Missing MH370 thread cont...

[Pennies]

Old thread here

New thread here.

It strikes me that the pilot may be a "good" guy, as opposed to a bad one.
He has been flying, no problems it seems, for many many years.

Santa. But you may want them in your own country?

Surely it's much easier to get them across land borders than it is to hijack a plane, kidnap them, stop any other passenger using any form of communication, fly land the plane without leaving any traces etc.

nothing has been heard from the black boxes which would survive a crash. Even a slow dive into the sea would have been picked up.

Either there was some kind of human error or there was professional hijacking.

It was the co pilot who had asked the women into the cockpit, not the pilot.

And I just read in another report that the pilot was a qualified flight simulator test examiner, which explains the simulator in his home.

Being a pilot was his life IMO. I think it will be a very sad thing if this all gets blamed on him without absolute proof.

I'm starting to think its probably at the bottom of the ocean :( surely if it had flew over land 7 days ago it would have been detected.

Its the why, who and what for questions that are the most baffling. Nobody has come forward to claim it, nobody on the flight apparently has links to terrorism (well, as far as we know anyway)

Its awful

30 years a pilot..unless he'd just been told his pension had gone bust he'd have loyalty and pride and honour

the co-pilot was younger than I'd thought he'd be; what's his story?

and the other aviation engineer guy we know of, going to Beijing to do some aeroplane stuff - who is he?

don't seriously consider the Iranians - their true identities were very easily solved, surely a massive complex event like hijacking a whole plane would've had better cover

maybe there's something else crazy valuable in the hold

Suicidal pilots have happened before.

I don't believe for one minute that the plane was shot down by some country's' military. The scrambling of planes etc would draw far too much attention for anyone to keep It a secret after the event. It would most certainly have been spotted on satellite or radar. Military installations are watched like hawks by other countries. The idea that these countries would then collude with each other and mount SAR operations to delude the public is stretching things too far.

Saying that, I have no guesses to what actually did happen. Pilot suicide seems wrong as why fly for so long? Get it over with. A hi-jacking that went wrong is more palatable than a hi- jacking for a further purpose that is yet to unfold. It seems the idea that the plane decompressed somehow and just flew on, which has now been discounted, would have been the best outcome, if that is possible. Because what might have happened/is happening, could be much worse.

Not sure if this still happens but sometimes because of the poor quality of fuel sometimes used in China, aircraft would take on double the amount so they wouldn't have to refuel in China. Could that have been why there were 50 passengers less than max because of weight restrictions? More fuel seems more plausible than carrying gold or something else worth stealing. Also this could be easily corroborated by the airline. Not sure why nothing has been said about cargo. However if it did have double the fuel and there was an event incapacitating everyone and the plane flew onward via autopilot that surely means it could be almost anywhere!

It was the co pilot who had asked the women into the cockpit, not the pilot. Thank you for this correction, Panda.

Ok question

The plane ascended to 45,000 ft then dropped to 25,000 ft-do I have that right?

At 45,000 ft, what would be the situation re hypoxia etc? Presumably the air pressure and therefore the oxygen content of the air would be much lower, meaning hypoxia was likely?

If so, could this have been a deliberate tactic-for good or not?

Is there any other function could causing a plane to rise to 45000 feet might have? I'm assuming it uses more fuel to fly at a higher altitude (or does it? presumably air resistance etc is less?)

If there was gold in the cargo, would the authorities not just say 'we think it may have been stolen for precious cargo'?

Where has the idea that there is gold on there come from? Speculation or an educated guess?

"Where has the idea that there is gold on there come from? Speculation or an educated guess?"

David Iyke forum is the top google hit.

Is anyone else wondering where the other data points from Inmarsat are ?

They've given an arc at 40 degrees from the geostationary satellite for the last data transmitted, but presumably there are 10 or more data points over the last 5 hours which aren't being published and that pretty much show the set of flight paths North and South that could have been taken.

I read on another forum that there was lithium batteries in the hold.

Sorry forgot to post this:

I've also heard about the gold on the news... Polish telly

What's the significance of that Santana? Sorry if I'm being dense!

i think it uses less fuel to fly higher altitude more to fly low.

i wasn't thinking of the pilot trying to commit suicide btw i was thinking suicidal state of mind as in not really knowing what he's doing, mental crisis kind of thing.

think i said upthread that turning back and going to that altitude could've been a strategy for alerting home of a hijack.

i don't know but i am 100% sure it won't need shooting down over york.

SinisterSal - lithium ion batteries can spontaneously catch fire and this was the cause of a previous aviation disaster. Thought they weren't allowed to be air-shipped in bulk any more.

Place marking..

Why do they say the pilots' homes were 'raided'. It makes them sound guilty when nobody knows that. Why don't they say 'searched'?

More news on daily mail...

Thank you Garlic

Sad to say it might be the best case scenario if that is what did happen - probably unlikely though

A poster on the PPrune thread said that a 777 is too heavy to reach 45000ft.

I'm not sure 'political fanatic' is the right term for someone who supported the main opposition leader (who was jailed on sodomy grounds IIRC) in a country where democratic structures aren't the strongest. Stupid Daily Fail crap journalism.