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

The thing that is so scary for me is that it's so audacious and impossible to think terrorists (I'm assuming that's who it is) could steal a huge jet complete with people on and steer it out of the way of radar (according to the Guardian) and get away with it. Obviously don't know where it's ended up, either landed or in the sea, but to even make the attempt boggles my brain and not In a good way. 9/11 was unthinkable and so is this.

Thoughts are with the families and those passengers :(

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/15/flight-mh370-malaysians-convinced-missing-airliner-was-hijacked

Could be anywhere, even off the coast of Australia some reports suggest. I did wonder about Indonesia.

They said the last satelite was at 8:11 AM Saturday (Malaysia time) nearly 8 hours after it took off.

The latest news must be terrifying for the relatives.

It's one thing to be instantly killed in a crash but to be taken hostage by a terrorist group or other organisation and be at their mercy, must be very distressing.

It does offer some small glimmer of hope that the passengers are alive.

But how long would it take to fly from Malaysia to Aceh? I don't think it's more than 3 hours...

It's not that unthinkable - hijackings before 9/11 were all about taking over the cockpit and forcing the flight to divert to a different airport. Sometimes terrorist, sometimes political, sometimes even asylum seeking.

So I suppose the key question now has to be, where was it heading, and did it get there?

Hijackings happen for a reason though - no demands have been issued, which is unusual.

I'm interested in the occupations of the passengers (who was on there that some groups would want rid of) and the cargo list (was there something of immense value in the plane).

Can anyone tell me if the thing about the phones ringing was a hoax or not? I can't see why people would have had their phones switched on (but then I'm a nervous flyer who is utterly paranoid about phones being on in planes!!).

I suppose that they had to follow every line of investigation however more than one person not only on here voiced thoughts of a hijack . It is very worrying - if it is the case who hijacked it ? My guess is they would have done an investigation on the passenger list . The crew? what absolute hell for the families .

The 'best' scenario would be that the plane was in a 'stan' or intact anywhere - which seems increasingly likely given no wreckage has been found. This might also explain the drip feed of info as there would be some serious ransom negotiations going on. That unfortunately is the best scenario for the passengers, crew and their families.

I think the pilot was in on it.

kitty Flying time from KL to Banda Aceh is about one and a half hours.

But if course it might have gone along the northerly corridor, not the southerly one. Or have gone to an unusual destination in Indonesia (a huge place, some remote areas).

Are there any massive international events coming up that they might try and fly a plane into? Camp bastion in Afghanistan but surely afghan air Radar is top knotch. What about Pakistan tho? When the US flew in for Osama bin laden didn't they escape detection but think due to being in helicopter and flying low.

Thoughts with families, praying for some news to relieve their utter hell.

Tho not many US or UK passengers if the west is target.

So do I Viva.

It seems the investigators are deliberately not speculating in public about motivation of whoever forced the plane off course.

There might be more information at the next press conference, but I think the tone of the PM's comments means that they'll be very careful not to say anything that has not been confirmed.

The news is giving a whole list of countries which it could have overflown. All will be asked to share data that might help spot MH370. The one I think where it won't have gone is Afghanistan, as that's where the likelihood of diligent 24/7 real time monitoring of airspace is greatest, and chance of non-communicative plane being shot down in unpopulated area the greatest. (And whatever the motive might be, I really wouldn't expect it to be a wish to be shot down over Afghanistan, as the world already knows that's what'll happen there).

The pilots might be "in on it" or might have been coerced (like eg the Entebbe pilots).

Surely at least one of the pilots yes.

Those poor families - an agonising week and now this.

Can anyone tell me if the thing about the phones ringing was a hoax or not?

Goldie stated callers sometimes get a ringing tone whilst the cell tower is trying to determine where the phone is.

I don't think the pilot was in on it. The aircraft has also been found to have done a few sudden altitude changes - these can be used by pilots to throw passengers - especially hijackers - off their balance.
Unfortunately if the hijackers start executing those in the cabin then many pilots will let them in the cockpit

GarthsUncle if you scroll up the thread to GoldieMumbles' post at Tue 11-Mar-14 19:19:2, there's an explanation about the phones and why it's a red herring/dead end.

But if the pilots were doing altitude changes to throw hijackers off balance wouldn't they also have sent a distress call out?

Yes but they would have had to have 'help' in the cabin surely unless 'life on board' was continued as normal.
If there there was a plan to go somewhere has to have a landing strip of some kind ..can't land a 777 on a grass strip .

How could they send a distress call when all comms systems were turned off?

(Need tech detail here about the relevant systems and SOPS for emergency calls - assuming any of that is in the public domain).

If the hijackers were in the cockpit then they would have to have some flight knowledge to stop the crew sending a distress call surely?

Also the rules in a crisis are Aviate, Navigate, Communicate - in that order.