Missing Malaysia Airlines MH370... Thread 4

[GoldieMumbles]

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread3

Do we know why the Norwegian vessel is the first ship on the scene? Did they just happen to be in the area go for a sneaky peek?

Frida it is a cargo ship, they were transporting cars between Australia and South Africa.

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Whatever happened to this plane, I find it hard to believe that the original pilot and co-pilot were still navigating the plane after the first 2-3 days, as they would undoubtedly need to sleep a few times between then and now.

EmNetta unless I have missed something major, I am fairly sure that the plane was 'lost' (as in from radar, satellite pings, everything) after 7 or so hours into the flight. In other words, it wasn't flying for days, but was already crashed (or whatever) very quickly on in the case.

Thanks Psammead, getting confused by various information.

You're welcome. There is a lot of information to trawl through, most of it conflicting! I must admit, the thought of it flying around and around for days made me smile - I wish it were true and everyone on it was just enjoying the scenic route, but I think it's fairly impossible for it to do that without refuelling.

Inmarsat are clearly VERY frustrated with the Malaysians. DH is suggesting that Malaysia have an interest in trying to delay the discovery for some reason (mishandled hostage negotiation?) and he is not usually very conspiracy theorist but this level of bungling is actually harder to comprehend!

Can someone (Goldie?) please confirm that it is definitely the RR engines which cause the pings to the satellite. I had thought that Inmarsat was entirely different to RR but from the above it does sounds as if actually it is some partnership between RR and Inmarsat.

I wonder how few people were even aware that this level of tracking is possible.

Inmarsat is hugely reliable as a location source. Such a shame if the WSJ article is accurate.

The sea captain on Radio 5 is spot on. Garbage fields are a hazard for shipping. I've seen photos of huge areas of garbage floating in the sea that they look like islands.

Inmarsat might get my sympathy if they actually released all their data.

So far they've given only one data point; what about the other 14.

They say their analysis hasn't changed significantly; but it has changed.

Trouble is they're not revealing either analysis.

Sorry Inmarsat, really can't tell without the data.

How do we know Inmarsat have not released all their data to the authorities?

I'm sure they have. I mean publicly.

How is anyone supposed to form an opinion about whether the Malaysians are acting appropriately/rationally re the data when it is not publicly available ?

The Norwegian ship has not found anything yet. It is foggy, and difficult.

most media outlets are now guessing the reason it crashed (if it did) is because of hypoxia, which was what Goldie said way way back in the first thread.

Why should they release it publicly though?

Goldie discounted that idea because of all of the changes in direction the plane made though.

Obviously it's their choice Doc but re:

Inmarsat officials, meanwhile, became concerned the data weren't being acted upon quickly enough to help overhaul the search

People who don't have access to the data aren't in a very good position to evaluate whether this an accurate or well-formed opinion.

I don't suppose just anyone needs to form an opinion about how the Malaysians acted at the moment. The only people who have any right to that information are the families of those on board, to all the rest of the general public it is interesting but not necessary in the way it is to them, poor souls.

I guess we don't know why they may be withholding information but there could be all sorts of reasons some of which could be vital to security and to the investigation which we have no right or indeed need to know at the moment, although, of course we all want to know otherwise we wouldn't be on this thread.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Never, Inmarsat is a British communications company. It owns the satellites which communicate with the planes' satcom antenna. The satellite 'pings' the plane every hour, the antenna pings back. Rolls Royce hires Inmarsat to collect & relay real-time engine updates from the plane, via the satellite. This is done automatically. Turns out most pilots didn't even know this existed - they do now!

Malaysian didn't subscribe to the engine information service, so all they get is info about the pings. However, it's likely that the automatic service collected the engine info anyway, as Rolls Royce feeds it into a continuous evaluation system that helps it identify strengths & weaknesses. We think they've now released this data - to the US? - and it's been analysed to show what MH370's engine was doing for 7-8 hours.

we have no right or indeed need to know at the moment, although, of course we all want to know otherwise we wouldn't be on this thread.

Perfectly expressed, imo.

The plane made two radical changes in direction if I recall? The first could have been to try and get to safety and the other I have no clue. Also the altitude changes, how did they happen? The plane didn't cruise in a straight line at the same altitude for six or seven hours after the last communication. And if there was a fire on board then surely that wouldn't have been a diddy one just knocking out the pilots and the rest of the plane stayed up?

In an awful kind of way I hope none of them were aware of what was going on.

I still also don't get why a humongous red flag wasn't raised when the plane didn't check in with Vietnamese air space when it was meant to. Or maybe it did and we don't know that either.

I wondered if it was the hypoxia how do you get a plane down safely when every one on board is comatose? You can send jets up there to take a look but then what?

But as for Inmarsat they probably can't say anything or release all their data to the media. Would that not make it worse? Look at all the tin foil we used up and I think we were restrained.

I'm with some of the others, I don't know if we will ever get the full story.

Many sources have said the satcom engine data relay depends on the ACARS system. That is incorrect. This particular service has no human interface; it's an automated maintenance thing. The fact that it carried on working shows the engine was running, that's all - it says nothing about whatever any people board may have done. If the engine data has been extracted, it will show what the plane's engine was doing all that time - altitude changes, disablement of systems, fuel state, a whole bunch of illuminating stuff.