Missing Malaysia Air plane

[KenAdams]

It's so sad. They still haven't found anything, but thinks it's crashed into the sea.

For anyone that hasn't heard

[KenAdams]

Someone has already done it for me

[Catsmamma]

there's already a follow up thread Ken and goldie

Follow up thread....come join us!

[KenAdams]

I went out last night so I'm currently only reading page 30!

[KenAdams]

Aah how many posts do you have before a thread gets full?

Do I need to do a Part II?

[GoldieMumbles]

"Ah true about the locking out. I thought that there were always at least 2 in the cockpit on long haul, as there is a navigator as well I thought? Or is that just on the big double deckers and the 747s? "

No, aircraft haven't had a navigator for a very long time. They're all flown by a 2-person crew. Longer flights have one or two reserve crew for the cruise portion of flight. The locking out theory isn't possible and isn't as big of a concern as people think. I can't say more.

"He is convinced the airplane has not crashed and has landed somewhere. He thinks probably in a country that lacks the ability to track what's flying in and out.
However my dad is certain America knows where the plane is and he also said it wouldn't be any good if they were planning on flying it into a developed country as it would be picked up and recognised and shot down before reaching its target.
He said it could only be used to either fly into another airplane or to crash into a target such as a boat out at sea."

All very true. It's probably about the only thing big enough to sink an aircraft carrier if you fly into the side of one.

"My dad says that you can't decompress part of the plane and not the other, the oxygen masks would fall for everyone. Is that true? "

Yes. An aircraft is either pressurised or it's not. You can't just pressurise different bits.

"Which countries could they have landed in that wouldn't have noticed?"

Quite a few. I mentioned Yemen and Somalia a while back but it looks like there wasn't enough fuel for that. You need a country that won't notice or is sympathetic to your aims; a 6000 foot long paved strip (a lot more if you plan to take off again) and preferably a hangar to hide it in.

"Can you really fly 'under the radar'? If so, how low is this?"

Yes, but it depends on the radar and how far away from it you are.

[lessonsintightropes]

Goldie, everyone has gone here

[GoldieMumbles]

Too cold for the bike ride we had planned so I'm popping on for a few minutes.

"it was a pilot
-explains knowledge of gap between aircomms allowing the 15 min gap"

This is now what has got me confused. The quickest way to turn the ADS-B off is to pull out the circuit breaker. There's a big panel at the back of the cockpit full of circuit breakers - electronic fuses - that allow you to switch off the electrical supply to just about anything on the aircraft. The thing that doesn't add up to me is that 'he' (I'm boldly making assumptions it was a man - sorry) pulled the circuit breaker from the ADS-B transponder but not the ACARS. The circuit breakers will be in the same place, so why didn't 'he' do both at the same time. Why wait 15 minutes between them?

"why would you take a 777"

With the intent of using it for something else later, like flying it into the Petronas Towers, for example.

"How on earth can a 777 fly undetected for 7 hours?"

I really don't think it can unless it stayed out overwater. So that leaves two possibilities. 1) It stayed over water; 2) it was detected and that's why they are now looking wherever they are.

And all that talk of the USS Kidd going out to the Indian Ocean also turns out to be wrong - it's heading to the Straits of Malacca! So much contradictory info. But with the US Navy sending a P-8A Poseidon aircraft (which is a navy version of the Boeing 737 with lots of detection equipment in it and on it), it's a fair bet they've narrowed it down quite a lot - or they are really trying to eliminate one strong possibility (I don't know which but would speculate that it's the Andaman Islands theory)


I'm beginning to wonder if one of the pilots tried to take it over, pulled the transponder circuit breaker, the other noticed and they ended up fighting in the cockpit. That might explain the 15 minute gap, until the other pilot had been overpowered.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Marking place.

[themaltesefalcon]

Forgive my ignorance, but how do they "know" that the onboard transponders were "deliberately" shut down? Could they not have failed independently?

[meditrina]

I'm not sure you can say the SW route is likely to be a suicide, given how active AQ Indonesia is assessed to be.

[weasle]

I am repeatedly checking the news to see if there are any updates. Surely someone must have an idea where it is?! A week wasted in the search in the wrong place, I'm sure that was deliberate on the part of the person(s) who did this. The cargo theory makes sense, otherwise it seems so very random. Why this plane on this route?

[Pennies]

New thread

[DowntonTrout]

Will someone start a new thread before this one fills up?

[Pennies]

Hollywood is going to have a field day with the corrupt crew / heist theory.

[NeverTalksToStrangers]

It's the unknowns that are so creepy and unnerving. I've had a bad feeling about this from day one. I knew it was hijacked. Just knew. And the lack of a motive is the frightening part.

[livingzuid]

hmmm so a heist then?

What does that mean for the people on board though? If the robbers were that mercenary to kill them or whether they will release them who knows if that's the scenario.

I wondered if the Chinese and US definitely do know what's happened and there's some very delicate negotiations going on right now. Clutching at straws but maybe to release passengers? I'm sure they do know what has happened as I still can't believe a whole plane can just disappear like that, but they can't say what's going on for safety reasons?

[DowntonTrout]

I don't think it's been shot down by anyone. Imagine the furore if a country had knowingly shot down a passenger plane and had not come forward with this evidence by now.

What do we "know" really?

The comms were deliberately shut down.

The plane was piloted on a specific course using waypoints.

The flight continued for up to 8? Hours.

The satellite pings can be plotted on two paths but cannot be narrowed down to which path specifically.

Each of those two paths throws up differing conclusions. The SW path is a likely suicide, ditched in the sea. The NW path intention to land the plane somewhere for unknown purposes.

[MoreBeta]

The gold theory is interesting.

There is very high demand for gold in China both private and official PBOC buying (ie China central bank). There has been a lot of gold shipped to China in recent years and it all goes by plane.

There is a very large gold mine 2 hours north of Kuala Lumpur owned by Newmont mining. There are a number of other significant gold mines in Malaysia.

[gindrinker]

I still don't fully understand how a plane can fly back over Malaysia and this wasn't picked up by someone.
I assume the military (Malay, US, Russia or China) between them must have every corner of the planet covered.
Even if it's just an overlay of commercial flights and then anything else not transmitting a 'call sign'. I'm pretty sure nuclear bombs from N.Korea don't came with call sign Bravo, Oscar, Mike, Bravo.

Can you really fly 'under the radar'? If so, how low is this?

[livingzuid]

Or countries that would have agreed to it...although that would be suicide for that nation in itself to have the wrath of China and probably the US on its head.

[PublicEnemyNumeroUno]

Which countries could they have landed in that wouldn't have noticed?

Ive also heard that there was gold bullion in the cargo but wont believe that until its been confirmed

[Moonfacesmother]

My dad says that you can't decompress part of the plane and not the other, the oxygen masks would fall for everyone. Is that true? So they couldn't have stopped the oxygen supply to the main aircraft.
He also says even if a gas had been used then it would have seeped into the cockpit.

[NeverTalksToStrangers]

I agree with those disputing the suicide idea. Why change course and why cut off signals?

The changes in height could be due to whoever was flying the plane trying to render the passengers unconscious.

This info about it being diverted has been circulating for days but was denied by the malaysians the intelligence of other countries. The Malaysians continued to search the same area of water.

The stories about the phones ringing weren't dismissed as such but they were explained in a "they could be ringing because. .." way. I've been glued to this story and I read something the other day about a passengers phone showing as being located in a very random country. Can't remember where and haven't been able to find same story.

My worry is that they have landed somewhere, that they arent found and they become airborne again to use the plane as a weapon.