Missing MH370 thread cont...

[Pennies]

Old thread here

New thread here.

They could be negotiating as we speak

But they we asked directly at the news convene if anyone had been in touch and they stated very clearly that no one at all had. Would they not just evade the question if they were? I'm not sure they'd say a straight no....

News conference

I don't believe that gold (given weights it wouldn't be much on a full passenger plane from what I understand) would be worth the trouble of hijacking a plane, I can't help but remember the boyfriend of the guardian journalist who attempted to transport Snowdens files. Doesn't have to be gold to be valuable.

I'm not really given to government conspiracys either at the moment. It would be incredibly lax of them to allow this to stay open to such speculation for so long. I truly think we would have been presented with some kind of 'evidence' by now.

Sadly I can't imagine any scenario after this length of time that would result in everybody being found alive.

I know of course it's a tragedy for the adults too but for me the most haunting thing is what those very, very young children went through. And their parents. Even in a hostage situation I can't see it panning out well for them.

"Why did no one use their phone or the planes phone (if it had one) to make contact, request help, say goodbye to loved ones ?"

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!

I'm not answering that for fifth time!

"How often does the ACARS system send out data? It's not a continous stream is it? I thought it was every 30 mins."

I don't know the 'intimate' details of the Boeing ACARS but the sytsem I know doesn't transmit unless there's something to report.

The area they are now searching in is so vast. Including so much water.
And they dont appear to have much of a clue where to start looking.
This could take some while.

"If the ACARS wasn't due to 'ping' again for another half hour, does that mean the ACARS and transponder were disabled in the same time period, so both about 14 mins after the last ACARS ping... NOT separately as is being reported. I think whatever happened in the cockpit happened v. quickly. The hijackers would surely want to take over control and render the plane into stealth immediately, not fanny about."

This last bit, about fannying around, is what I was mentioning up thread doesn't make sense to me. Again, I don't know the intimate details but I would have thought thatthe ACARS final transmission was the one saying it was turning off.

"Goldie thanks thank you for taking time to answer, and being patient with my cluelessness!"

My pleasure. It's nice to contribute to something I know about!

"Do you think it's likely to be at the bottom of the ocean somewhere?"

It's most likely, I think. In a lot of ways it's preferable to the alternative!

Gindrinker - Uighur separatists claimed it early on apparently but China dismissed the claims as being bollocks.
What if it wasn't bollocks though?
www.news.com.au/national/uighur-separatists-claim-over-missing-flight-mh370-may-be-reexamined/story-fncynjr2-1226855911080

Am trying not to get too conspiracy theorist about this, but China is not exactly known for its free and frank engagement with the world's press. Absolutely no reason why they would be open and honest about any ongoing situation, partic when it makes them look bad and focuses world attention on Xinjiang, the Uighurs and Tibet.

PS. I do accept that the most likely explanation is still that it has crashed somewhere, btw!

"off topic but earlier you mentioned that the passengers in the Air France flight probably weren't aware of dropping, something that, like others, really disturbed me and disturbs me now when flying. Is that because the pitch of the plane wasn't pointing down because they were trying to climb but stalled or because the sudden deceleration would have rendered them unconscious or something else?"

No - I tried to explain it (probably badly) when I wrote originally. Think about the flights you've taken. When the plane starts to descend you get that feeling in your tummy that you get on rollercoasters - that's the sensation of negative-G. After that, although the plane is coming down, it's kind of stable and you can't 'feel' that the plane is dropping. So the Air France crash the chances are that they would feel the initial drop and then not much else. It might have felt like flying through turbulence but you wouldn't be able to tell what was happening, really. I don't think there'd be panic and screaming like they show in the films. It's just not what really happens.

"If 'they' can switch off the satellite signal then I suppose anything is possible."

That's very easy to do, though. Pull one circuit breaker. Done. sending a false identity is a lot, lot harder.

Thanks, goldie. That's explained things and reassured me!

I'm curious as to why the US sent a ship straight to the Indian Ocean. I hope it wasn't because they knew they'd shot something down out of the skies and were nipping over to have a look at what it was.

Ah thanks for clarification re life insurance. So the pilot wouldn't have had a reason to 'hide' his suicide, and he could've just crashed into the sea and got the same result. I don't believe it was suicide btw.

It just seems like most of the scenarios left are the more 'tin foil hat' ones, with cover ups and misinformation.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but something unprecedented has happened here, and I'm not sure when, or if, the truth will out.

I suppose the pilot could have spent hours flying around unsure about suicide. It doesn't seem very likely though.

This is probably very far-fetched but could terrorists hack into the planes control system and take control of the plane remotely without actually being on board?

Apart from the insights of the estimable Goldie, the best post on the thread is that of IamRechargingthankYou:

Please leave the pilots out of it for the time being - its correct and proper that they should first be investigated (and seen to be before their characters are thrown to the baying mob in appeasement) despite the fact they might be/are probably dead, dying as they fought humans/the elements/faulty equipment/etc? trying to save all souls on board as 99.999% of pilots would do.

Amen.

Is Sky news the best place to watch for any news updates do you think?

"Apart from the insights of the estimable Goldie, the best post on the thread is that of IamRechargingthankYou:

Please leave the pilots out of it for the time being - its correct and proper that they should first be investigated (and seen to be before their characters are thrown to the baying mob in appeasement) despite the fact they might be/are probably dead, dying as they fought humans/the elements/faulty equipment/etc? trying to save all souls on board as 99.999% of pilots would do.

Amen."

I just pray they aren't being lined up as scapegoats. Thanks for the compliment, though!

My theory is not as far fetched as I thought. I was just reading that it is one of the possible theories under investigation. Scary stuff if it turns out to be caused by cyber-warfare .

Depends, have they got Kay Burley on the story yet?

I do agree, maltese.

I suppose the pilot could have spent hours flying around unsure about suicide. It doesn't seem very likely though.

This is probably very far-fetched but could terrorists hack into the planes control system and take control of the plane remotely without actually being on board?"

Using what signals? The plane isn't designed to be flown by remote so it's not hacking into and taking over a pre existing system.

They'd have to take over all comms systems as well if no distress signals could be sent when the plane turned west "of it's own accord"