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

[riahc3]

You have to wonder that if we can have internet connected planes, why can't the black box be the same

The Xperia Z can hold under 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. I have no idea if it has a 3G connection underwater for 30 minutes..

[Suburban Errorist]

It's not over, it just means that they have officially given up hope on there being survivors, to my knowledge. They will still continue to search for the plane.

Yeah, I know. As far as I'm concerned, it's over now. I know the chances of finding survivors after seventeen days are slim to none, but I guess it was hopeless from the beginning.

[Hurmoth]

I really hope this incident encourages airlines to begin using the feature that autouploads the black box data.

 

I know that people constantly complain about airline costs, and we rarely have major airplane crashes or they go missing like this, but I would rather pay a little more for my ticket and know that if something happened, investigators would have better information sooner than it take two weeks.

 

Also, I really don't understand how these transponders have fire issues that would require them being turned off. I know I've heard a lot of pilots on talk shows discuss that this is an issue, but they never seem to explain how is it an issue. I know I'm being naive to think that Boeing could build a plane that doesn't have spontaneous fires breaking out, but seriously! There needs to be a way to track planes where there is NO WAY for a pilot to be able to turn it off without the fear of a plane bursting into flames.

 

Yes, I am being a little cynical, and using a bit of hyperbole to get my point across, but I really don't understand how that might happen?

[philcruicks]

Despite no concrete evidence only assumption to prove the point.It could still be either landed somewhere remote i.e. in Australia or have people in life rafts or have been taken to a destination unknown by subjects unknown and still to be determined.

The Evidence is from Inmarsat, (1st it was some basic data analysis to work out it flew one of the 2 arcs, they've now done more analysis and confirmed it was the southern arc.

It was based on new analysis by British satellite firm Inmarsat, which provided satellite data, and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The firms "have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth," Mr Razak said.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

 

The Malaysian prime minister said Inmarsat had been able to shed further light on the plane's flight path by performing further calculations on the MH370 data "using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort".

According to Inmarsat, this involved a totally new way of modelling, which was why it took time.

The company told the BBC the new calculation involved crunching far more data, which included what other aircraft were doing at the time.

Inmarsat gave the AAIB the new data on Sunday, it said, which had to be checked before it could be made public.

Source: BBC

 

Wait, say what? The airline sent text messages to the family to notify them? I'm pretty sure most people are in agreement that breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend over text message is incredibly lazy and inconsiderate; how much more so is sending a text message that your loved one is deceased in an airplane crash?

 

This entire fiasco will definitely go down as one of the worst investigations of all time.

Malaysian Airlines has said they also contacted the families face to face (they were all brought to the press conf, but I doubt they can fit every member of family in, so others were txted at the same time from what I understand).

[Arachno 1D]

Death is assured after: seven minutes with oxygen, seven days without water, seven weeks without food

 

 

There is still hope if they have managed to find refuge, be it in a dingy or in a hole in the ground somewhere

[Hum]

pffft -- Senior Vice-president of Inmarsat is now on CNN -- he is saying 'most likely' that the plane went down in the south Indian ocean.

 

Yet they are telling the families everyone is dead. :s

[Praetor]

pffft -- Senior Vice-president of Inmarsat is now on CNN -- he is saying 'most likely' that the plane went down in the south Indian ocean.

 

Yet they are telling the families everyone is dead. :s

 

yeah i don't know why they didn't wait until they start recovering the (possible) debris from the plane, since the ship that is going into that area is going to reach tomorrow...

[SuperJediMedia]

WHERE IS THE PROOF, MALAYSIA???

[Richteralan]

WHERE IS THE PROOF, MALAYSIA???

Malaysia has NO PROOF. Period. 

yeah i don't know why they didn't wait until they start recovering the (possible) debris from the plane, since the ship that is going into that area is going to reach tomorrow...

This smells like something is going on behind the curtain. 

[DocM]

What was your first clue? :Whistle:

I agree. This one could turn anyone into a conspiracy theorist.

[COKid]

Australian defence minister says everything is "speculation" until plane debris is recovered and identified.

 

Source: Live news conference statements at the time I posted this.

 

If this doesn't turn out to be the wreckage, then what do you tell the families? "Oops. Sorry."

 

:/

[DocM]

It had better be the wreckage or the families and their friends are going to start a revolution, and I'm only half kidding. I'd certainly be on the warpath.

[shawnsdada]

One huge clusterbeep.

How do you tell family their loved ones are dead when you haven't found a single shred of the plane yet?

What if they get there and there's nothing? Then a week from now some terror group pops up on TV saying: "We have your plane. BTW, here's all the passengers alive. Here's what we want"

It sounds twisted, but I kinda want that to happen just for the people in Malaysia who are controlling all this to look stupid. Not because they're Malaysian, nothing against them at all, just to see the "oh hell nah" look on their faces if that were to happen.

[Turk.]

What Happened to MH370? 'The Biggest Mystery Since Amelia Earhart' By Marco Evers March 24, 2014 05:52 PM
For weeks, the world has been wondering what happened to flight MH370. New satellite data has apparently confirmed that it crashed in the Indian Ocean. But why? Captain Bill Palmer, author of "Understanding Air France 447," relates his theory.
Der Spiegel

London: A new, unprecedented satellite tracking technique is what gave Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak enough confidence to announce that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went down in the remote south of the Indian Ocean.
British firm Inmarsat was behind an earlier analysis that indicated the plane had been flying in one of two big ?corridors?, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern.
Source

[papercut2008uk]

there are a lot of oddities around this along with a lot of misinformation about the whole thing. the only real facts are that the plane took off, went missing and lost contact. 1 system was disabled and then another.

 

with the cargo it was carrying, this could be explained by a fire, but, why would the plane turn back and then head south? auto pilot? you seriously think they would engage auto pilot in an emergency?

 

the 'terrorist' or hijack theory is also obsolete as almost everyone on board would have a phone, none of them could send out a message?

 

if you look at the flight pattern, it goes east for a little and then strait south? i doubt very much it would have had enough fuel onboard to reach very far past it's intended flight path. 

[CrashG]

COKid, on 25 Mar 2014 - 01:01, said:

 

Australian defence minister says everything is "speculation" until plane debris is recovered and identified.

 

 

 

That's the closest thing to a fact so far, other than it took off.

[FloatingFatMan]

the 'terrorist' or hijack theory is also obsolete as almost everyone on board would have a phone, none of them could send out a message?

 

Not all planes have cell phone relays, and if this plane did have one, it'd need to be switched on and not affected by whatever caused the other systems to go dark.  Without a cell phone relay, you won't be using your phone on a plane in flight.

[Hum]

the 'terrorist' or hijack theory is also obsolete as almost everyone on board would have a phone, none of them could send out a message?

 

Not saying that it happened in this case, but there are such things as cell phone jammers.

 

A determined hijacker could have used one.

 

A signal jammer would be more effective than confiscating phones.

 

http://www.jammer-store.com/

[FloatingFatMan]

Not saying that it happened in this case, but there are such things as cell phone jammers.

 

A determined hijacker could have used one.

 

A signal jammer would be more effective than confiscating phones.

 

http://www.jammer-store.com/

 

Not necessary at all.

[bonalste]

there are a lot of oddities around this along with a lot of misinformation about the whole thing. the only real facts are that the plane took off, went missing and lost contact. 1 system was disabled and then another.

with the cargo it was carrying, this could be explained by a fire, but, why would the plane turn back and then head south? auto pilot? you seriously think they would engage auto pilot in an emergency?

the 'terrorist' or hijack theory is also obsolete as almost everyone on board would have a phone, none of them could send out a message?

if you look at the flight pattern, it goes east for a little and then strait south? i doubt very much it would have had enough fuel onboard to reach very far past it's intended flight path.

Cargo fire does not explain why the transponder and ACARS turned off. They are held in the avionics bay in the cockpit.

As has been said, phones don't work on planes unless there's specialised equipment on board. I've flown thousands of times and never been able to use my mobile.

If you are in an emergency, damn right you use the autopilot. You do not want your capacity hampered because you're too busy focussing on manually handling a jet instead of on how to resolve the problem. The only time you would remove the autopilot is if it is broken, of if you are visual with the airfield and are going to carry out a visual landing. There are, of course, varying levels of automation that can be employed, and you would use the highest level possible. Highest would be reprogramming the FMGS, middle would be using the FCU, last would be manual. You wouldn't want to go manual. In case of a fire, first thing you would do is use the FCU to get you going down and in the correct direction, then program whatever it is you want into the FMGS (or MCDU/FMGC in the case of airbus) and activate it.

An aircraft needs to carry enough fuel in order to divert and then hold for 30 minutes above the diversion airport at holding altitude. There is also an additional fuel carried, depending on the distance, to accommodate unexpected requirements such as reroutes, called Contingency Fuel. If they aircraft was set to cost index zero as well, this would help. Most pilots will often add extra fuel on top of this to take into account and expected requirements, such as bad weather at destination or expected heavy traffic, extra APU use due to temperature... things like that. You can often find that the aircraft can travel quite a bit beyond its originally anticipated distance.

[Arachno 1D]

There is a small amount of landfall to the South West of Australia i.e.Heard Island and McDonald Islands or the Kerguelen Islands which could possibly be reached by any survivors in rafts

http://mapsof.net/map/world-political-map-1

 

[riahc3]

If someone goes and doesn't confirm its the wreckage.....it will be the worst handled disaster in history.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

is there any wreckage yet? or are they still spouting the unconfirmed bull?

[Turk.]

It's about the media, not the plane By Stephen McDonell of ABC 24 Mar 2014, 2:03pm AEST
"With no new information but a 24-hour news cycle to fill, reporters have made themselves the star of the story for the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet".

[Arachno 1D]

 

And some of them, with nothing to write about, will even descend into the navel-gazing exercise of analysing how other media outlets are reporting.

Thats a regular BBC pastime