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

Hard to believe the US or the chinese with all their intelligence and capabilities didn't know, don't you think?

I'm thinking they took it down....:(

I'm assuming the commas were turned off after they got in the cockpit. If the cockpit door was locked they should have had time to put out a call?

Hijacking has a clear purpose meditrina. This is not comparable to your normal hijack. They make demands, they have bombs and everyone knows about it. No less awful but authorities and families at least know where they stand.

Here there is nothing, although I suspect they must know more than has been let on, perhaps to avoid mass hysteria, I don't know. Someone has stolen a plane and deliberately kept it quiet. The fact that it is even possible to do this after all the attacks on aviation is horrendous. No one knows why, which at the moment makes it also just as hard to try and prevent it from happening again.

And in the meantime families have to live with the knowledge that their loved ones might have been kept in fear for hours on end and still have no clue what happened to them. As for the passengers what they must have gone through... I have no words.

The hijackers could have been in the cockpit when the pilots took evasive action - the pilots will unlock the door if the Chief Steward(ess) asks them to - the pilots won't necessarily know if the request is made under duress.

This is fascinating but tragic. I can't imagine how the families feel.

I was trying to quote someone else's question medi but not very well

Well i think it's what we all suspected but this news opens up a big can of worms ... where, why, how and who? I am so sad for those innocent people ... :(

Of course hijacking has a purpose. Why would anyone think not?

We do not know what the purpose was. We do not know if the plane reached the new destination safely. If hijackers' demands were intended to be given once on the ground somewhere, but never made it, then we might never know. Unless good quality information is discovered during the investigations into those on board.

The pilots could have been threatened before they boarded the plane. I.e they could have been told their family member or members will be murdered unless they act normally upon take off etc and await further instructions mid flight.

Also - about an hour in to a long haul journey such as this is about the time the Chief Steward/ess will be 'knocking' asking the pilots if they want anything to drink, etc.

Hijacking used to have a purpose didn't it? Using the hostages for demands and it was all about negotiation. Now it's used as a game changer to create international fear and chaos and notoriety for the group responsible.

I hope this isn't the start of something far bigger as 9/11 was.

I hadn't even thought about the plane having been taken down tugsmommy.

This thread has been interesting reading. My instincts are that this plane reached a destination somewhere as otherwise more would have been released re debris or wreckage and the investigation into why would take place later. At the moment there is too much focus on where.

When did I say this hijacking didn't have a purpose?

We just don't know what it is.

A 777 has disappeared, with 230 odd people on board and no one seems to have a clue what happened.

That in itself makes it a completely different scenario to before, and a very frightening one. You said it was just a hijack, not that unusual. Yes, it is that unusual because there hasn't been a scenario like this before.

I'm glad that we're not flying anywhere this year.

Well, no-one's been searching for wreckage off Aceh, or in the Indonesian jungle, or up near Tashkent, or many of the places in the two corridors. So it may or may not have reached a destination. But there is hope that it has.

9/11 was indeed a game changer in how the public thinks about the threat posed by a plane taken over by someone with hostile intent. But that doesn't mean than an old-style hijacking can never take place again.

For those wondering how the hijackers might have gained entry to the cockpit - remember the report from those S African girls who spent entire flight in cockpit with one of these very pilots. Perhaps the hijackers knew about this behaviour and used it to their advantage?

I also wonder if the plane is to be used as a weapon somehow, somewhere. But then surely it's one thing to get away with flying unseen to a secret location, but quite another to pull it off again now that the world is on alert and looking out for it.

I'm certain the authorities, particularly the US and China, know far more about this than they're letting on. How very scary

It's frightening to me because it shows there are no depths to which a fanatic won't stoop to. It may be political, it may be religious, it may be deranged, who knows, but someone has gone to great lengths to create fear and maximum disruption.

As you say sauce it's another layer in the whole scene and we can but hope it's not going to lead to more 9/11 type actions.

How awful for all those involved and their families

I do think this would stop me flying right now!

Scary

My apologies livingzuid. I read your post (bolding my name) as suggesting that I had said something which led you to think I needed to have 'purpose' pointed out to me. I am glad to see you had no such intent.

Not at all, just debating :) sorry if I wrote wrong.

God, what awful English - sorry that it came across badly would sound better!,

I should have been clearer - apologies living

I meant hijacking used to have a list of tangible and clear demands - hijacking still has a purpose - like let's create the maximum amount of fear.

I think this is highly unusual. It's a total game changer as 9/11 was IMO. The world is watching this. It's not "just" another suicide bomber - which depressingly we've become inured to.

I'm only popping into this thread for a sec - I'm a bit stunned by what's been revealed this morning because it starts to fit the theory that I said I thought wasn't credible. But it seems that it's possible that nations whose airspace this flight has transited have kep quiet about it.

It's very unusual in that there are no stated aims, which makes you think it's either been taken over and they've found that 6000ft runway and hangar; or the hijackers aren't as smart as they thought and the aircraft ran out of fuel and ditched/crashed. This has happened before - see this of Ethiopian ailrines that was hijacked and ran out of fuel - close to land as it happened.

Got to go out for most of the day now - hopefully will check back in tonight.

I hope this plane has reached a destination too.

1. most passengers are Chinese - a very rich country now
2. the aircraft can land on a much shorter runway than it needs to take off - less than the legal minimum of about 5,500m, particularly as it wasn't fully loaded (about 2/3rds?) and you dump fuel shortly before landing - so say possible on 4,750m.
3. With enough preparation I believe it's possible to camouflage a 777 from satellite detection.

But this is only a hope, it could still have ended up in the sea...

"so say possible on 4,750m."

Much, much less than that. You can put a 777 down on about 6000ft - around 2000m.