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Missing Malaysia Air plane

985 replies

KenAdams · 08/03/2014 09:47

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

For anyone that hasn't heard

OP posts:
PandaFeet · 13/03/2014 20:39

Malaysian authorities are denying everything. They are denying that China's images are the wreckage, but China's media is still saying they are, and they are denying it could have crashed into the Indian Ocean despite the US sending a ship to search there.

So China and the USA have it wrong? Really? I don't know whats going on, but is Malaysia's strategy to just deny everything unless they solve the mystery?

GarthsUncle · 13/03/2014 20:42

Denying everything until you have confirmed answers isn't unreasonable...

PandaFeet · 13/03/2014 20:43

No, but would the US and China really be sending their ships to these locations if these things weren't confirmed?

TisTheSeasonToBeUnreasonable · 13/03/2014 20:44

Wow - just wow - I can't leave this thread alone ....

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 20:44

I've just been reading a report on the Daily Mail website that says that the White House has deployed a warship, USS Kidd, into the Indian Ocean after 'information' came to light that the aircraft might be there. It's possible that the US has a submarine there that has heard the signal from the aircraft's beacon (the ELT, or Emergency Locator Transmitter)

I've also had a chat with DH, who deals with goverments, about some of the language used that I found a bit odd.

The report says:
Hshammuddin Hussein said reports claiming data sent fromt he engines suggested the plane had kept flying for four hours were "inaccurate"

That's an odd choice of words and I'm not a politician but DH confirmed my suspicion that 'inaccurate' doesn't mean 'wrong'. It means, in political language as well as real English, 'not precise'.

If you read between the lines of the statement, in political language, it means the engine data wasn't supplied for 4 hours. It might have been 3 hours, or 5 hours, or 4 hours and 1 minute. But it wasn't 4 hours.

I can't confirm any of that and I emphasise all I'm doing is speculating but things start to add up to the flight going out into the Indian Ocean, whether accidentally or under duress (hijack).

lessonsintightropes · 13/03/2014 20:46

It definitely fits as the most likely hypothesis from the string on PPrune too (Indian ocean theory).

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 13/03/2014 20:48

Goldie, I wondered from the start about the 'mumbling' heard by the pilot in the other plane (who said he thought it was the co-pilot, not the pilot, but I wasn't clear why)

but surely if the mumbling was from potential loss of consciousness rather than just a poor connection with interference, the pilot in the other plane would have flagged up concerns at the time?

PartyPoison · 13/03/2014 20:53

Totally that has always been the case. Cruise missiles are designed to fly very fast, at low altitudes so they avoid radar.

JillJ72 · 13/03/2014 20:56

.... I'm wondering why the aircraft in front was requested to contact it. Has that been answered? Was there something amiss, a sense that there was a need to contact the flight, or is that routine? And is it routine to get through on the emergency line?

ajandjjmum · 13/03/2014 20:57

Thanks Goldie - really interesting the hear from someone with real knowledge of aviation - and hope it provides you with a distraction from other dramas. Smile

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 20:57

"but surely if the mumbling was from potential loss of consciousness rather than just a poor connection with interference, the pilot in the other plane would have flagged up concerns at the time?"

But if he was talking into the radio through and oxygen mask ut would be quite distorted. It's hard to guess why the other pilot didn't do more. If it's true at all, which given how many false leads we've had so far, might not be the case!

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:00

".... I'm wondering why the aircraft in front was requested to contact it."

Was it asked to contact it? I don't know because pilots do sometimes just talk to each other on the radios - talking about weather they encounter, the cricket scores and other important stuff. If they were asked to contact it, then it would be the Vietnamese asking as they never had the Malaysian flight enter their sector.

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 13/03/2014 21:01

I think it was that (from something I read days ago)

it wasn't random

GarthsUncle · 13/03/2014 21:04

By confirmed I meant collected a piece of unequivocal physical evidence - if the ship is going there to search, assume that's what it's trying to do.

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:04

"I think it was that (from something I read days ago)

it wasn't random"

I'm sure it wasn't! There's so much confusion it's hard to filter who said what when. Pilots still only have the microphones on their headsets, so you can imagine that if they had pulled on an oxygen mask or a smoke hood and were talking through that into the mike, it would sound mumbled. So they weren't necessarily hypoxic at that stage. But they might well have been. Until the get the cockpit voice recorder we won't know.

DowntonTrout · 13/03/2014 21:06

I had also read that the Vietnamese asked the pilot in the other plane to pass on a message to the pilot as they had not had contact from the plane and knew that it should have entered their airspace.

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:07

"it wasn't random"

Oh sorry - I think I misunderstood. No, I'm not saying that you aren't telling the truth.

I mean if the report is true, which it might not be. Just to clarify!

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 13/03/2014 21:07

sorry, unclear - I meant that the other pilot was asked (by Vietnam ATC?) to contact the Malaysian plane (not that they were talking through oxygen masks!)

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:08

"I had also read that the Vietnamese asked the pilot in the other plane to pass on a message to the pilot as they had not had contact from the plane and knew that it should have entered their airspace."

Ok - I missed that report - so yes, Vietnam was obviously worried that MH370 hadn't checked in. There are so many reports that are confirmed then dismissed and the reclaimed again... it's impossible to keep track!

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:11

ANd I'm being unclear.

Sorry!

The other pilots (allegedly) reported that when they contacted MH370, the reponse was mumbled. I'm speculating that the reason it sounded garbled could have been that the pilots were speaking through a mask or a hood or they might have been hypoxic.

JillJ72 · 13/03/2014 21:11

I think that is what must be so distressing and so wearing for friends and family - the information, the denials, more info, more denials. I really hope this is resolved. Surely a plane cannot "just disappear"?

What is the Bermuda Triangle, and could there be an equivalent that side of the world?

JillJ72 · 13/03/2014 21:12

PS - Goldie all the way Thanks

GoldieMumbles · 13/03/2014 21:13

I'm going to have to turn in for the night Groupies ladies Grin

I'm a bit shaken up after a little incident today and I really need to rest a bit.

Tata
Love
Goldie

ZingSweetMango · 13/03/2014 21:14

night night you goddess!Grin

JKSLtd · 13/03/2014 21:14

I have found the whole story so bizarre, I can't stay away from it.

Am fascinated, in a slightly morbid way I confess, and can't wait to hear what the Americans find, if anything, in the Indian Ocean.

We were talking at work today about the possibility of a 'stolen' plane, landed somewhere and kept for some future terrorist attack, scary thoughts.

But we kept coming back to - can such a big plane land anywhere, (safely, as it needs to be kept intact to reuse) and no-one notice?