Missing MH370 thread cont...

[Pennies]

Old thread here

New thread here.

[Moonfacesmother]

Yes!

But otoh it's not going to easily get to a city or developed country without being spotted and in all likelihood shot down.

It could be used for a midair crash into another plane I guess...

[Slh122]

misstired that thought has crossed my mind. Like someone said on the other thread if it is terrorism and no one has claimed it yet, does this mean that the 'main event' hasn't happened yet?

[NeverTalksToStrangers]

Yes, the thought of attack worries me. Curious as to possible target too. China/Malaysia most likely (9/11 used American planes/passengers against Americans), but why not just hijack plane and keep flying to China/Malaysia in that case?

[NeverTalksToStrangers]

There is the other possibility that the passengers took the plane down in the sea somewhere ala 9/11? Could explain no groups claiming it if aim was to target particular land area? Plane hijacked but plan partially foiled.

[DowntonTrout]

God forbid anyone trying to start a war against the Chinese.

[PublicEnemyNumeroUno]

I doubt it will get near any developed countries, everyone will be on high alert now. But yes what about aiming for other planes.

But it could be that this plane was hijacked because the security wasn't as high in Malaysia, i mean it would be extremely difficult to hijack a plane on route to the states or UK

If it wanted to hit China surely it would have just continued to Beijing

[Catsmamma]

BBC now

MH370...comms deliberately turned off, and diverted west to the Indian Ocean

1 hour after take off, passing over Malaysia...out iver the Indian Ocean and then heading inland maybe

Signal received 7 hours after take off, but still unclear as to location of signal

Pilot's home is being searched in KL, looking in case of any involvement

[TheArticFunky]

If the plane was hijacked by Chinese Terrorists perhaps the passengers are still alive and the Terrorists are holding them hostage to be used as a bargaining tool?

I suspect that we are close to finding out what has happened.

Hoping and praying that the passengers are still alive. A week ago we all assumed they were dead.

[Applejuice70]

I remember reading online that families of those on the plane stating that there mobiles are still ringing!

[SauceForTheGander]

I spoke to a pilot today - . I suspect this has already been pointed out but I didn't know so sharing - and this is the sum total of what he said so I can't answer any queries ....

The black box (which is actually bright orange) is stored in the plane's tail and cannot be accessed during flight nor can it be broken into and turned off. It can withstand any impact obviously and will still give off its GPS even deep under water - as in the Air France crash.

He had no explanation for this missing flight.

[NeverTalksToStrangers]

Using hostages as bargaining tool is entirely possible... traditional hijack plan... doesn't explain lack of communication though. If that was the case the authorities would have known it was a hijack a week ago. How long they have known is debatable but the has definitely been a period of silence.

[cashewfrenzy]

I agree that I think there must be some very intense and secret dealings going on just now. The poor families must be on a complete rollercoaster of hope.

[cashewfrenzy]

I suppose there's a chance it's been known that this was a hijack all along, but not publicised for the sake of jeopardising negotiations.

[TheArticFunky]

Unless it was a deliberate plan of the Terrorists to remain silent for as long as possible in order to demonstrate that they could hide a plane and get away with it. It sounds incredibly far-fetched but who knows? Nobody would've predicted any of this.

[Gruntfuttock]

EmmaSue " Everybody has a mobile these days, if someone claims they don't, they can be searched, or just killed on the spot."

Everybody does not have a mobile these days. I've never had one.

[traininthedistance]

China's response to this has been very strange - while the Pentagon was making (leaked but clearly definite in hindsight) statements about satellite pings, China was leaking pictures of potential wreckage which turned out up be a red herring (and was later claimed to be a mistake), and then claims of sea-bed seismic activity in a search area that has now been abandoned. Why? Is their monitoring much less capable than we assume? If their military defence spy coverage is as good as people think, why are they letting the US get so involved in tracking a plane full of Chinese nationals? It will be deeply embarrassing for China if the US is able to locate the wreckage of / an intact plane. It is all extremely odd.

[meditrina]

If all the events were in the flight deck, passengers in the cabin might not have known anything was happening.

I've just caught a timeline update on the news, and (assuming that ACARS on/off switch is actually located in the flight deck), it struck me that they say it was turned off 20 minutes before the last voice communications from the pilots. So surely they knew it had happened? Does the calm, normal airspace handover message point to collusion or coercion? Or to someone other than the pilots flying the plane before that point?

[livingzuid]

There's a huge amount of smoke and mirrors. Which imo means they know far more than they are letting on. Chinese govt also is a master of manipulation. They've just released a statement slamming the investigation and taking a swipe at the US as well.

[EmmaSue]

Grunt I perhaps should have put "everbody" in quote marks. Clearly there are people that don't have mobiles or don't have them with them at any particular moment. I was trying to say that the easiest thing for a hijacker to do would be to assume that everyone has one and that anyone who denies it may be lying and to deal with them as they saw fit.

[MarianneEnjolras]

Do the Chinese even have a choice in letting the US get involved? This is an international incident, I can't imagine they have much say in who joins in the search.

[tess73]

Placemarking on new thread

[AnyaKnowIt]

Does anyone else think.its something to with the recent terror attack in China. There was the train stabings and that car crash?

[misstiredbuthappy]

Who are likely to be the hijackers ? And where would an attack likely to happen ?