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

[pallipdrsn0]

No, absolutely not the oil rig worker that wrote the letter. This was a picture that supposedly someone in a plane took out of the window, while in air; he gave it or forwarded it to a friend of his/hers that posted it on Twitter.

 

And I'm 100% sure I saw that screenshot of that twitter post from someone that was shown it - that picture was posted here on Neowin and I was almost certain it was in this thread but I looked through all pages and didn't find it again; the thread was cleaned up and a poster on page 51 says that a post of his (not relating to the picture) was deleted ...so I guess I'm out of luck. In a nutshell, the picture was a screenshot of a twitter post that featured an image of something on fire above the clouds.

 

I've been trying to google the image like crazy and haven't found it - I'll try again tomorrow after work

[Hum]

^ There was a guy who took a photo of debris floating on the ocean ...

[Bertch]

Also a black picture supposedly from Diego Garcia because "that's where the plane was taken by the US and everyone onboard made prisoners".

[philcruicks]

No, absolutely not the oil rig worker that wrote the letter. This was a picture that supposedly someone in a plane took out of the window, while in air; he gave it or forwarded it to a friend of his/hers that posted it on Twitter.

 

And I'm 100% sure I saw that screenshot of that twitter post from someone that was shown it - that picture was posted here on Neowin and I was almost certain it was in this thread but I looked through all pages and didn't find it again; the thread was cleaned up and a poster on page 51 says that a post of his (not relating to the picture) was deleted ...so I guess I'm out of luck. In a nutshell, the picture was a screenshot of a twitter post that featured an image of something on fire above the clouds.

 

I've been trying to google the image like crazy and haven't found it - I'll try again tomorrow after work

Was a Facebook screenshot, not Twitter I think and of what appeared to be burning debris in the ocean...that the one you mean?

[neufuse Veteran]

Also a black picture supposedly from Diego Garcia because "that's where the plane was taken by the US and everyone onboard made prisoners".

 

People that think the US hijacked a plane then hid it need to have their heads checked...

[Bertch]

People that think the US hijacked a plane then hid it need to have their heads checked...

Agreed.  Also that's why I put it in quotes, not my words at all.

[neufuse Veteran]

Agreed.  Also that's why I put it in quotes, not my words at all.

 

I wasn't implying you said it ;) just continuing your quote

[_neutrino Veteran]

i am just surprised that nothing has washed up anywhere yet from this. I am starting to lean towards the fact that it might have landed somewhere rather than crashing in the ocean (not suggesting that some country stole it for publicity or anything, just that it is on land and not water)

[FloatingFatMan]

i am just surprised that nothing has washed up anywhere yet from this. I am starting to lean towards the fact that it might have landed somewhere rather than crashing in the ocean (not suggesting that some country stole it for publicity or anything, just that it is on land and not water)

 

Or still crashed, but over land in some uninhabited area.

[Hum]

Malaysia releases satellite data on missing jet

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? The Malaysian government on Tuesday released 45 pages of raw satellite data it used to determine the flight path of the missing jetliner, information long sought after by some of the relatives of the 239 people on board the plane.

 

More than three months after the plane went missing en route to Beijing, no trace of it has been found, leading to continued speculation over its fate.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/malaysia-releases-satellite-data-missing-jet-043556329.html

[Richteralan]

Well, after 3 months they still don't have a clue. If you still think this is just an accident you really need your head checked. 

 

And anyway to validate the authenticity of the data?

[bonalste]

Well, after 3 months they still don't have a clue. If you still think this is just an accident you really need your head checked.

And anyway to validate the authenticity of the data?

I don't think that anyone believes this was an accident. Still it has highlighted some serious problems associated with aircraft tracking.

[FloatingFatMan]

I don't think that anyone believes this was an accident. Still it has highlighted some serious problems associated with aircraft tracking.

 

Until such time as hard evidence is shown to the contrary, it WAS an accident. Anything else is pure supposition.

[bonalste]

Until such time as hard evidence is shown to the contrary, it WAS an accident. Anything else is pure supposition.

Calling it an 'accident' is supposition. That infers that nobody was to blame. Clearly it is an incident. All evidence points to it not being an accident.

[FloatingFatMan]

Calling it an 'accident' is supposition. That infers that nobody was to blame. Clearly it is an incident. All evidence points to it not being an accident.

 

In the absence of ANY actual evidence to the contrary, the default option is the simplest one; accident.  How can "All evidence" point to not being an accident when there isn't ANY?

 

Even the satellite data that let them trace it to SW of Australia is nothing but inference based on mathematical formula.  The black box beeps they detected could have been something else entirely, also.  The fireball in the sky the oil rigger reported, could have been something unrelated too. There's just no actual hard evidence of ANYTHING other than the plane is missing.

[Skiver Veteran]

LOL that just reminds me of this

 

[ATLien_0]

I'm still wondering why it took so long to release the data, it almost adds to the suspicion that they used that time to tamper with the data to cover up something

[bonalste]

In the absence of ANY actual evidence to the contrary, the default option is the simplest one; accident. How can "All evidence" point to not being an accident when there isn't ANY?

Even the satellite data that let them trace it to SW of Australia is nothing but inference based on mathematical formula. The black box beeps they detected could have been something else entirely, also. The fireball in the sky the oil rigger reported, could have been something unrelated too. There's just no actual hard evidence of ANYTHING other than the plane is missing.

I am of the opinion that the simplest explanation is that it was a planned event. For it to be an accident would require complexity in the extreme.

[exotoxic]

it almost adds to the suspicion that they used that time to tamper with the data to cover up something

 

Would it really take 3 months to edit such a small amount of date??

[ATLien_0]

Would it really take 3 months to edit such a small amount of date??

In theory no, but if you had something to cover up then maybe. 

The thing is though, nothing is adding up anymore and on top of that still nothing has washed up. What ever happened to that new info from the northern search area

[FloatingFatMan]

I am of the opinion that the simplest explanation is that it was a planned event. For it to be an accident would require complexity in the extreme.

 

Your opinion != fact.

 

It's FAR more complex for this to have been some kind of planned event than for something to have just gone horribly wrong.

[bonalste]

Your opinion != fact.

It's FAR more complex for this to have been some kind of planned event than for something to have just gone horribly wrong.

It would have been FAR more complex for it to be an accident than for it to have been planned. And while my opinion is not fact, I'm surprised you're dismissing it so out-of-hand.

[FloatingFatMan]

It would have been FAR more complex for it to be an accident than for it to have been planned. And while my opinion is not fact, I'm surprised you're dismissing it so out-of-hand.

 

If it were a planned event, there would have been some evidence of that by now.  That there hasn't been anything at all would indicate that no one had anything to do with it.

 

And I don't see how you think it could have been more complex.  For an accident, all we need is one critical system to have failed in some way to have caused this.  For a planned event, there would have to have been an intent on somebodies part, meaning a plot to carry it out. It would have been VERY difficult for anyone to do something like this without any kind of outside help, and an external agent (terrorists or whatever) would have said something by now.

 

If it was a murder/suicide on the part of the pilot or copilot, there would have been signs of a problem.  Even if no one noticed it before, someone would have realised after the fact that they were giving signs. You just can't get into that kind of mental state without it showing somewhere.

 

If it had been shot down by someone, wreckage would have turned up.

 

Terrorists would have loved to have claimed responsibility.

 

Thieves wouldn't be able to sell the aircraft or its parts, so what's the point?

 

On the other hand, it's not impossible that a single point of equipment failure, depending on what it was, could cascade into other systems and affect the entire aircraft, causing it to crash.  If it crashed in a jungle somewhere, wreckage would be VERY hard to find, and if it ditched in the ocean, it IS possible it just went down without breaking up.  

 

Occam's razor dictates that in the absence of any evidence, the simplest option is usually the correct one.  In this case, the simplest option is failure of the aircraft.

[spenser.d]

I am of the opinion that the simplest explanation is that it was a planned event. For it to be an accident would require complexity in the extreme.

 

You act like air flight isn't complex...

[bonalste]

You act like air flight isn't complex...

It isn't.

If it were a planned event, there would have been some evidence of that by now. That there hasn't been anything at all would indicate that no one had anything to do with it.

And I don't see how you think it could have been more complex. For an accident, all we need is one critical system to have failed in some way to have caused this. For a planned event, there would have to have been an intent on somebodies part, meaning a plot to carry it out. It would have been VERY difficult for anyone to do something like this without any kind of outside help, and an external agent (terrorists or whatever) would have said something by now.

If it was a murder/suicide on the part of the pilot or copilot, there would have been signs of a problem. Even if no one noticed it before, someone would have realised after the fact that they were giving signs. You just can't get into that kind of mental state without it showing somewhere.

If it had been shot down by someone, wreckage would have turned up.

Terrorists would have loved to have claimed responsibility.

Thieves wouldn't be able to sell the aircraft or its parts, so what's the point?

On the other hand, it's not impossible that a single point of equipment failure, depending on what it was, could cascade into other systems and affect the entire aircraft, causing it to crash. If it crashed in a jungle somewhere, wreckage would be VERY hard to find, and if it ditched in the ocean, it IS possible it just went down without breaking up.

Occam's razor dictates that in the absence of any evidence, the simplest option is usually the correct one. In this case, the simplest option is failure of the aircraft.

Pilot suicide is exactly what I believe happened, and is the simplest explanation by far. You don't seem to understand aircraft systems. There is so much redundancy, and so much training, that a failure causing this would have been indicated by now. The very fact that there is no indication of failure is strong evidence against a malfunction. And there are no systems failures that I can see that could have disabled the aircraft in the way we know it did (timing for the different comms systems, tracking of the aircraft after these systems were lost). I initially thought it may have been an avionics fire, until the tracking proved otherwise. There are too many problems with the idea that this may have been a malfunction. However, pilot suicide? The captain had marital problems and was going through a stressful time, there is precedent for pilot suicide taking down an airliner and it can be used to explain all of the events, which an accident simply cannot do.