Beijing-bound MAS plane carrying 239 people missing as of 20 mins ago.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


This is from the press conference from early this morning (around 6am), I don't think there has been any more official info since then.

reply to post by Hmmmmmmm

And since a white 777 with MALAYSIA in 12 foot blue letters would be noticed, that leaves military facilities.

Not to mention showing up near a commercial airport with no transponder or some bogus code and mentioning that you would like to land your 777.

I also think a do-it-yourself runway isn't an option if the plane is expected to stay undamaged.

Wonder if there is some special cargo the authorities do not want to mention.

From Reuters...




Source

You know, there's been a lot of speculation about someone maybe taking this jet for nefarious or selfish purposes. But I got to thinking that if they wanted to do this, they probably really wouldn't have taken it with all those people on board knowing that it would garner this much attention (unless of course attention is what they were seeking, but this doesn't seem to be the case). A more likely and much easier way would be to hijack/steal a on-passenger plane.

This makes me think it was a military or weapons testing op gone wrong or the target was someone on that plane and/or their knowledge of something. The laser-from-satellite testing or the cloaking device testing or going off at the wrong time or alien theories are still in play for me too though.

Monte-Carlo
That is absolutely insane if the plane was hijacked and flown to an other country !

Pulling this off with success in this day and age is more than mind-boggling.

Furthermore, taking care of the 240 hostages is no easy task....

8 of the 12 crew members were men, an unusual occurrence by itself.

But the cabin oxygen is the key to controlling the passengers, either by putting another gas besides 02 in the masks, or by overriding the system so that they suffocate.

At 45,000 feet you have about 10 seconds before things start going black.

But I still think the masks would be easier.

If you were dozing in a darkened airplane and those masks dropped, you'd put it on so fast you wouldn't even think about it.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


So say this search is covering 10 times the distance of these other crashes, it stands to reason that it is taking so long.

roadgravel
reply to post by Hmmmmmmm

 

And since a white 777 with MALAYSIA in 12 foot blue letters would be noticed, that leaves military facilities.

Not to mention showing up near a commercial airport with no transponder or some bogus code and mentioning that you would like to land your 777.

I also think a do-it-yourself runway isn't an option if the plane is expected to stay undamaged.

Wonder if there is some special cargo the authorities do not want to mention.

There's the rub.

If they aren't interested in the plane itself, an off field landing is very possible.

But if they want to use the plane again, they need a proper runway and ability to refuel.

reply to post by DrHammondStoat


Well, so, it seems they've upped the amount of flight time from 4 to 7 hours based on factors just now coming to light. Why they didn't know this day 1 is beyond me and highly suspect.

Some more information about the pings received. This is confirmed though there could be more sat information received from other sources.

www.bbc.co.uk...

The story of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is a mystery for sure, but information is now starting to emerge that allows us to join some of the dots.

We know the aeroplane was fitted with a satellite system that enabled it to pass information to the ground during its journey.

This system, called "Classic Aero" and operated by London's big satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat, can transmit a range of data, even voice calls.

In its official statement, all Inmarsat will say is that it did indeed receive signals over its network from the plane, and that these were automated "pings".

All this has been shared with the Malaysian authorities.

What my sources tell me is that flight MH370 continued to ping for at least five hours after the aircraft left Malaysian airspace.

There is simply no way such a signal can be sent unless a plane is intact and powered.

Automated pings are essentially just an "I'm live" message.

Nonetheless, their receipt alone should make it possible to work out not just an approximate position for the aircraft at the time of transmission, but also an altitude.

All this may explain why the Americans have now suggested the search should be extended to the Indian Ocean.

~Lucidity
From Reuters...



You know, there's been a lot of speculation about someone maybe taking this jet for nefarious or selfish purposes. But I got to thinking that if they wanted to do this, they probably really wouldn't have taken it with all those people on board knowing that it would garner this much attention (unless of course attention is what they were seeking, but this doesn't seem to be the case). A more likely and much easier way would be to hijack/steal a on-passenger plane.

This makes me think it was a military or weapons testing op gone wrong or the target was someone on that plane and/or their knowledge of something. The laser-from-satellite testing or the cloaking device testing or going off at the wrong time or alien theories are still in play for me too though.

edit on 3/15/2014 by ~Lucidity because: (no reason given)

Planes are always stored without fuel, it is probably very much easier to get on board a fueled passenger plane then a cargo plane.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Official story is that they were waiting to verify, which is plausible, given the sensitive nature of the investigation.

Jonah Fisher
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur
For days the Malaysian authorities refused to confirm or deny the many rumours surrounding the fate of flight MH370.

They insisted that they were waiting to verify information before going public with anything. Those desperate for answers, not least the relatives of the passengers, complained that they must be hiding something.

Now, perhaps stung by criticism from China, Malaysia's PM has put what feels like close to everything on the table.

In a surprisingly open statement he explained what the investigators now believe is true, and the huge uncertainties that remain.

It is what many wish had been done from the start.

For many the idea that the plane might have crossed a large part of Asian airspace unnoticed is far-fetched.

But for now it seems to be the main theory being pursued.

reply to post by DrHammondStoat


They knew the plane changed course and altitude, they knew there was radio contact.

If it had been a slow decompression the autopilot would have kept the plane headed to Beijing.

And they also had this ping data.

I understand holding cards close to your vest, but this info should have been released the minute is was confirmed, this is a global situation.

If they have access to fuel to get that plane back up in the air, they could literally hit anywhere.

With a full load of fuel they could hit the U.S.

7,725 nautical miles
(14,305 km)
Typical city pairs:
London - Los Angeles
Tokyo - Sydney
Chicago - Seoul

reply to post by Hmmmmmmm


Exactly, given the time scale, it could easily have refueled a few times over and be literally ANYWHERE.

That said, the VERIFIED information is now being released, there could be way further intel on the location that is as yet either unverified or deliberately being kept from the public due to it being currently investigated.

For example if it might have a live location and airborne it might not be such a good idea saying ''hey we know where you are now!''.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


But the pings just say, I'm around, not I'm at this location. Still it might help corroborate the new 7-hour flight time theory.

ETA: Can the pings to the satellite be triangulated somehow? Probably not as the pings are one way, so they wouldn't have the information they needed to do this.

reply to post by puntito

In a crate would be very easy at some locations.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


The report says the last known ping gave a possible location and ACARS was switched off so it was another ping from a satellite that obviously suggested a location.

Due to the official information being released lacking specifics on the sat info received, if they say there is a suggested location, then some intel somewhere has suggested a possible location, and the details yet to be released.

reply to post by Hmmmmmmm


The only problem I see with the O2 passenger masks is that they are not fed from a common source or bottle. Each passenger section, make that row and side, has its own individual oxygen generator. There is no commonality in the supply system between row/side generators.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth

So the satellite does the pinging and finds the plane and says, yes they're still there when the plane pings back? Got it. So they would have triangulation data available then. Thanks.

~Lucidity
reply to post by theabsolutetruth

 

So the satellite does the pinging and finds the plane and says, yes they're still there when the plane pings back? Got it. So they would have triangulation data available then. Thanks.

Here is a good link on how the RR engine monitoring system works. This is the "ping" being referred to.
www.forbes.com...

reply to post by rockflier

Thanks. As you can tell I'm dumb about this even though I've tried to look things up. I know how pings work on computer networks but not so much with phones and planes and finding locations of things.

Arbitrageur

Jennyfrenzy
Hijacking

The official said a deliberate takeover of the plane was no longer a theory. "It is conclusive," he said, indicating that investigators were ruling out mechanical failure or pilot error in the disappearance

How do you tell the difference between a 777-300 and a 777-2H6-ER? The latter is the model missing, the former is listed here:

vietnam.craigslist.org...

Can anyone tell them apart?

The -300/ER has 5 doors on each side while the -200/ER/LR has 4 doors on each side. The -300/ER also has an unmistakably extended fuselage while the -300ER has raked wingtips with only one engine option, GE90-115B. The -300 shares the same wings as the -200ER but is more or less a stretched out version of the -200ER.