Malaysia 777 Missing

[Thebean]

I was a little surprised when a representative of a large media outlet emailed me to ask me for my opinion on what happened.

I gave them the best answer I could.

"I haven't a clue".

Why they would assume I knew anything of relevance on this matter is beyond me.

[conehead]

Should've told 'em it was Aliens.

[inchman]

Thanks and it looks like they still don't know. Just goes to show you how the TC and FAA are far superior in the investigation world that these clowns. I am surprised that RR and Boeing arent being a little more vocal. Just a solid reminder to avoid flying on some of these non North American carriers.

As I said above... it's not them. It was unnamed sources that were quoted by the WSJ, a newspaper that I used to think was pretty responsible. It is left to the Malay government and the airline to deny these things and it makes them look like idiots because it is being presented as backtracking. Same as the Chinese debris.... it wasn't the Malays that put it out there as credible, it was the Chinese, on their own government website.

[dagger]

Wall Street Journal isn't backing away from its story, but there is a bit more clarification in this update about the nature of the signals.

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMzExNDMyWj#printMode

[conehead]

Wall Street Journal isn't backing away from its story, but there is a bit more clarification in this update about the nature of the signals.

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMzExNDMyWj#printMode

That seems pretty clear to me. The aircraft flew onwards for 4 hours after "disappearing". Periodically, throughout that 4 hours, ACARS signalled it's ability to transmit, but did not actually transmit any data. Too bad it didn't; the data transfer would have included heading, altitude, and lots of engine parameters.

[Don Hudson]

The Guardian has a reasonable daily update at http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/mar/13/mh370-no-sign-of-debris-detected-by-chinese-satellite-live-updates

Don

[blues deville]

From Reuters...

(Reuters) - Satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no information about where the stray jet was heading and little else about its fate, two sources close to the investigation said on Thursday.

Faint electronic pulses. What signal strength is considered normal for that part of the world? And do faint electronic pulses mean an aircraft is airborne or just trying to send a signal to the receiver?

[CanadaEH]

It was the Russians. Diverting attentin away from Crimea. Or so says one conspiracy theorist I know.........

[inchman]

• according to two people familiar with the details (really?)

• flew for a total of up to five hours (UP TO 90% off!!!)

according to these people (yeah... those two unnamed, untitled people)

these people said (same guys)

the link operated in a kind of standby mode and sought to establish contact with a satellite (kinda sorta, but the satellite decided not to answer)

did not include data (Ok... it was trying to establish contact, the satellite refused, so it withheld data out of spite)

indicate to investigators that the plane was still intact and believed to be flying (are these investigators the same as the other two guys?)

according to one person briefed on the matter (hey mister, did you hear about the Malaysian Airlines flight?... let me tell you about it).

according to one person tracking the probe (aren't we all?)

has raised theories among investigators (same two guys?)

according to one person familiar with the matter (the other guy went to the bathroom when I asked the question)

It's reports like this that make me really hate the media (more than usual). Is this the WSJ or the National Enquirer?

[torque wrench]

• according to two people familiar with the details (really?)
• flew for a total of up to five hours (UP TO 90% off!!!)
• according to these people (yeah... those two unnamed, untitled people)
• these people said (same guys)
• the link operated in a kind of standby mode and sought to establish contact with a satellite (kinda sorta, but the satellite decided not to answer)
• did not include data (Ok... it was trying to establish contact, the satellite refused, so it withheld data out of spite)
• indicate to investigators that the plane was still intact and believed to be flying (are these investigators the same as the other two guys?)
• according to one person briefed on the matter (hey mister, did you hear about the Malaysian Airlines flight?... let me tell you about it).
• according to one person tracking the probe (aren't we all?)
• has raised theories among investigators (same two guys?)
• according to one person familiar with the matter (the other guy went to the bathroom when I asked the question)

It's reports like this that make me really hate the media (more than usual). Is this the WSJ or the National Enquirer?

Agree. They don't have a clue. Now that the NTSB can lend some expertise to this, things may get back on track however, the media circus is out of control. I want to grab Wolf Blitzer (CNN) and give him a good shake. They are sensationalists not journalists. A journalist would get all the facts that were backed up by real evidence, not hear say from "an unnamed source" and only then would tell the story. These guys are a bad dream.

[Thebean]

Here's my 2 cents.

I am skeptical that the military / early warning radar systems of Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, India, China and the US at Diego Garcia and perhaps elsewhere are individually and collectively unable to piece together the track of an aircraft the size of a B52 that is obviously gone off the grid.

That doesn't say much about the collective self defense capabilities of these various nations.

Then again, a German kid flew a C172 into Russia and landed it in Red Square without the Russians knowing many years ago.

Then there is the matter of a terrorist attack in China last week and then the disappearance of an airliner headed to Beijing a week later. Coincidence? Perhaps......

It is a mystery.

[Guest longtimer]

or perhaps as some have suggested we are seeing the first case of "AIR PIRACY" but if so, where did they land the aircraft?

[conehead]

or perhaps as some have suggested we are seeing the first case of "AIR PIRACY" but if so, where did they land the aircraft?

Mogadishu?

[torque wrench]

Mogadishu?

Perhaps VOPB / IXZ ? Be hard to hide from surveillance sat's which no doubt have been pointed at that area of the globe...... It's feet wet for sure.

[blues deville]

or perhaps as some have suggested we are seeing the first case of "AIR PIRACY" but if so, where did they land the aircraft?

Interesting theory and as good as any other at this point.

However, when Somalian pirates hijack a ship, its usually in daytime and the ransom process is started immediately for the ships cargo which is either oil or something else of vaiue. What was being carried on this flight as cargo?

[Mitch Cronin]

Wouldn't need any cargo... the aircraft itself is worth a huge bundle... and then there are the passengers. But it doesn't make any sense that nothing has been heard from anyone claiming responsibility, or demanding money... It may have started out like that, but if so, maybe things didn't work out so well?

[blues deville]

Wouldn't need any cargo... the aircraft itself is worth a huge bundle... and then there are the passengers. But it doesn't make any sense that nothing has been heard from anyone claiming responsibility, or demanding money... It may have started out like that, but if so, maybe things didn't work out so well?

Agreed the aircraft is worth something but who could possibly buy/fly it and hide the fact it belongs to someone else? Or does it get parted out?

Somali Aircraft Planes & Parts "Your source for those times when serial numbers don't really matter!"

[Jaydee]

Perhaps VOPB / IXZ ? Be hard to hide from surveillance sat's which no doubt have been pointed at that area of the globe...... It's feet wet for sure.

Interesting revelation from Inmarsat.

http://www.inmarsat.com/news/inmarsat-statement-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370/

[boestar]

My thinking is that is anyone tries to commandeer an aircraft in this day and age, damn near everyone on the plane is going to fight back. They have all see what happened on 9/11. Damned if you do damned if you don't so why not fight back. If that is the case then perhaps in the struggle for control all was lost. Perhaps there was originally a plan to take the aircraft on a suicide mission to Beijing but was interrupted by a few hundred scared people fighting for their lives.

We won't know until they find the aircraft and even then we won't have the whole story.

[Lakelad]

.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 pilots' lives scrutinized, picture emerges

Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, described as community-minded men




Fri Mar 14, 2014 - The Associated Press

One was passionate enough about flying to build his own flight simulator in his home. The other was a 27-year-old contemplating marriage after having just graduated to the cockpit of a Boeing 777.

As speculation intensified Friday that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane might have been commandeered by someone with aviation skills, a picture began to emerge of the two pilots.

Police have said they are looking at their psychological background, their family life and connections as a line of inquiry into what happened to Flight MH370, which vanished early March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. There is no evidence linking them to any wrongdoing.

Pilots Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and Fariq Abdul Hamid were described as respectable, community-minded men.

Invited women into the cockpit

Fariq has drawn the greatest scrutiny after the revelation that in 2011, he and another pilot invited two women boarding their aircraft to sit in the cockpit for a flight from Phuket, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur.

During the flight, the pilots smoked and flirted, one of the women, South African Jonti Roos, said in an interview broadcast by Australia's Nine Network. The claims were backed up with numerous photos showing Roos and her friend posing in the cockpit.

Although initially thrilled by the experience, Roos also described it as "possibly a little bit sleazy."

Malaysia Airlines said it was shocked by the report and was investigating.

Fariq was a "good boy, a good Muslim, humble and quiet," said Ahmad Sarafi Ali Asrah, the head of a mosque near Fariq's two-storey home in a middle-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

"I don't think he is a playboy, but I don't know about his personal life."

.

[vanishing point]

This theory came up on another forum I frequent. My thought on this; if the intent was to hijack an aircraft for use in delivering an unimaginable payload, why an airplane that is in active service with 239 people on board?

Why draw the attention to such a plan when there's numerous parked airplanes in salvage yards that might be available?

I'm just throwing this out there.

[Moon The Loon]

I cannot see the small groups behind the Somali ship-jackings having anything to do with this. When you delve into the Why's of the shipjackings that started about 10 years ago, it comes down to the international marine community treating Somali waters like a toilet for their hazardous waste. The ship-jackings, to my understanding, were a retaliation by a very small group that has since turned into a larger organized group after the success of the pioneers. This rationale has given some credibility to the Somali pirate cause.

Hijacking an airliner with all those lives onboard would totally undermine any legitimacy retained by the pirates who only wanted the international shipping community to leave their waters intact, and to stop killing off their livelihood - fishing.

It just doesn't make sense.

[Moon The Loon]

What's the range of an empty B777 with full tanks? Hmmmm.

200 Greenwich Street, Manhattan?

[Guest longtimer]

This theory came up on another forum I frequent. My thought on this; if the intent was to hijack an aircraft for use in delivering an unimaginable payload, why an airplane that is in active service with 239 people on board?

Why draw the attention to such a plan when there's numerous parked airplanes in salvage yards that might be available?

I'm just throwing this out there.

Likely because you can not just jump into a "moth balled" aircraft and turn the key to start it.

[Super 80]

I talked to a friend the other night who has worked in both Malaysia and Indonesia and served in the Singaporean military and his take on the preveiling level of competence of the militaries and civil authorities in the region to perform a search operation on this scale is approaching zero.

He also feels differentiating between wreckage and just plain garbage in some areas from the air could be almost impossible.