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[MThanded]

I think the plane went down in the ocean. However, even if that is the case, I'm sure all countries would like to know how and why this happened.

The confusing part about the plane going down in the ocean is the intent. If you are a pilot trying to commit suicide you can do that without flying for hours on end. If you are a terrorist organization, putting a plane down far from civilization is very mundane.

This makes no sense.

CNN is saying the incident started before the final message.

That makes sense. Malaysia said that the ACARS system was turned off before the plane even left the airspace above the Malaysian land mass.

 

[Purkake4]

So if this went to central Asia, aren't there a lot of abandoned soviet airports in that region?

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Yup.

I think this is making people realize just how large this planet actually is.

I wonder how much land and sea is still out there that has not been discovered yet.

 

[2MF]

What was the last time someone managed to hijack a plane without the pilots being able to send a distress signal?

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

Not true. A few years ago a pilot even managed to "land" a big plane on a river pretty safely...

 

[sant]

Fuck me the plane could have been flying for up to 9 hours after they lost contact? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to think anymore.

 

[MThanded]

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

You don't need ATC to land any plane.

 

[Oersted]

How would you know it's a commercial flight, if the transponder's turned off?

Dunno. Maybe it nust looked like it at the radar?

Fuck me the plane could have been flying for up to 9 hours after they lost contact? This is so bizarre that I don't know what to think anymore.

7-8 but yeah.

 

[LQX]

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

If they went through all this trouble of high jacking a 777 who is to say they did not prep an abandoned airport?

 

[Maninthemirror]

CNN: last cockpit communication with vietnam: 'Alright, Goodnight'

CNN says the transponder was turned off BEFORE that last communication


Creepy

 

[Betta Lines]

You don't need ATC to land any plane.

Particularly if you've been....practicing with a simulator.

 

[Purkake4]

Not true. A few years ago a pilot even managed to "land" a big plane on a river pretty safely...

Yeah, crash land, you can probably do that at an abandoned soviet airport.

 

[Sectorseven]

The confusing part about the plane going down in the ocean is the intent. If you are a pilot trying to commit suicide you can do that without flying for hours on end. If you are a terrorist organization, putting a plane down far from civilization is very mundane.

If it's a case of pilot suicide, the only explanation I can think of is maybe he had second thoughts about it, got scared about what would happen if he landed, and tried to drag it out for as long as possible. Not unlike a police chase in a way.

 

[SniperHunter]

I'm not saying this is true or disinformation but what country wants to readily admit that their airspace can be easily penetrated?

India has to monitor its airspace 24/7 because of Pakistan. They have launched naval assault before, so India has to remain vigilant. I really doubt a plane could fly over all those Indian states without being detected

 

[Maninthemirror]

India has to monitor its airspace 24/7 because of Pakistan. They have launched naval assault before, so India has to remain vigilant. I really doubt a plane could fly over all those Indian states without being detected

Yeah no way this flew over China or India and they didnt notice

 

[toxicgonzo]

If they went through all this trouble of high jacking a 777 who is to say they did not prep an abandoned airport?

I bet the DoD is looking carefully through their satellite images and looking for any place that recently got prepared.

 

[teruterubozu]

All the "pings" and radar and satellite data sounds flimsy and sketchy to me. But I guess it's all they have.

 

[Falk]

Just woke up and so much information. I don't know what's confirmed and what's not confirmed. Where's Falk when you need him

Hours behind but for what it's worth I'm Boston/East Coast based at the moment but due to work I'm typically sleeping at 6-7AM, usually just after the daily press conferences by acting transport minister (the last of which was cancelled yesterday) and I typically wake up around this time so I'm catching up on happenings right now

I'll also cover anything non-Malaysian in terms of press conferences or press releases with new info but only if they have a name attached to the claims even if it is otherwise obvious-as-fuck facts because there has just been way too many red herrings at this point.

I'm thinking of going back and editing all relevant press conference summaries with a catchphrase (probably FALKRANT or something) so that they show up in a thread search and are useful beyond 2-3 pages.

 

[Omiee]

this is some crazy ass shit, how the fuck is it that nobody saw this plane landing?

i mean even if it flew somewhere else it should have been found somewhere by somebody.

and how come the passengers did not turn on their phones to call family or what ever?

There is no chance they had any kind of weapon so how would they be able to threaten the passengers.

 

[Maninthemirror]

Map with most recent info

 

[Ace Harding]

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

Wrong. Any relatively flat surface will do. It's not ideal, but a soft landing on a very long stretch of flat dirt or grass would certainly be possible. Or a stretch of highway in the middle of nowhere. It would be a bumpy and sketchy landing but a skilled pilot could do it. Hell that one guy landed in the Hudson River.

 

[Linkhero1]

Hours behind but for what it's worth I'm Boston/East Coast based at the moment but due to work I'm typically sleeping at 6-7AM, usually just after the daily press conferences by acting transport minister (the last of which was cancelled yesterday) and I typically wake up around this time so I'm catching up on happenings right now

I'll also cover anything non-Malaysian in terms of press conferences or press releases with new info but only if they have a name attached to the claims even if it is otherwise obvious-as-fuck facts because there has just been way too many red herrings at this point.

I'm thinking of going back and editing all relevant press conference summaries with a catchphrase (probably FALKRANT or something) so that they show up in a thread search and are useful beyond 2-3 pages.

That sounds like an awesome idea.

Everything seems so crazy right now. I'm not sure who's saying what anymore. So far nothing is confirmed by anyone afaik.

 

[2MF]

CNN: last cockpit communication with vietnam: 'Alright, Goodnight'

CNN says the transponder was turned off BEFORE that last communication


Creepy

If true it doesn't sound like it supports the "hijacking by terrorists" theory. It would then sound like pilot hijacking or cascading system failures.

 

[HoosTrax]

You don't land passenger jets on abandoned airports, you actually need a smooth runway and air traffic control.

Let's not make blanket statements here . That said, planes that are designed to land on either gravel or snow are outfitted for the purpose. It would damage the engines if a regular off-the-shelf plane did it.

 

[Ovid]

India has to monitor its airspace 24/7 because of Pakistan. They have launched naval assault before, so India has to remain vigilant. I really doubt a plane could fly over all those Indian states without being detected

Very true. But remember Pakistan was embarrassed a few years ago when we penetrated their airspace to take out bin Laden. Granted it was a modified helicopter flying at very low altitude.

I'm just saying it would be kind of embarrassing for country to admit that a plane flew undetected and unmolested in their airspace.

Let's not make blanket statements here . That said, planes that are designed to land on either gravel or snow are outfitted for the purpose. It would damage the engines if a regular off-the-shelf plane did it.

That picture is a bad example. The runway is in the background.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Wrong. Any relatively flat surface will do. It's not ideal, but a soft landing on a very long stretch of flat dirt or grass would certainly be possible. Or a stretch of highway in the middle of nowhere. It would be a bumpy and sketchy landing but a skilled pilot could do it. Hell that one guy landed in the Hudson River.

To land a plane with flat grass or highway without any vehicles around wouldn't set off any alarms?

I mean the last time I checked, areas like that would be manmade and not necessarily abandoned.

The abandoned soviet bases does sound like a possibility. I really hope there are eyes on those abandoned bases.

 

[MIMIC]

Holy shit this case aint solved yet? It's been over a week now.

Well it took them a week to figure out that the other stuff wasn't just a series of unrelated coincidences. It kinda reminds me of how 9/11 unfolded. I remember some news reporters refusing to "jump to the conclusion" that we were under attack, even after the second plane hit.

"Let's not rule out X, Y, or Z just yet"

 

[Maninthemirror]

If it on land the only place i can think of is Myanmar which has the weakest of all regional radar capabilities

Can someone check tomnod

 

[MThanded]

If it on land the only place i can think of is Myanmar which has the weakest of all regional radar capabilities

Can someone check tomnod

tomnod doesn't let you choose a location.

 

[Linkhero1]

If it on land the only place i can think of is Myanmar which has the weakest of all regional radar capabilities

Can someone check tomnod

Is this an abandoned airport/landing strip?

AVHerald is another place that is actually journalism and not BREAKING clickbait. It's been posted a few times in the thread.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4710c69b&opt=0

Thank you. I bookmarked it. Sick of the clickbaits with nothing substantial.

 

[Falk]

That sounds like an awesome idea.

Everything seems so crazy right now. I'm not sure who's saying what anymore. So far nothing is confirmed by anyone afaik.

AVHerald is another place that is actually journalism and not BREAKING clickbait. It's been posted a few times in the thread.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4710c69b&opt=0

 

[2MF]

To land a plane with flat grass or highway without any vehicles around wouldn't set off any alarms?

I mean the last time I checked, areas like that would be manmade and not necessarily abandoned.

The abandoned soviet bases does sound like a possibility. I really hope there are eyes on those abandoned bases.

Abandoned means abandoned. Why exactly would there be a need to keep eyes on them?

 

[MThanded]

That sounds like an awesome idea.

Everything seems so crazy right now. I'm not sure who's saying what anymore. So far nothing is confirmed by anyone afaik.

If you were here yesterday the big breaking news from this morning is this

Malaysia's Prime Minister stated on Mar 15th that based on new satellite data there is evidence that the data communication systems and transponder had been turned off by deliberate action by someone on board and the aircraft deviated off course, the last confirmed communication between aircraft and satellites occurred at 00:11Z (Mar 8th).

http://avherald.com/h?article=4710c69b&opt=0

 

[HoosTrax]

That picture is a bad example. The runway is in the background.

Do you see the object attached beyond the front nose wheel? The "sled" shaped metal object? It's called a gravelkit and it's on planes (737s for example) that are used on unpaved runways. To prevent foreign object damage to the engines.

 

[Linkhero1]

If you were here yesterday the big breaking news from this morning is this


http://avherald.com/h?article=4710c69b&opt=0

Which is interesting because they haven't confirmed anything else aside from just that. I'm sick of the news outlets with their "could have" and "probably have" articles.

 

[Sloane]

I wonder how much Malaysia (and possibly others) really know, the way they released their information seems more weird than incompetent somehow.

 

[Akai__]

So if this went to central Asia, aren't there a lot of abandoned soviet airports in that region?

But how did it get there, without appearing on anybodies radar, if that was really the case? Isn't that impossible?

 

[crozier]

I wonder how much Malaysia (and possibly others) really know, the way they released their information seems more weird than incompetent somehow.

The Malaysians know very little. They had a blip on their military radar that *may* match the signature of a 777....but that's it. Even that, I'm guessing that American/Chinese experts are providing assistance for the reading.

 

[Maninthemirror]

Is this an abandoned airport/landing strip?



Thank you. I bookmarked it. Sick of the clickbaits with nothing substantial.

Yes and it is 3.1 km, thats around the limit for 777s

 

[DoktorEvil]

Abandoned means abandoned. Why exactly would there be a need to keep eyes on them?

The US Gov't and DoD has had fears of nuclear weapon use for decade. Why wouldn't they, in good conscience, be watching those bases even if it's only for a little bit? They surely would relay information like that to Malaysia since the U.S. is involved.

 

[Falk]

The Malaysians know very little. They had a blip on their military radar that *may* match the signature of a 777....but that's it. Even that, I'm guessing that American/Chinese experts are providing assistance for the reading.

Just to interject here, the blip on the Malaysian RAF military radar was subsequently indeed confirmed by FAA/NTSB, based on flight profile, to be MH370. You're quoting information that is older than the more recent press conference.

 

[crozier]

But how did it get there, without appearing on anybodies radar, if that was really the case? Isn't that impossible?

Unless you're talking about a small island without radar coverage (which is why they're focused on the southern route) they would almost certainly need the assistance of a state actor.

 

[EatChildren]

Cheers for the amendments gents.

12:41am - MH370 leaves Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.
01:07am - ACARS shut off: likely deliberate.
01:21am - Transponder shut off: likely deliberate.
01:22am - MH370 disappears from Subang Air Traffic Control.
***01:22am+ - Timeline murky. At some point MH370 "turns back" westward across the Malay Peninsula, then turns northwest into the Straits of Malacca, and continues flying until it leaves military primary radar coverage. Aircraft movement during this period is considered deliberate.
02.40am - "Contact lost" reported to Malaysian airlines.
***06:30am - Scheduled landing in Beijing, MH370 nowhere to be found.
08:11am - Satellite "pings" MH370. Location impossible to pinpoint. Vague window of "a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to southern Thailand, or a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean"

 

[crozier]

Just to interject here, the blip on the Malaysian RAF military radar was subsequently indeed confirmed by FAA/NTSB, based on flight profile, to be MH370. You're quoting information that is older than the more recent press conference.

Ah ok, I didn't realize this had already been definitely confirmed.

 

[MIMIC]

Map with most recent info

All this time, I thought those red lines (and similar representations on other news networks) were BRACKETS (i.e. the boundaries of the search area), not the flight path, lol

edit: I mean "possible" flight path.

 

[StopMakingSense]

All this time, I thought those red lines (and similar representations on other news networks) were BRACKETS (i.e. the boundaries of the search area), not the flight path, lol

They aren't, they are axis of possible locations based on the last satellite ping. They know the distance of the plane from the satellite, and those are the possible locations of the plane based on that plus the length of time from the last known location and the Ping.

 

[Falk]

All this time, I thought those red lines (and similar representations on other news networks) were BRACKETS (i.e. the boundaries of the search area), not the flight path, lol

Well, more accurately, it's not exactly the flight path, but a plot of all possible points where the actual flight path could have been the exact moment the last satellite ping was received. Important distinction there.

 

[MIMIC]

Yeah, I meant "possible" flight path.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Yeah, I meant "possible" flight path.

Not a path, the flight path could be anything that gets the plane to any one of those coordinates on that line at the time if the ping.

 

[HoosTrax]

I almost forgot this one:

TACA Flight 110. The plane had to make an emergency landing on a levee located in a NASA facility in New Orleans (this was way before 9-11, so it was probably less alarming). I think they had to change one of the engines that was damaged due to ingested grass or other debris, before flying it off the levee. Again a 737 -- I have no idea what's feasible with the much larger 777.

 

[raindoc]

Dunno. Maybe it nust looked like it at the radar?

as far as I understand this matter, that's not how it works. the transponder serves as the "tag". without transponder signal, it's just a dot on the radar.