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

[Dot Matrix]

The lack of a call "suggests something very sudden and very violent happened," said William Waldock, who teaches accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

It initially appears that there was either an abrupt breakup of the plane or something that led it into a quick, steep dive. Some experts even suggested an act of terrorism or a pilot purposely crashing the jet.

"Either you had a catastrophic event that tore the airplane apart, or you had a criminal act," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy Leeham Co. "It was so quick and they didn't radio."

http://news.yahoo.com/why-malaysia-airlines-jet-might-disappeared-213133681.html

My bet is that foul play is involved. I don't think it's coincidental that two stolen passports were used to Board the plane, and that contact was suddenly lost.

How is it two passports reported stolen over two years ago are still given clearance? :/

[margrave]

How is it two passports reported stolen over two years ago are still given clearance? :/

Failure ... and stupidity

[Lqv2015]

I say this with no disrespect to what's happened....but....

LOST

[Mr. Gibs]

My bet is that foul play is involved. I don't think it's coincidental that two stolen passports were used to Board the plane, and that contact was suddenly lost.

How is it two passports reported stolen over two years ago are still given clearance? :/

Now there are 4 suspects that may or may not have had stolen passports.

The main problem is there isn't a truly international database of stolen passports. The stolen passports were reported to Interpol but it isn't known if KL airport had access to that database or not. Most countries do background checks when you apply for a visa to visit them, however EU passport holders don't need one to visit Malaysia so that would make it harder to catch someone using a stolen passport.

---

Also this isn't fully confirmed yet but another plane may have had contact with MH370 shortly after it vanished from radar.

http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/pilot-i-established-contact-with-plane-1.503464?cache=03%2F7.247954%2F7.266429%2F7.330034%2F7.425366%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.576448%2F7.576448

[Hum]

I don't see how plunging a jet into the ocean helps any terror group.

[SuperJediMedia]

Maybe it's just not in the ocean, since no one found anything yet in the ocean so far.

 

I am not saying it's definitely not in the ocean, but too many people ASSUME it's 'Crashed' or 'in ocean'. But if some terrorist took over the plane, it might be somewhere else!

[zhangm Supervisor]

Maybe it's just not in the ocean, since no one found anything yet in the ocean so far.

 

I am not saying it's definitely not in the ocean, but too many people ASSUME it's 'Crashed' or 'in ocean'. But if some terrorist took over the plane, it might be somewhere else!

I'm not personally aware of any case in which a hijacking has resulted in a commercial aircraft becoming undetectable to radar.

[Dot Matrix]

I don't see how plunging a jet into the ocean helps any terror group.

It makes a statement.

[SuperJediMedia]

The whole thing is just weird, like Lost or X-files.

I'm not personally aware of any case in which a hijacking has resulted in a commercial aircraft becoming undetectable to radar.

 

Well, where is it then? How come still can't find it?

 

 

What's the likelihood that part of ocean is just too vast to be covered in just 1 day? Cuz it's clearly 1 day already, and they still found NO trace.

[Torolol]

It makes a statement.

yea, most terrorist have 'greater than life' mantra going on.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Well, where is it then? How come still can't find it?

  

What's the likelihood that part of ocean is just too vast to be covered in just 1 day? Cuz it's clearly 1 day already, and they still found NO trace.

Vietnamese air force planes on Saturday spotted two large oil slicks close to where a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing earlier in the day, the first sign that the aircraft carrying 239 people had crashed.

The oil slicks were spotted late Saturday off the southern tip of Vietnam and were each between 10 kilometers (6 miles) and 15 kilometers (9 miles) long, the Vietnamese government said in a statement. There was no confirmation that the slicks were related to the missing plane, but the statement said they were consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the two fuel tanks of a crashed jetliner.

The ocean is large. Most wreckage would sink. The wreckage that does remain floating would gradually spread out depending on winds and the current. There is no fire, no smoke, nor change in terrain to give rescuers a clue as to where the site of impact is.

[Raa]

 

Well, where is it then? How come still can't find it?

 

 

What's the likelihood that part of ocean is just too vast to be covered in just 1 day? Cuz it's clearly 1 day already, and they still found NO trace.

 It took them a while to find the black box for the Paris air crash, so it's fair to say this one might take some time too...

[Dot Matrix]

Now there are 4 suspects that may or may not have had stolen passports.

The main problem is there isn't a truly international database of stolen passports. The stolen passports were reported to Interpol but it isn't known if KL airport had access to that database or not. Most countries do background checks when you apply for a visa to visit them, however EU passport holders don't need one to visit Malaysia so that would make it harder to catch someone using a stolen passport.

---

Also this isn't fully confirmed yet but another plane may have had contact with MH370 shortly after it vanished from radar.

http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/pilot-i-established-contact-with-plane-1.503464?cache=03%2F7.247954%2F7.266429%2F7.330034%2F7.425366%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.576448%2F7.576448

Do you have a source for the 4 stolen passports?

The ocean is large. Most wreckage would sink. The wreckage that does remain floating would gradually spread out depending on winds and the current. There is no fire, no smoke, nor change in terrain to give rescuers a clue as to where the site of impact is.

Some of it would float, especially if the plane broke apart in mid air. Modern planes have seats, etc that are designed to float as safety devices.

[SuperJediMedia]

Also this isn't fully confirmed yet but another plane may have had contact with MH370 shortly after it vanished from radar.

http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/pilot-i-established-contact-with-plane-1.503464?cache=03%2F7.247954%2F7.266429%2F7.330034%2F7.425366%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.576448%2F7.576448

 

 

I find this interesting.

 

""There were a lot of interference... static... but I heard mumbling from the other end."

[SuperJediMedia]

Hmmm, oil slick is big

 

https://twitter.com/fabshun/status/442541413708734464/photo/1

[Hum]

Maybe it's just not in the ocean, since no one found anything yet in the ocean so far.

 

I am not saying it's definitely not in the ocean, but too many people ASSUME it's 'Crashed' or 'in ocean'. But if some terrorist took over the plane, it might be somewhere else!

The mystery of what happened to a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people on board early Saturday appeared to deepen Sunday when Malaysia's air force chief told reporters that military radar indicated that the plane may have turned from its flight route before losing contact.

 

Air force chief Rodzali Daud didn't say which direction the plane might have taken when it apparently went off route.

 

"We are trying to make sense of this," he told a media conference. "The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back and in some parts, this was corroborated by civilian radar."

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/09/malaysia-airlines-loses-contact-with-plane-carrying-23-people/

[DocM]

Looks like someone photoed a debris field from the air.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/oil-slicks-spotted-20-nautical-miles-off-mh370-070837379.html

[SuperJediMedia]

CNN -

 

One promising lead has turned out to be a dead end. A "strange object" spotted by a Singaporean search plane late Sunday afternoon is not debris from the missing jetliner, a U.S. official familiar with the issue told CNN on Sunday.

[_neutrino Veteran]

The yahoo news image just looks like a bunch of equal items a plane crash would be random looking stuff.

[Hum]

Vietnam says it may have found missing jet's door

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? Vietnamese authorities searching waters for the missing Boeing 777 jetliner spotted an object Sunday that they suspected was one of the plane's doors, as international intelligence agencies joined the investigation into two passengers who boarded the aircraft with stolen passports.

 

Searchers in a low-flying plane spotted what appeared to be a door from the missing jet, the deputy chief of staff of Vietnam's army, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, was quoted as saying by the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper. It was found in waters about 60 miles (90 kilometers) south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted Saturday.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/vietnam-says-may-found-missing-jets-door-161951222.html

[SuperJediMedia]

I heard that news (possible door) about 4 hours ago... but CNN still have no updates on it.

[neuroticdave]

Everything in relation to this situation thus far is nothing more than assumptions and guesses. There is a plethora of things that could have happened. If the plane was hijacked, it may very well still be out there somewhere in a remote area of Vietnam. If it was a catastrophic failure at FL, it will make the search that much more difficult, as the debris field would be enormous. If it crashed into the ocean, there would most certainly be a large debris field over a smaller area which should be easily recognizable. At this point it's all up in the air. I hope that none of the latter scenarios are true and that this is simply a hijacking of some sort. While the odds are slim to none since it's really rather difficult to hide a B777, who knows.

[Hum]

Sounds more like the jet was flown elsewhere.

 

Odd there is no transmission from the orange boxes.

 

I hope our Navy can find something soon.

 

Hopefully, this mystery won't drag out months & years.

 

 

If a plane crashes into the water, this beacon sends out an ultrasonic pulse that cannot be heard by human ears but is readily detectable by sonar and acoustical locating equipment. There is a submergence sensor on the side of the beacon that looks like a bull's-eye. When water touches this sensor, it activates the beacon.

 

The beacon sends out pulses at 37.5 kilohertz (kHz) and can transmit sound as deep as 14,000 feet (4,267 m). Once the beacon begins "pinging," it pings once per second for 30 days. This beacon is powered by a battery that has a shelf life of six years. In rare instances, the beacon may get snapped off during a high-impact collision.

[Dot Matrix]

Sounds more like the jet was flown elsewhere.

 

Odd there is no transmission from the orange boxes.

 

I hope our Navy can find something soon.

 

Hopefully, this mystery won't drag out months & years.

Even if it stopped squawking, and was flown elsewhere, it still should have appeared on someone's radar screen. 

[thechronic]

I don?t know, this is a problem that they can figure out. GPS and whatnot! This is a technical problem, and they can surely find a solution.

 

 

That's nice to know, but how does it help in the case of a floating black box that has been carried far away from the wreckage? Isn't it far better that the ULB help locate the wreck (that needs to be studied) and perhaps possible survivors nearby?

 

Not extremely difficult if a built in satellite/gps system could mark the location of the impact the moment the device comes into contact with water