders say they saw a low flying plane like MH370 on March 8th.

 

[Hum]

Fishermen from this village believe they may have seen the missing Malaysia Airlines flight on the night it disappeared flying low over the Gulf of Thailand.

 

Azid Ibrahim, Rahim Mamat and six other men left Kota Bharu in northern Malaysia for tuna fishing that night and were 10 miles out at sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, an area that would have been in the plane's initial flight path. Suddenly a plane came thundering overhead, louder and lower than Ibrahim had ever seen. The plane was heading west, Ibrahim said. Mamat agrees with what they saw.

It's not clear whether what they saw was flight MH370 or whether it is the latest in a string of false leads in the search for the missing plane, but if true it would suggest that the plane may have flown low to avoid radar, what is known as "terrain masking."

The fishing boat returned to Kota Bharu in the morning and when they heard about the plane's disappearance they reported what they saw to the local police.

 

Kota Bharu is also the home town of the plane's young co-pilot Fariq Hamid.

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/fishermen-plane-sighting-tip-false-lead-mh130-hunt-150830722--abc-news-topstories.html?vp=1

[Hum]

An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet wearing a T-shirt with a 'Democracy is Dead' slogan as it has been revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.

 

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a 'fanatical' supporter of the country's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.

 

It has also been revealed that the pilot's wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.

more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html#ixzz2wOsCwx18

[watkinsx2]

Daily Mail is not a credible source.

[Clirion]

Daily Mail is not a credible source.

I heard the same thing from ABC Radio yesterday.  I think this is a theory that is flying around more than the Daily Mail.  It seems to be a theory that is gaining traction.

[bonalste]

On the pilot suicide theory: If the pilots reduced speed enough before hitting the water, would the plane even break apart? I suppose it would depend on the angle. But theoretically, couldn't they have simply done a soft landing and then sunk? Thus no debris field. I just can't see how with all the satellites up there that no one has found a debris field.

Another question for you guys. Once in the water, would the emergency doors open? Or not, because of the water pressure? I forget if those doors open in or out.

For opening the doors, they open both inwards and outwards - initially they pull inwards in order to make it so that external differential pressure keeps them from being able to be opened at altitude, then they swing slightly to the side and push outwards. Underwater you might have difficulty, but the hydraulic emergency system which is armed during the taxi out and disarmed upon reaching the gate, would have assisted with that (it's very forceful).

As for whether the plane would breakup on impact, probably. The Hudson aircraft didn't, but this was in a river with very few waves. They were extremely lucky that the weather and river were on their side. In the ocean, it's a different matter and waves are usually fairly high. We do have training to mitigate their effects to some degree, and give us the best chance of success at a water landing (.called 'ditching'), but it is extremely difficult. Look at Ethiopian Flight 961 - this was a slow, controlled glide without power onto the surface of a fairly benign sea in good weather by an experienced crew. A lot of people survived (but died when they inflated their life jackets inside the aircraft - something you should never do) but the aircraft itself was torn apart.

[JJ_]

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a press conference that the Malaysian government was "not at liberty" to release the information.

"I can confirm that we have received some radar data," he said. "But we are not at liberty to release information from other countries.

 

Read more

 

The assumption of the authorities is that the plane flew in the southern corridor so it could only have been Australian's who provided the new radar data, talk about the blinding obvious!

[webeagle12]

 

An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet wearing a T-shirt with a 'Democracy is Dead' slogan as it has been revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.

 

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a 'fanatical' supporter of the country's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.

 

It has also been revealed that the pilot's wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.

more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html#ixzz2wOsCwx18

 

 

Yup once again Daily Mail makes my brains bleed again. This all IF and MAYBE stuff. Lets not shift all blame on pilot yet just because of his past life. 

[webeagle12]

For opening the doors, they open both inwards and outwards - initially they pull inwards in order to make it so that external differential pressure keeps them from being able to be opened at altitude, then they swing slightly to the side and push outwards. Underwater you might have difficulty, but the hydraulic emergency system which is armed during the taxi out and disarmed upon reaching the gate, would have assisted with that (it's very forceful).

As for whether the plane would breakup on impact, probably. The Hudson aircraft didn't, but this was in a river with very few waves. They were extremely lucky that the weather and river were on their side. In the ocean, it's a different matter and waves are usually fairly high. We do have training to mitigate their effects to some degree, and give us the best chance of success at a water landing (.called 'ditching'), but it is extremely difficult. Look at Ethiopian Flight 961 - this was a slow, controlled glide without power onto the surface of a fairly benign sea in good weather by an experienced crew. A lot of people survived (but died when they inflated their life jackets inside the aircraft - something you should never do) but the aircraft itself was torn apart.

 

We need more people like you here :)

 

As for Hudson Landing - you cant compare ditching A320 and 777 airplane. Completely different scenarios.

[Hum]

Possible Objects Found

 

CNN reports 2 large objects found by search teams 1429 miles southwest off the coast of Australia.

 

Stay tuned ....

 

Australia's prime minister said Thursday two objects possibly related to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have been spotted on satellite imagery and an air force aircraft was diverted to the area to try to locate them.

 

The Orion aircraft was expected to arrive in the area Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Tony Abott told Parliament in Canberra. Three additional aircraft are expected to follow for a more intensive search, he said. 

 

Abbott cautioned, however, that the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and "it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370."

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/19/australian-pm-says-2-objects-in-search-for-malaysian-jet-may-have-been-found/

 

[Luc2k]

At this rate we'll find Atlantis before this plane.

[Hum]

Press conference begins now, on CNN and FOX, from Canberra, Australia.

 

RAF Orion and US Poseidon headed to debris site, 4 aircraft in total.

 

Poor visibility in the search area.

 

One object is about 24 meters.

 

It may take 24 hours to identify.

 

If these are parts of plane, they will be brought back to Australia.

[Praetor]

well, finaly the families can have some discloser and we can know what trully happended. i'm really inclined for a on board fire that incapacitated everyone and he plane flew until getting the jet fuel empty.

[The Evil Overlord]

Reported on BBC News

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26659951

[Hum]

Interesting ... NSA is apparently involved:

 

The story said the Malaysian investigation team is waiting for access to the "big radar picture" which is needed to pinpoint the last movements of the Boeing 777-200.

 

It specifically mentioned the Jindalee Over-the-Horizon Radar or OTHR, which covers a vast swathe of northern Australia and beyond.

 

The joint Australia-US Pine Gap satellite tracking facility, near Alice Springs, was also mentioned as having information which could assist the search.

 

http://www.allnewsau.com/news/malaysia-airlines-missing-plane-location-could-be-in-satellite-data-in-australia-maldives-reports-sighting

[Krome]

LOL :laugh:

At this rate we'll find Atlantis before this plane.

 

Thanks Hum for the latest update.

[DocM]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -Two objects spotted in the southern Indian Ocean may be debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian authorities said Thursday.

The objects are indistinct but of "reasonable size" -- the largest about 24 meters long (79 feet), said John Young, general manager of emergency response for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. They were "probably awash with water and bobbing up and down," he said.

"If that piece of the plane is that big, maybe it's the tail section" said David Gallo, who co-led the search for Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. But he warned that the size gave him a degree of concern.

"It's a big piece of aircraft to have survived something like this," he said.

The tail height of a Boeing 777, the model of the missing Malaysian plane, is 60 feet.

The announcement raises hopes of finding parts of the plane amid a huge search that is now in its 13th day. Previous reports of debris found in the sea haven't turned out to be related to the passenger jet, which vanished over Southeast Asia on March 8.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott first announced the discovery to the House of Representatives in Canberra on Thursday. Australian search teams have been at the forefront of the hunt for the missing plane in the remote southern Indian Ocean.

"There have been so many false leads and so many starts and changes and then backtracking in the investigation," said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. "He wouldn't have come forward and said if they weren't fairly certain."

But officials cautioned that there were no guarantees that the objects now being investigated would prove to be from the missing plane.

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[Turk.]

http://www.abc.net.au   http://www.news.com.au

[Hum]

I wish we could see the original images.

 

[Hum]

CNN reporting that the metal objects may be shipping containers.

 

Sat. Image suggests 78.74 feet --- shipping containers come in 80 feet sizes.

[philcruicks]

CNN reporting that the metal objects may be shipping containers.

 

Sat. Image suggests 78.74 feet --- shipping containers come in 80 feet sizes.

Wouldn't a shipping container sink...I doubt they're water tight...might stay afloat if it was, but if water got in that would sink for sure.