Missing MH370 thread cont...

[Pennies]

Old thread here

New thread here.

Ooh i never thought about that totallyuseless why has there been no photos of passengers released just the pilot and co-pilot?

frankie and SirChenjin, Goldie mentioned on the previous thread that there would have been no phone coverage that far up (and also over sea).

Would it really have been worth all that effort to get the gold on board? It must be incredibly difficult to organise and the risks involved are enormous, not least of just crashing the plane. And if the hijackers are still alive, they're going to have international forces out looking for them... surely it would be easier to carry out a straightforward robbery, if money was the aim?

round up from the guardian

There have been pictures of quite a few passengers? I've seen several Chinese, the Australian, the American etc

It's been state above that phones don't work at that altitude.

The cargo hold is not oxygenated so it can't be accessed during the flight.

If the hold was opened at the altitude to parachute something then it would have a catastrophic effect on the plane. Passenger planes aren't designed that way.

it is rare to find that much money condensed into such a small volume thegirl. that's a lot a lot of millions in a volume small enough to drive away.

jamtoast, I believe it's because malfunctioning transponders sometimes need to be turned off so they don't block signals from other aircraft - I could be wrong though.

I've just read that out of respect for the passengers and crew, MA have retired the flight numbers MH370 & MH371 and they are now MH318 & MH319.

And presumably because no one would want to travel on a doomed flight number. :-(

Plus I suppose it must have some kind of circuit breaker or similar in case of a power overload.

Isn't a plane worth more than a cargo of gold would be?

As for that grass 'landing'... I'm not sure thats totally reflective of landing on grass given that plane had a fuel supply problem so was not a normal situation and was a crash landing rather than a controlled landing.

I don't think it has an off switch, it has a circuit breaker like presumably most electronics on the plane.

Maybe no passenger photos have been released out if respect for relatives, or because some are suspects and omissions would make that apparent.

Slightly off-topic but just thinking about circuit breakers, do the flight data recorders have something similar? I thought the idea was that they were basically indestructible, but what happens if that malfunctions dangerously?

But flights have phones on them so if they weren't been held at gunpoint they could have used the credit card swipe ones.

Place marking.

Just marking my place here

Thanks!

quote from a poster earlier on this thread:

The value of gold was $44.42 per gram at close of business on Friday so 10 tonnes alleged to be on the plane is worth $440 million after refining costs.

Gold in raw form that has been melted down mixed with other gold and recast in small bars is virtually untraceable. It is treated as currency in many parts of the Middle East and Asia. That $440 million would go along way in that part of the World.

^^that's a lot of money - i don't know how much a plane costs but less than that i'd have thought and a plane is rather traceable and a massive liability and can't be sold whereas gold is raw currency and can be made untraceable.

'Isn't a plane worth more than a cargo of gold would be?'

I don't know what it costs to buy but a stolen plane would be pretty hard to use for most purposes or to sell on!

Marking my place, very interesting, some conspiracy theories and then some techno stuff to enlighten us

Surely it would be easier to steal bullion on the ground, like the Brinks Mat robbery? Yes, it's a lot of money, but the risks of doing it like this are much greater than a straightforward robbery, aren't they?

Isn't the gold still just a rumour, or has it been confirmed as being on board?

Maybe the gold was an added extra.

Gold is still just a rumour.

To be honest I think I just want it to be that because out of all the scenarios it's the one with the best hope of some of the passengers still being alive, but it's almost certainly just wishful thinking.

i'm just speculating on the relative plausability of the speculations going round rather than saying i think that's the right one. i think $44million of gold is a more viable target than a traceable airplane the whole world will be looking out for. that doesn't mean i think gold is what this is about or that the gold was on there.

i'd have thought in the air would be the time of least security - perhaps the only possible time to steal it and get away if that was what they were after. especially if it's possible to drop it out of the plane to be picked up at set coordinates somewhere.

Agree, Tunip. If there is even the smallest hope that some of the passengers may be alive, then that seems something to cling on to.

Can I ask, does anyone know why they are considering two flight paths after it lost contact, and not one absolute one, given it was 'pinging' off satellites (not techical, sorry)?