Malaysia Jet missing-Officials conclude crash in Indian ocean/all lives presumed lost

[Flabbibulin]

An important annoucement for the families. Unfortunately, there are 2 phases left- finding the wreckage, and then beginning the investigation into what happened. I suspect they will find the reason for the crash, but it will likely take several years.

While everyone has been blaming the incompetence of the Malaysian government, how much of the confusion has been driven by the media and their demand for constant updates? When you don't really know anything, but are forced to give regular information updates, you may potentially be giving a pile of misinformation.

[Ducay]

So now we know it turned and hooked around Indonesia and flew south for 8 hours. Either the pilot/copilot did an amazing job confusing everyone for them to not realize they were going south, or everyone must indeed of been "out of it"/dead (hypoxia, or otherwise) well before they crashed. If everyone was concious, no one would have sat idle for 7 hours after getting hijacked or realizing you're flying south over the Southern Ocean.

[cam_wmh]

IMO this was a pilot on a suicide mission

[StrykerSteve]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

[Acey]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Either the pilot/copilot did an amazing job confusing everyone for them to not realize they were going south

Not difficult. It's pitch black outside. 10 degrees of bank is almost imperceptible.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

While everyone has been blaming the incompetence of the Malaysian government, how much of the confusion has been driven by the media and their demand for constant updates? When you don't really know anything, but are forced to give regular information updates, you may potentially be giving a pile of misinformation.

I have family in both singapore and malaysia, and the word is that government officials were releasing information to the public when information was not verified. A lot of the information we hear were initially passed on to the malaysian goverment, but due to some members of the UMNO party wanting their 15 mins of fame, a lot of information that shouldn't have been leaked were leaked and caused great confusion.

[Flabbibulin]

While you still can't rule out anything, the suicide theory seems a little unusual. Unless one of them was incapacitated for everything that occurred after the turn around, wouldn't both pilots have to be in on it?

The cabin not even being aware that they were way off course seems like a probable scenario. Many flights have GPS tracking available on in-flight monitors. Not sure if it has been asked if this flight had that feature in the cabin? Might be easy to turn off, but you would think this would be something controlled by the flight attendants, and not the pilot?

Because of all the misleads and confusion, a large number of people will not accept the final conclusion either way.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

Impromptu press conference coming up, and charter flights to Australia for relatives of passengers being booked. MH370 found?

I hope they did not book them on a Malaysia Airlines jet, that would be not cool.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

I'm wondering if this is the end for Malaysia Airlines. There's already a certain mystique about air crashes in Malaysia. Then you have the people, who have traditionally been weary of all things government owned. Now this will contribute to the declining bottom line for Malaysia airlines. They have not been profitable for years now, and this may be the last nail in the coffin.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Acey

Not difficult. It's pitch black outside. 10 degrees of bank is almost imperceptible.

The bank, sure, but through 7 hours, you're telling me no one noticed they were going due south? Sunrise and moon just happen to be on the wrong sides? No compass features used on anyones phone when they suspected something was up? Doesn't make any sense.

Why would a pilot go to all that length just for suicide, when crashing would be so much easier at any point.

Obviously, there is no real explanation that makes sense, and Cockpit voice recorder may not have any great clues (if they find it), as I believe it only can capture the last 30 minutes before it overwrites prior recording.

[flylock shox]

I've come around to the belief this isn't a hijacking or suicide, but rather a massive mechanical failure or fire rendering the plane largely inoperable and possibly killing everyone on board. This now seems the most consistent theory.

I think the tendency to believe it's a hijacking likely stems in part from our cultural priming or predisposition in the wake of 911: we'll look to confirm that theory before accepting that our machines might be equally fallible.

That said, I still think we'll never know what did happen.

[darklord700]

If indeed the wreckage is now at the bottom of the ocean, can it ever be brought back to the surface? Surely, no diver can dive that deep and I'm not sure if you can lift a 200 ton plane from a few miles down to the surface.

[gonzo29]

Originally Posted by darklord700

If indeed the wreckage is now at the bottom of the ocean, can it ever be brought back to the surface? Surely, no diver can dive that deep and I'm not sure if you can lift a 200 ton plane from a few miles down to the surface.

Unmanned submarines can search for and bring the wreckage to the surface, if it is indeed found. This was done for the wreckage recovery of Air France 447 and other similar crashes.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by darklord700

If indeed the wreckage is now at the bottom of the ocean, can it ever be brought back to the surface? Surely, no diver can dive that deep and I'm not sure if you can lift a 200 ton plane from a few miles down to the surface.

Pretty doubful that the plane will be intact, you will find big pieces but most of it will be less than the size of a pizza box.

[worth]

Don't they just leave most of it down there anyway? All that they really need are the black boxes, not any of the actual wreckage.

[flylock shox]

I would think with submarines and hi-res imaging you could leave the bulk of it underwater and still get the info you need.

They got great images of the Titanic back in the 80s at a similar depth, and I have to think they'd be capable of far better images now.

That said, if the Kiwi oil rig worker is right, there may be a scorched or blown out section that they'll want to bring up for closer inspection.

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

I would think with submarines and hi-res imaging you could leave the bulk of it underwater and still get the info you need.

They got great images of the Titanic back in the 80s at a similar depth, and I have to think they'd be capable of far better images now.

That said, if the Kiwi oil rig worker is right, there may be a scorched or blown out section that they'll want to bring up for closer inspection.

Be nice if they had something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSF_Explorer

[speede5]

A fire doesn't explain how the plane got off track, at least not to me. Any fire is going to consume that aircraft and cause it to crash in a very short timeframe. If a fire was the reason for the turnabout, then I think the plane would have crashed in the first 30 minutes or so following. To burn to the point of incapacitating everyone on board but yet allow the aircraft to fly for 7 hrs is so improbable I can't even entertain it.

I'm really leaning towards a malicious act at this point.

[BigNumbers]

Massive Cabin de-pressurisation/hypoxia and the plane was on auto pilot until it ran out of fuel.

Book it.

[puckluck2]

Has the wreckage actually been found? I thought it was just satellite imagery?