Flight MH370 ?? What happened?

[Irvine511]

But would it explain the transponder being turned off?

this is the thing.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Only if the hole in the plane that caused the decompression happened to be where the signal is received/sent.

 

[BoMac]

ABC News reporting that the search is now expanding to the Indian Ocean:

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=22...s_jet_fly_for_four_more_hours_after_vani.html

 

[BoMac]

http://m.calgarysun.com/2014/03/13/malaysia-jet-sent-pings-after-going-missing-sources-say

 

[bono_212]

 

[Earnie Shavers]

It’s certainly looking like – if the various US ‘unnamed sources’ are correct and it followed that plotted path – it could only have been one (or more) of the crew deliberately trying to take the plane elsewhere. No hijack/outsider. No oxygen or other technical issue. Even if it’s ever confirmed, wonder if we’ll ever find out why.

 

[BoMac]

Certainly starting to look like a deliberate act:

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/#!/content/1.2572287/

 

[Irvine511]

i'm guessing this may have something to do with Chinese domestic problems -- Xinjiang separatists -- that the government wants to keep on the DL.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I dunno. If you go by the US ‘unnamed sources’ reporting of where and how the plane flew, it’s a really professional job, i.e. someone who knew exactly what they were doing within that region. Getting absolutely no communication out in the case of a hijacking is also pretty strange. They would have had to force or fight their way into the cockpit – even if it’s only seconds, there would or should have been enough time there for one of the pilots to trigger some sort of communication. This would have also still been pretty close to the Malaysian coast. And then, the timing of everything is really deliberate. The plane signs off from Malaysian ATC at the moment it should, then never checks in with Vietnamese ATC at the moment it crosses into their territory. That’s the moment when the transponder is turned off. So neither Malaysian nor Vietnamese ATC see it ‘disappear’, it leaves Malaysian ATC as expected and Vietnamese ATC just never see it arrive. Perfect timing, after someone has fought their way into the cabin, possibly fighting off passengers too? The plane then turns around, drops altitude, crosses Malaysia at a thin point of minimal radar and then perfectly follows the regular commercial airline lane north west over the Andaman Sea. Doesn’t sound like a semi-pro ‘terrorist’ job.

One thing that is under-reported and is interesting is that this wasn’t a full flight – it had approx. 50 empty seats. That’s interesting because they had 5 passengers miss the plane (mostly through missed connections) and were able to call up some people waiting on standby to take their places. But if you had 50 empty seats, why would it take the ‘missing’ 5 passengers to allow for some people on standby to join the flight? It would normally mean that they were keeping 50 seats free of passengers (and their luggage) due to weight constrictions, i.e. there was some really heavy cargo on that plane. And they’re still refusing to release any info about what else was on board. Notch it under conspiracy, but it’s pretty interesting.

 

[Axver]

Plus, if it was a terrorist job, surely somebody would have claimed responsibility by now. You don't make a plane spectacularly disappear, capturing global attention, only to then not capitalise on the ensuing publicity.

This really does just get more mysterious by the day, especially with every new revelation/denial.

 

[Irvine511]

Plus, if it was a terrorist job, surely somebody would have claimed responsibility by now. You don't make a plane spectacularly disappear, capturing global attention, only to then not capitalise on the ensuing publicity.

This really does just get more mysterious by the day, especially with every new revelation/denial.

Unless someone wants to use the plane as a bomb, like its a Tom Clancy novel.

I don't think that's true, but at this point, who can say?

 

[mikal]

Have they found the hatch yet?

Sent from my hlte using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[bono_212]

Unless someone wants to use the plane as a bomb, like its a Tom Clancy novel.

I don't think that's true, but at this point, who can say?

That was my first thought when I started to get nervous about hijacking, that it reminded me a lot of The Sum of All Fears.

 

[bono_212]

Certainly starting to look like a deliberate act:

CBCNews.ca Mobile

The signals were part of the routine pings that are sent out through the plane's Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), transmitting diagnostic data about the performance of engines and other equipment to engine manufacturers and airlines.

So the WSJ article was correct?

Malaysia says it has asked neighbouring countries for their radar data but has not confirmed receiving the information. Indonesian and Thai authorities said on Friday they had not received an official request for such data from Malaysia.

This shit annoys the fuck out of me. Ok, so does someone now have this information? Is it being looked through? Just because you weren't asked, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be giving this info to someone.

 

[digitize]

So the WSJ article was correct?

The data transmitted was not Rolls Royce engine data, as WSJ initially reported. However, there was some data sent from the plane to satellites, owned by a company called Inmarsat, for five-ish hours after the last air traffic control transmission.

 

[bono_212]

The data transmitted was not Rolls Royce engine data, as WSJ initially reported. However, there was some data sent from the plane to satellites, owned by a company called Inmarsat, for five-ish hours after the last air traffic control transmission.

OK, that's what I thought, it was just the way the article Bomac posted phrased it, making me think it was the same thing WSJ was saying.

 

[bono_212]

WNDU ‏@WNDU 2m

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian official says investigators conclude missing jet was hijacked, steered off-course.

I'm waiting for some kind of article to back this up. All I'm seeing right now are news services passing on the headline.


EDIT: Here it is...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian government official says investigators have concluded that one of the pilots or someone else with flying experience hijacked the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
The official, who is involved in the investigation, says no motive has been established, and it is not yet clear where the plane was taken. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The official said that hijacking was no longer a theory. "It is conclusive."
The Boeing 777's communication with the ground was severed under one hour into a flight March 8 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian officials have said radar data suggest it may have turned back and crossed back over the Malaysian peninsula westward, after setting out toward the Chinese capital.

 

[trojanchick99]

Ugh. Also just received word that one of the passengers worked for my office while she was in grad school. Just awful. She was such a sweetheart.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[bono_212]

Ugh. Also just received word that one of the passengers worked for my office while she was in grad school. Just awful. She was such a sweetheart.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using U2 Interference mobile app

I'm sorry to hear that .


The Malaysian PM is speaking now, I guess.

Bob Woodruff ‏@BobWoodruff 27m I asked the Malaysia Prime Minister if they are searching the homes of the pilots. He wouldn't respond. @ABC pic.twitter.com/N0K5b6lPJQ

 

[Axver]

Unless someone wants to use the plane as a bomb, like its a Tom Clancy novel.

I don't think that's true, but at this point, who can say?

I suppose the key point here is that you can't just land a 777 anywhere, so the probability of it actually secretly landing at an airport ahead of future terrorist use is very remote.

Though everything's getting really bizarre now with reports like this (from the Guardian's live blog):

The plane could have landed in Kyrgyzstan or China, according to Malaysian officials.

And then there's this, the two possible last known location ranges based on the satellite pings: https://twitter.com/sunshinesulin/status/444763082254868482/photo/1

 

[bono_212]

Yeah, he described two massive "corridors" that the plane could be in. One of which is over land and one of which is over water.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I suppose the key point here is that you can't just land a 777 anywhere, so the probability of it actually secretly landing at an airport ahead of future terrorist use is very remote.

And pretty unlikely to be what was attempted. If you wanted to steal a plane for 'terrorist' uses (or whatever) later on, choosing an airliner owned by one of the worlds larger airlines in a 'busy' part of the world, presumably a long way from your intended destination, packed with 200+ unpredictable passengers, who (sorry to say) would require dealing with at some point, seems like the most difficult way to go about it. Some 5th rate airline in Africa (lax security, lax radar, likely closer to 'wherever' without flying over high risk territories), or a cargo plane (no passengers) would be far, far better and 'easier'.

More likely it was a political highjacking that didn't work out? Never made it to a destination where the hostage/negotiation games were to begin. Or the suicide option. Fly it way out to the middle of the Indian Ocean in the hope of it never being found and thus avoiding the shame of it all - forever suggested, but formally a mystery.

Whatever it was, seems there's no doubt it was experienced piloting.

 

[Irvine511]

this line struck me as i came across it:

Update, March 15, 9:10 a.m.: When the flight first disappeared from air traffic controllers’ radar a week ago, the default assumption was that the plane had crashed. Now it seems unlikely that a plot as ingeniously planned and carefully executed as this one would not also have included plans for safe arrival at some ultimate destination. As I reported earlier, the 777 is capable of landing on small airstrips and on relatively unimproved surfaces, such as packed dirt and dry lake beds. In such a scenario, the odds are good that, unless they were murdered, the passengers remain alive. The motives and intentions of whoever took MH370 remain as murky as ever, but possibilities include a hostage scenario, the repurposing of the aircraft as an enormous flying bomb, or some combination of these and other outcomes.

Flight 370 disappearance: Missing airliner apparently flew to Central Asia.

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

Yeah a lot of people are discussing that. What if it was plotted to be stolen. It could then be used by a terrorist organization for another 9/11 or to put a bomb on board and fly it somewhere. Hence why they wouldn't claim any responsibility.

But if it were landed in a hangar, wouldn't people on board then have been able to use cell phones (I doubt they would've all been killed)? Or been picked up on a satellite?

It's kind of odd...if it were crashed on purpose, what is the point? Pilot or someone wanting to commit suicide? That is some really well thought out suicide, which seems unlikely though I guess possible. If it was crashed as a terrorist act then it is very odd, because Terrorists like things public. This is the total opposite of public, nobody knows what is happening.

 

[deep]

The passengers could have rushed the hi-jackers, or pilot resulting in a crashed plane, like Flight 93 on 911.

 

[U2DMfan]

Maybe^. But I just heard a pilot on cable news say the reason for the plane inexplicably going up to 45K feet could have been so that it would kill all the passengers. He said you'd have only about 3 seconds of oxygen at 45K feet. This assumes, quite obviously, that the pilot would have put on oxygen beforehand.

 

[digitize]

Maybe^. But I just heard a pilot on cable news say the reason for the plane inexplicably going up to 45K feet could have been so that it would kill all the passengers. He said you'd have only about 3 seconds of oxygen at 45K feet. This assumes, quite obviously, that the pilot would have put on oxygen beforehand.

You have three seconds of consciousness at 45,000 feet if the cabin is unpressurized. I don't believe that a 777's cabin would lose pressurization by going 4,000 feet above its rated cruising altitude range, but I could be wrong.

 

[Galeongirl]

But if it were landed in a hangar, wouldn't people on board then have been able to use cell phones (I doubt they would've all been killed)? Or been picked up on a satellite?

If it were indeed terrorists behind this, they would certainly block the signals. So no phone contact would be made.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

If the plane managed to land somewhere, the passengers certainly would have been killed. The only reason for keeping them alive would have been as a negotiation or blackmail tool, and we would know about that by now. What likely happened was that the cabin pressurisation was switched off (easy to do) and the passengers would have passed out or died as the plane climbed. This has happened before by accident. The good news (?!?) is that this would have been painless - like going to sleep - and this was a red eye flight as well, so plenty possibly were already asleep, or seriously drowsy anyway.

 

[BoMac]

I'm wondering if anyone involved knew if there was any valuable cargo on board. It might be more of a theft than a politically or terror-related hijacking.

Oh, sure, that sounds far-fetched, but at this point who can really say?