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

Leonidas

Passenger jets aren't sold like cars. Boeing doesn't just toss you the keys and tell you to come back for free oil-change. Especially with a low-cycle 777.

Airplane parts pay little attention to racism, unless you are suggesting that they somehow conspire to only let "the dirty 'other'" on the plane, then suggesting racism has anything to do with it indicates a prejudice not on their parts, but your own.

I know that. Catching a flight is supposed to be safer than driving a car. But safety is compromised if the vehicle is neglected. Seeing as this is a relatively new plane. I would love to see their maintenance history. If there is even one.

The racism i was refering to is directed at the government. Their policies are racially motivated. Fell free to browse the net on this issue.

Leonidas
So you had a bad flight on MAS. By that standard, there is not an airline on the planet worth stepping onto. I have had my worst and best experiences on the same airline, so what does that say about it?

Your statement that "They just don't maintain the planes regularly like their neighbour Singapore" stinks of the orifice it was pulled from.

Can you counter argument that statement rather than using immature language?

Leonidas
Close to 300 people are likely dead and died in a horrifying fashion. That is the issue.

You are talking about the effect. I am talking about the cause (rather possible cause). So what is the issue exactly?

reply to post by f0xbat


Hmm... instead of you and Leonids getting into it, why don't we stay on topic. You two can pm each other if you want to argue.

Here's the link speculating the Vietnamese navy has found the downed plane
my.news.yahoo.com...

Feels like a tragedy in the making

reply to post by tothetenthpower


S & F

I am unclear as to whether the plane "went down" or "went missing".

The reports I am hearing on it being "missing" is making me think of the Bermuda Triangle. What is actually going on with the plane??

QueenofSpades
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

S & F

I am unclear as to whether the plane "went down" or "went missing".

The reports I am hearing on it being "missing" is making me think of the Bermuda Triangle. What is actually going on with the plane??

Recent reports have the plane crashing into the Sea.

The yahoo article said the emergency locaters automatically activates upon impact. Seems like a long delay to confirm if they knew the exact location.

reply to post by opethPA


That is HORRIBLE!

I am not getting info from the MSM on this, other than the ticker at the bottom. That's why I had to come here to get the "news".

QueenofSpades
reply to post by opethPA

 

That is HORRIBLE!

I am not getting info from the MSM on this, other than the ticker at the bottom. That's why I had to come here to get the "news".

Here is a link to one article showing it : my.news.yahoo.com...

Bilk22

Zaphod58
reply to post by Bilk22

 

Air France was weather related. The pitot tubes froze and they stalled after losing external references.

I guess I was confusing that with the flight incident off of the coast of Long Island back in the 90s.

TWA Flight 800

Looking at the time stated that they heard the signal finally, they should be pretty close to getting there by now if not there all ready. A 150 miles give or take isn't really that far for a chopper at least to look it over a bit. I'll be curious what they might be able to guess right away from any possible floating debris.

All in all very sad for the families.

Sadly the place crashed -

Vietnam media: Navy confirms flight MH370 crashed into the sea

UPDATE [12:37]: Tuoi Tre, a leading daily in Vietnam, reports that the Vietnamese Navy has confirmed the plane crashed into the ocean. According to Navy Admiral Ngo Van Phat, Commander of the Region 5, military radar recorded that the plane crashed into the sea at a location 153 miles South of Phu Quoc island.

UPDATE [12:01]: Altogether, 239 passengers & crew, from 14 different nationalities, including two infants. Passengers were from:
1. China - 152 plus 1 infant

2. Malaysia - 38

3. Indonesia - 12

4. Australia - 7

5. France - 3

6. United States of America - 3 pax plus 1 infant

7. New Zealand - 2

8. Ukraine - 2

9. Canada - 2

10. Russia - 1

11. Italy - 1

12. Taiwan - 1

13. Netherlands - 1

14. Austria - 1


The flight was piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53. He has a total flying hours of 18,365 hours.

He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981. First officer, Fariq Ab.Hamid, a Malaysian, is aged 27. He has a total flying hours of 2,763 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.

Zaphod58
reply to post by majesticgent

 

Going by what the transponder data shows on FlightAware, it was sudden, and it tore the aircraft apart. The data shows the plane climbing out, they reach 35,000 feet with a slowing climb rate, then they're level, then there's nothing.

Come on Zaphod..I read farther from here..and I know you hate jumping conclusions...but you know if it's sudden like this( transponder just stops ) then there are 2 possibilities.
And both possibilities involve you know what.
I don't wish to say them since it would be heartless.
So it's best to wait and see.

If it was a missile. Would they have picked it up on radar? Or are there a new line of stealth missiles?
Or could a very large flock of birds do this?
I'm also not ruling out that perhaps there may have been another plane with it's transponder off? Thus colliding.
In any case why did it vanish from radar?
At 35,000 ft. Any working radar should have seen a blip.

The pilot should've alerted the ground of any trouble...

Strange that there was no communication before the crash (or perhaps I missed that there was?)

I'm having a Lost moment...

reply to post by QueenofSpades


You could try BBC, CBC, CCTV they are all reporting on it fully, with people in Beijing, Ho Chi Minh and Malaysia. There is also the official website of MAS that has information on it.

Phu Quoc is off the south coast of Cambodia and Vietnam, but Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh are not as close. It is across the Gulf of Thailand from Malaysia.

They seem to have located the crash 250 km off Tho Chu Island...

No mention of any distress signal/communication from the plane

I wonder if dirigible crashes would be fatal especially in the water.

This is why I hate flying!

reject
The pilot should've alerted the ground of any trouble...

They may have and that is not being released, or they may not have had time. There are air disasters that develop over time and other ones that leave little to no time to respond.

Given that the flight was six hours overdue before it was confirmed to have crashed into the Gulf of Thailand, yet the authorities at the airport were collecting relatives to take to a nearby hotel before the official announcement is an example of them knowing what happened, but not releasing the information for general consumption until those directly affected can be informed.

Does anyone have any idea what that sea of water is like at this time of year? I mean is it considered treacherous like sailing around Cape Horn or is it a bit calmer? Just wonder just how much more difficult it could make this.

I do know one thing, even though nothing can make this any better, I really hope it wasn't a bomb or missile or anything like that. This world just can't take any more negative in that vain I don't think.

Here is a link to live updates from Australian news. It switches language on occasion
Wont take the post for the live feed here , just use the link

link to live feed

reply to post by onehuman


The alleged crash site is in warm water (South China Sea) but at 1:40 am Vietnam local time, what will be? 25 or 20 degree Celsius? Southern Vietnam is now warm in the day time, just transit there a couple of days ago.

Apart from that, what else is going to happen or happening now? Very strange to have this long to lost contact...Either some ATC is sloppy or something sinister is happening. The location is near to Vietnam coastline, if Vietnam claimed it is not in its airspace, then to what extent is its boundary including the sea boundary? Not forgetting that the Spratley Island is being claimed by Vietnam and that is much further south away. If the plane is not in its airspace then Vietnam should not be having any argument with China. But there's a lot of Chinese passengers in the flight, more than Malaysians since it is a Malaysian flag carrier.

Watch out the other hand. :-(

Of course, perhaps it is something more sanguine. The plane lost control in some form and crash in the sea. If that is the case, then Malaysia Airlines will suffer bad reputation and hopefully there's gonna be a change in Prime Minister, since he is in charge of the organization having the main shareholding in Malaysia Airlines, being also the Finance Minsiter. The current Prime Minister is total nincoompoop. It also came on the night after the Malaysian Court of Appeal dished out a kangaroo sentence on the Opposition Leader earlier in the day, so from a superstition point of view, there is "blood debt" to pay for the Malaysian power-that-be elites, sacrifice to make so-to-speak, for such injustice.

Anyway, look forward to more insight from ATS members. Being a Malaysian, I'm very sad about this and pray for everyone in the flight to be safe.