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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean

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Commonly there is some sort of admission of a problem. Not always.

With high probabilities of terrorism these days, airlines rarely come right out with an admission right off the bat.

Well you are wrong. There are plenty of cases of crash's were communication is still intact hell a couple of pages back has some recordings of said cases.

Sure, but everything is always speculation at first in an aviation accident. Rebuilding the actual cause take years. Until then yes, nobody has any idea what happened.
 

KHarvey16

Member
Airplanes are so antiquated.

Why no GPS? Satellite internet for pilots, etc? Only relying on radios seems so so 1960s.

GPS in cars and planes and phones are receivers, not transmitters. ACARS allows communication to the ground using satellites but for whatever reason this system was switched off or otherwise not in use.
 

Daria

Member
I'm starting to think that the authorities know more than they are letting on.

Are you really surprised by that? There's a reason they don't let the public know everything they do. I don't understand why that's such a big deal.

Planes commonly take a long time to find. Usually by now we have had confirmation of a crash with some few pieces of debris or something.

Maybe if they knew where it was at but right now it's mostly a guessing game with tracking which route they took. And if they did fly for over 350m with no tracking system the pilot may have been completely off course and ended up completely opposite of where they think.
 

hiroshawn

Banned
Is it possible that the pilot tried to land the plane in the water like how that other pilot did in the hudson river, but the plane slowly sank to the bottom?

This is creeping me out.
 
Maybe if they knew where it was at but right now it's mostly a guessing game with tracking which route they took. And if they did fly for over 350m with no tracking system the pilot may have been completely off course and ended up completely opposite of where they think.

He'd still have a compass, right?
 

Falk

that puzzling face
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=630404403699025

Actual footage of shaman. Skip first minute or so for hilarity

For reference: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/ca...-result-with-fish-trap-hook-bamboo-binocular/

“We use fish trap hook and a bamboo binocular to look and ask for the victims to be found as soon as possible,” he told reporters here today.

“During my prayer, my eyes hurt and my vision turned black. I think the plane is still in the air or has crashed into the sea.

“I will come back here (to KLIA) in another two days after performing my prayers and I will bring something,” he said.

Each quote is onion-worthy.
 

syllogism

Member
If the plane isn't in the area of the last known position, it would seem that whatever occured would have had to knock out various communication systems (ADS, ACARS) and the passengers, including pilots (oxygen deprivation). It could then still fly on autopilot for quite some time. That might explain why it was in the Strait of Malacca as that route makes little sense as an intentional decision. Perhaps the pilots had time to change course before they lost consciousness. With no ADS, it would only show up on short range radars.
 

Daria

Member
He'd still have a compass, right?

One would think but that could have also been down, maybe? I'm sure the pilot was in the close proximity of the flight path but my guess is he got off track just a little bit to the point where it throwing this search all around.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Airplanes are so antiquated.

Why no GPS? Satellite internet for pilots, etc? Only relying on radios seems so so 1960s.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...liner-just-disappear-16578965?click=pm_latest
The question on many minds is, how is it possible that with seemingly total coverage of the globe by satellite, a commercial jetliner could simply go missing?" While Malaysian aviation authorities at a news conference professed to be "puzzled" over what happened to the plane and the 239 people aboard, many experts were dismayed that long-awaited improvements to the industry's antiquated tracking system hadn't happened in time.

A system that would use satellites to beam an airliner's position and other vital information is not only possible—it's already being used on some planes. In fact, on long-haul routes that fly over the North Pole or the Pacific Ocean, where radar coverage can be iffy, the latest models from Boeing and Airbus are using data link communications to transmit GPS coordinates and status updates. Even if the bandwidth wouldn't allow large amounts of information, such as those contained in the black boxes, it could be vital to tracking down the aircraft itself.

This case has close parallels to the crash of Air France flight 447 into the middle of the Atlantic in July 2009. Back then, it took three separate tries and nearly two years to retrieve the A330's recorders from a depth of 13,000 feet. That spurred aviation safety regulators to push for more redundancies in the recorder system, with the goal of ultimately moving to a continuous satellite link that would transmit data in real time, to be captured instantly in the event of a crash.
 

GashPrex

NeoGaf-Gold™ Member
Strange because there are lots of airports between where it changed course and the malacca strait where it was allegedly last on radar
 
Has this been posted, or remarked upon yet?

The city of Kota Bharu mentioned in this NYTimes piece is also described as the location two fisherman claimed to have seen a plane plunging into the sea.

The mystery behind the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has further deepened with two men from different locations in the Malaysian state of Kelantan claiming to have spotted the aircraft plunging into the sea at approximately the same location and time.

Fisherman Azid Ibrahim, 66, in Kota Baru, told the New Strait Times that an airplane appeared to fly low below the clouds which he followed for about five minutes before it disappeared. He was out at the sea with six other fishermen about 14.4 km (8.9 miles) from Kuala Besar in Pantai Cahaya Bulan.

Ibrahim said the plane was flying so low that he could see its lights "as big as coconuts". He had spotted the plane with his friend at about 1:30am local time, while all his fellow fishermen were fast asleep in the boat.

"I only heard about the plane yesterday. My friend, Pak Da asked me where the plane was heading to at this time of night," Ibrahim said, adding it was flying lower than usual.

The fisherman reported the incident to the police the next morning after he heard the news of the missing plane around the coast, and his account was telecast by a local broadcaster RTM.

Unusual coincidence

About 30 km (18.6 miles) away from Kota Baru, businessman Alif Fathi Abdul Hadi, 29, lodged a report with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) that he saw "bright white lights", descending fast into the sea at about 1:45am the same day.

He was going towards the backyard of his house when he saw the "white lights" as used in planes during night flights, heading towards Bachok, which was unusual, according to him.

"I was walking towards the rear of my house when I saw the lights, and wondered where it was heading to," he said.

"The airspace here is like a highway for aircraft and they usually travel in route patterns, but this one went completely towards the other way.

"..It was going towards the sea, near Bachok."
 

LQX

Member
If it was off course by 400 miles wouldn't that indicate that it was possibly highjacked as opposed malfunction?
 
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?
 
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?

Man, I was going to post this earlier but figured it would be just a silly conspiracy theory...

I wonder
 

Ovid

Member
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?
Man, this story keeps getting crazier by the day.
 
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?

Yet what of the reports about the phones of people aboard the plane ringing, and still being online, when relatives attempted to contact them? If they are true (and I believe this is dubious), but if they are true then why wouldn't those same relatives, or anyone else for that matter, attempt to contact anyone on the ground? I guess this hijacking presupposes that all the passengers were incapacitated.
 

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
Yet what of the reports about the phones of people aboard the plane ringing, and still being online, when relatives attempted to contact them? If they are true (and I believe this is dubious), but if they are true then why wouldn't those same relatives, or anyone else for that matter, attempt to contact anyone on the ground? I guess this hijacking presupposes that all the passengers were incapacitated.

Phones taken away if this is what happened.
 

Linkhero1

Member
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?

I'm pretty sure it would have been noticed by now. It isn't exactly something that can be easily hidden if it didn't crash.
 
Yet what of the reports about the phones of people aboard the plane ringing, and still being online, when relatives attempted to contact them? If they are true (and I believe this is dubious), but if they are true then why wouldn't those same relatives, or anyone else for that matter, attempt to contact anyone on the ground? I guess this hijacking presupposes that all the passengers were incapacitated.

Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?

So, the two guys with stolen passports are holding the plane hostage?
 
"Jacking" a plane of that size seems almost inconceivable to me, at least based on what we know. Aside from managing the passengers, flying the plane and staying off radar, you'd still need a large runway. Not to mention refueling, maintenance. The list goes on and on.
 

Ovid

Member
I guess it could fly below radar, though you'd think someone would notice a 777 a couple hundred feet above the ground.

NYTimes said:
Mikael Robertsson, the co-founder of Flightradar24, said the transponder on the jet never sent a signal to that receiver, which means that if the plane did fly that way, its transponder had either been knocked out of service by damage or had been shut off.

“We see every aircraft that flies over there, even if it’s very, very low, so if it flew over there, the transponder was off,” he said.

A pilot can turn off the transponder, Mr. Robertsson said, and the fact that the last contact from the Malaysia Airlines flight’s transponder came at roughly the same time that the cockpit crew stopped communicating with ground controllers by radio suggests that that is what happened, Mr. Robertsson said. “I guess to me it sounds like they were turned off deliberately.” The plane disappeared from Flightradar24’s tracking system at 1:21 a.m. Saturday while flying at 35,000 feet over the Gulf of Thailand; Malaysia Airlines has said that the last radio communication with the pilots was at about 1:30 a.m., but has not given a precise time.
Hmm.
 

Fjolle

Member
Yeah I'm starting to think the plane was hijacked, the pilot ordered to turn off transponders, and then told to land somewhere. Maybe it never crashed at all?

What I don't get is that planes should still show up on radar even without transponders, no? How else does a military track enemy planes?

Yes. That is how they tracked it to the place where they are searching now.

Indonesia should have tracked it too.
 

Amzin

Member
Yet what of the reports about the phones of people aboard the plane ringing, and still being online, when relatives attempted to contact them? If they are true (and I believe this is dubious), but if they are true then why wouldn't those same relatives, or anyone else for that matter, attempt to contact anyone on the ground? I guess this hijacking presupposes that all the passengers were incapacitated.

I posted this some pages back last night as well, but that's not how cell phones actually work. If your friend is standing next to you and calls your cell from his, he'll hear ringing long before your phone starts ringing. Carriers play the ring while the network is actually searching for a phone. Phones that are off or international will actually 'ring' for longer than phones that are on because the network searches for a good while.

You can even test this yourself if you have two different cell phones. Landline phone to landline phone doesn't really do this because there's no search to be done. People aren't used to the fake ring from cell phones though.
 

syllogism

Member
A pilot can turn off the transponder, Mr. Robertsson said, and the fact that the last contact from the Malaysia Airlines flight’s transponder came at roughly the same time that the cockpit crew stopped communicating with ground controllers by radio suggests that that is what happened, Mr. Robertsson said. “I guess to me it sounds like they were turned off deliberately.” The plane disappeared from Flightradar24’s tracking system at 1:21 a.m. Saturday while flying at 35,000 feet over the Gulf of Thailand; Malaysia Airlines has said that the last radio communication with the pilots was at about 1:30 a.m., but has not given a precise time.
Is there a source other than this guy that says the last radio communication was at around 1:30am? A quick search suggests that is the time when they "lost contact" with the plane, which could just refer to the last transponder information they received rather than the last time the pilots communicated with ground control.

e: Right, "just after" 1:30am was the time when another plane relayed a call to MH370 and supposedly heard "mumbling at the other end"
 
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