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

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Why do people keep saying this?

I can't get a signal when I'm a couple km off the Transcanada. If they're on some island without a tower within 10-20km, they'll have no signal.

Lets not kid ourselves though, chances of them landing anywhere are close to nil given the size of a runway that a 777 needs. They'd be lucky if they could keep it in one piece and ditch it into the water near an island.

I had always thought that the cellular service in Asia was, albeit piecemeal, have pretty good coverage.. if the case was that they were landing somewhere... landable.

[Nehkara]

Malaysia plane may have had transponder shut down deliberately

New evidence suggests that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have been deliberately cut off from the rest of the world.

US officials said that because two separate communication systems were shut down separately, the plane did not suffer a catastrophic accident.

According to data obtained, the reporting system was shut down at 1.07am (Malaysia time) and the transponder at 1.21am.

This suggested that the shut down in communications was deliberate, ABC News aviation consultant John Nance said.

[stampsx2]

If the wireless devices are still ringing on the callers side, wouldn't that mean the devices are not underwater but in one piece on land somewhere? If i turn my cell off and call it it goes straight to voicemail. Maybe the passangers were told to hand over all electronics or something?

[woob]

Malaysian airliner update: Sources provide additional information.

The latest evidence coming forward with regards to flight #MH370 suggests the transponder was deliberately shut off.

Sources say satellite images have also surfaced which show low resolution images of possible objects in the ocean or the objects could just be clouds.

It has been suggested that more sources will come forward to discuss possible reasons stuff happened pertaining to this mystery, along with more retractions of said reasons for stuff happening.

It has also been put forward that the Malaysian sources are full of useless information thus far.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Let's say we approach this as a possible hijacking, and landing the plane on an island. Let's say all that is possible and the plane is now on some island. I think Malaysia would be the perfect country to hijack the plane from.

Malaysia is devoid of any crisis management. Their ruling elite is woefully incompetent in information gathering and coordination. Malaysian government is also known for keeping information from the public (which is working great for them now, since the whole international community's eyes are on them, and do not stand for that kind of crap).

If I were to hijack a plane. I would think that Malaysia would be one of my top choices. Hijack the plane, turn the transponder off, and take advantage of Malaysia's uncoordinated inexperience. In the confusion, fly the plane towards the indian ocean and land on one of the islands. Take advance of further confusion and misinformation for days and days. With 5 days of allotted time, you can probably plan a way of hiding the plane and getting ride of the passengers.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

If the wireless devices are still ringing on the callers side, wouldn't that mean the devices are not underwater but in one piece on land somewhere? If i turn my cell off and call it it goes straight to voicemail. Maybe the passangers were told to hand over all electronics or something?

Most of the batteries would be dead by now though if the phones were still on.

I mentioned it earlier, but one of my friends dropped his in the lake when we were fishing, and I called when I called it, it rang several times. That was in like 30 feet of water several hours after it fell in.

[JonDuke]

To those who are holding onto the cell phone angles, here is a random, hypothetical scenario that could have happened as to why no distress calls/texts/tweets were made...

Whether by the pilot(s) or by someone else on board, it appears the plane was hijacked, because of the comms being turned off. Lets just say pilot for the sake of this example. The pilot kills the first officer, or locks him out of the flight deck while he went to use the washroom. He then dons his oxygen mask, and depressurizes the cabin to kill the passengers and crew. He could have flown around for a bit to wait for the flight attendants or anyone with mobile o2 to be killed. Then...nobody is using their cell phone when the plane lands or is low enough to grab a signal.

Far fetched? Perhaps. But it's as possible as any other scenario floating out there right now.

Also...when I turn off my phone...it goes straight to voicemail too, but it doesn't mean that happens to Asian phone numbers as well. They could still ring when called, even if the physical handset wasn't ringing itself.

[stampsx2]

I agree, this is a sign of how the Malaysian country is run, poorly. Imo situations like this are a mirror image of goverment and country operations.

[JonDuke]

Originally Posted by Ducay

But how many 5000' runways/beaches are there in the Indian ocean island chains and are not monitored?

I don't have the info either, but would guess there's quite a few "off the grid" locations. Think of all the possible abandoned WWII and Vietnam runways.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Who hijacks a plane to take it to an Indian territory?

Someone who wants whatever is in the cargo hold of the plane.

Not much has been released or said about the plane's cargo contents....

Originally Posted by Wormius

At some point, surely passengers will get cellular voice and data services if they have landed safely somewhere.

Assuming that the passengers are/were alive at the time....

[endeavor]

Originally Posted by woob

Malaysian airliner update: Sources provide additional information.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Hijacking still seems like a stretch, mostly because if it were it has accomplished absolutely nothing. I'm leaning more towards pilot committing suicide by depressurising the cabin and then crashing it himself, but honestly I know about the same as I did a week ago: next to nothing. But hijacking usually means some time of goals is trying to be accomplished. If the goal was the show that Malaysia is poorly run and incompentent, well, mission accomplished. Otherwise I don't see what a hijacking accomplished here.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Hijacking still seems like a stretch, mostly because if it were it has accomplished absolutely nothing. I'm leaning more towards pilot committing suicide by depressurising the cabin and then crashing it himself, but honestly I know about the same as I did a week ago: next to nothing. But hijacking usually means some time of goals is trying to be accomplished. If the goal was the show that Malaysia is poorly run and incompentent, well, mission accomplished. Otherwise I don't see what a hijacking accomplished here.

Unless, of course, it was a failed hijacking and they never made it to where the hijackers wanted/demanded. But like you say, usually hijackings come with a goal of some kind. And terrorism would likely come with some sort of claim of responsibility.

[JackJack]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

I was wondering about the timing too from the passenger's perspective. Only the pilots would know that the plane is off course. Passengers would normally be sleeping but even awake, unless they were following along an inflight map or GPS, they wouldn't have any idea that the flight path has been altered. The first sign of suspicion though would be when they realize that they have been in the air for longer than expected.

I don't agree with this. I think the passengers onboard would realize right away that something was not right. You're saying that all 239 onboard would be sleeping? Many follow the GPS and the tracking for the duration of the flight. I'm pretty sure that somebody on board would have noticed something going on, especially when their final destination is in the opposite direction.

A couple of months ago I was en route to Toronto on a red-eye when we turned back over Sask to return to Calgary to check out an warning light. Even though it was late and lots of people were half asleep, you can realize pretty quickly that something is wrong when the aircraft suddenly does a full on heavy turn and banks all the way to head back from the way the you came. This would be even moreso the case given that the destination from KUL was essentially a straight shot.

My guess is that passengers realized right away that something was not right.

[Wormius]

One could assume that the pilot would have just said "we're going to have to divert our course to another airport because of .. such and such" and that would pretty much satisfy anybody's curiosity.

If, the pilot was suicidal and just killed himself and left the plane on auto-pilot, would the plane basically track straight until fuel ran out?

[mykalberta]

Being the Airline nerd on the office these days is a royal pain in the a$$. Normally I just surf airliners.net or spend my time on airwaysim

This has been handled poorly, not because the plane has not been found but because the information officially released has been a complete and utter gong show leading to every crackpot idea being investigated. I guess its not surprising given that Malaysia is some 3rd world dictatorship but...

The only information that should have been officially released is the last position of contact and last communication. Anything other than that is pure speculation and has no business being officially released to the media.

There are 3 possibilities

1 (and most likely) Plane has crashed and and wreckage will be found somewhere "close" to position of last contact. I use the word "close" because who knows where but one would assume its within a 1000km radius.

I only give options 2 and 3 any weight because of the report about the maintenance pings from Boeing (if that is true) assuming that the device that sends the pings wouldnt be strong enough to survive a crash

2 plane was hijacked (with or without help of pilot) and then crashed. It could be along time until wreckage is found (if its even found on water).

3 plane was hijacked (with or without help of pilot) and has landed. Where it goes from here who knows, maybe a ransom demand has beeen made to someone and that information isnt being released. For this possibility I would be doing checks on the Chinese nationals passports or to see if anyone on the plane had connections with each other. Theres alot coco republics it could be if this is the case: Burma, Pakistan, Cambodia, Nepal etc. We arent talking first world here.

Its "possible" a ransom demand has been made and they are going through the process or whoever the demand has been made to has refused. Who knows.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Wormius

One could assume that the pilot would have just said "we're going to have to divert our course to another airport because of .. such and such" and that would pretty much satisfy anybody's curiosity.

If, the pilot was suicidal and just killed himself and left the plane on auto-pilot, would the plane basically track straight until fuel ran out?

Majority of people would probably be asleep as well. Doubt they'd notice or draw much attention to a gradual left bank instead of the right one they were supposed to make.

As well, re:suicide. If plane is on auto-pilot, it follows the pre-programmed waypoints the crew would have put in at the start of the flight and would have taken them to Beijing. Plus, generally, when pilots want to commit suicide in the air, they don't really do it without taking the plane with them, plus if you're just doing it to off yourself only, why not do it at home. The in-air suicides reported have all been about taking everyone else with you.

[RedCoffee]

was it the opening of mission impossible 2? the villain disguises himself at ethan hunt, steals whatever he needs from the plane, jumps out and the plane crashes into a mountain.

was that plane ever found?

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by RedCoffee

was it the opening of mission impossible 2? the villain disguises himself at ethan hunt, steals whatever he needs from the plane, jumps out and the plane crashes into a mountain.

was that plane ever found?

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by RedCoffee

was it the opening of mission impossible 2? the villain disguises himself at ethan hunt, steals whatever he needs from the plane, jumps out and the plane crashes into a mountain.

was that plane ever found?

Wesley Pipes, Passenger 57. Great movie.