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

Hmmmmmmm
reply to post by IQPREREQUISITE

 

8 men and 4 women?

Is that a normal flight crew in Malaysia?

Seems a little male heavy since there are only 3 crewmembers in the cockpit.

If the cabin crew was involved as well as a member of the flight crew it could explain a few things.

I could ask a friend who is a flight attendant later but right now my best guess is that since it's an Islamic country, I think they have more male crews to cater to the 'strict' Muslim passengers who don't want any contact with females...just a guess.

msdesertrat
A plausible theory...pardon if already posted.

mh370lost.tumblr.com...

Probably one of the most plausible theories I've seen in the entire thread. It would explain a lot including loss of ACARS, but it wouldn't explain the turn the Malaysian military says they tracked to the northwest, however that claim seems dubious to me anyway.

Thanks for the good information,, and a proposed airworthiness directive is a reliable source. For those who haven't read it here is the salient summary:

Has anyone considered if the below FAA Airworthiness Directive could be a clue the MH370 investigation?

A November 2013 FAA Airworthiness Directive for the 777

www.gpo.gov...

SUMMARY: We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for

certain The Boeing Company Model 777 airplanes. This proposed AD was
prompted by a report of cracking in the fuselage skin underneath the
satellite communication (SATCOM) antenna adapter. This proposed AD
would require repetitive inspections of the visible fuselage skin and
doubler if installed, for cracking, corrosion, and any indication of
contact of a certain fastener to a bonding jumper, and repair if
necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking and
corrosion in the fuselage skin, which could lead to rapid decompression
and loss of structural integrity of the airplane.

Summary: It’s plausible that a fuselage section near the SATCOM antenna adapter failed, disabling satellite based - GPS, ACARS, and ADS-B/C - communications, and leading to a slow decompression that left all occupants unconscious. If such decompression left the aircraft intact, then the autopilot would have flown the planned route or otherwise maintained its heading/altitude until fuel exhaustion.

Not much reported about this statement

Villagers report loud explosion on Saturday near the South China Sea coast - Malaysian media The newspaper New Strait Times reports that Eight villagers from Marang (on the South China sea coast) reported to police today that they had heard a loud noise last Saturday coming from the direction of Pulau Kapas and believed it was linked to the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight on that day.

So am guessing this was not confirmed?

This was on euro news

Got to get some sleep now hope to wake to some news :-(

Worth a quick read,


CNN link

According to the Malaysian Air Force official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, the plane's transponder apparently stopped working at about the time flight controllers lost contact with it, near the coast of Vietnam. The Malaysian Air Force lost track of the plane over Pulau Perak, a tiny island in the Straits of Malacca -- many hundreds of miles from the usual flight path for aircraft traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, the official said.

There's a map and video of the path it took according to the source.

4 suspects including the 2 iranians with stolen passports... who are the other 2?

reply to post by msdesertrat


This answered all my questions and seems more likely than terror

civpop
Worth a quick read,


CNN link

According to the Malaysian Air Force official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, the plane's transponder apparently stopped working at about the time flight controllers lost contact with it, near the coast of Vietnam. The Malaysian Air Force lost track of the plane over Pulau Perak, a tiny island in the Straits of Malacca -- many hundreds of miles from the usual flight path for aircraft traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, the official said.

There's a map and video of the path it took according to the source.

Sounds like two different airplanes to me.

I lost track since p.49 but read a few news stories....the plane went an hour off course....based on what ive been reading,a plane that malfunctions and loses altitude can crash within minutes...def sounding more like a hijacking? Any new clues out?

reply to post by qd22vcc


I like the idea of slow decompression which catches everyone
unaware and the plane flies on with autopilot
till it runs out of fuel and crashes, like Payne Stewart

Also...i read earlier that the plane was flying low....could reception be cut off at a certain point?

reply to post by spirited75


If it could fly low enough and fast enough maybe? Maybe attempted to turn around, tracking was off and ended up crashing in the strait?

reply to post by qd22vcc


The VHF radio communications rely on line of sight, so yes, they would be affected. HF has more range because it is not strictly line of sight. Normal coms to towers, other planes, and enroute are VHF except when going over large expanses of water or desolate land, then UHF is used.

A quick comment on an earlier question, a turn could be initiated while on autopilot, presuming that the navigation mode was not being used, by turning a dial on the panel to the desired heading.

reply to post by rockflier


Interesting...based on below article it means the plane can be undetected too...this was a tactic used in 9/11 ...hmmmm...

article

Former FBI James Kalstrom of TWA 800 infamy, just posed a theory that the plane was taken by hijacker, landed, and is going to be used in a future terror attack! He would know what they're planning. He's laying the foundation for what's coming...He said this on Fox News a little while ago.

reply to post by qd22vcc


This is kind of what was discussed earlier. Turn off the transponder and secondary radar is useless leaving only primary radar which is kind of sketchy beyond 200 miles or below line of sight. This is some crazy ish.

reply to post by Mikeultra


Well, ATS has been suggesting that ALL DAY.

Maybe he is clicking pages.

kosmicjack
reply to post by Mikeultra

 

Well, ATS has been suggesting that ALL DAY.

Maybe he is clicking pages.

True, but when I hear it from him it makes me think he's in the loop.

reply to post by Mikeultra


That is a good theory.....but, if it landed back in Malaysia wouldnt they know? But then again like the article i posted...they turned back flying at a low altitude out of sight....

reply to post by rockflier


Ok, yeah totally makes sense...was trying to catch up from 40 pages lol...but i would hope with all involved they could figure it out before ATS lol

spirited75
reply to post by qd22vcc

 

I like the idea of slow decompression which catches everyone
unaware and the plane flies on with autopilot
till it runs out of fuel and crashes, like Payne Stewart

Well, in the B777 there's aural alerts and EICAS Messages when the cabin climbes above 10000 ft, and the "rubber jungle" , oxygen masks at 14000.
So even a slow decompression wouldn't go unnoticed.