Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

[lockmat]

This is about to cross the line of so bizarre that we gotta start talking about it.

We should all be fully aware by now that events like this always produce mounds of misinformation, at least initially.

But this time it feels different. It seems most if not all this misinformation is coming from officials not unnamed sources.

IMO, the most likely possibility is it blew up just after it lost connection (why isn't the oil rig sighting being taken more seriously?).

The second most likely scenario for me is one of the pilots went rogue, killed the other pilot, took the plane way off track and put it into the ocean. This would explain why no passengers thought anything was suspicious and didn't use their cell phones to call for help. (Second guessing myself now, if it was going down, people would have used their cell phones. The only way people don't use their phones is it blew up without notice)

That's the reason I don't think it was terrorists. If it was, they either put the plane in the ocean right away. Or if they forced the pilots to redirect their path, people would have know and used their cell phones. And even if they did that, the pilot would have to punch in a code to turn off the transponder and instead of putting in the code to turn it off he would have put in the code for maday without the terrorist knowing.

So that's my biggest question: why didn't anyone use their phones? Most likely reason, it blew up without notice. If it blew up without notice, why can't they find it?

I hate to say it because I am not a conspiracy theory supporter, but with all this misinformation, it's a possibility. But the question, what are they trying to hide?

[brijonmang]

It is a crazy scenario and I have no idea what to believe.  My head tells me there was maybe some sort of huge electrical failure and that's what caused the communications to go in the dark and the plane may have gone down somewhere hundreds of miles away from where they are looking.  However, there are no reports from eye witnesses or any kind of communications backing that up at all.  It just seems like there would have been debris found by now by some passing ship or something if it did indeed crash in the water.

 

As for the phones, if they were out over the water then there would be no signal towers to relay cell phone signals off of so it wouldn't have mattered if they tried to call, there would be no way to get the call out.

[lockmat]

It is a crazy scenario and I have no idea what to believe. My head tells me there was maybe some sort of huge electrical failure and that's what caused the communications to go in the dark and the plane may have gone down somewhere hundreds of miles away from where they are looking. However, there are no reports from eye witnesses or any kind of communications backing that up at all. It just seems like there would have been debris found by now by some passing ship or something if it did indeed crash in the water.

As for the phones, if they were out over the water then there would be no signal towers to relay cell phone signals off of so it wouldn't have mattered if they tried to call, there would be no way to get the call out.

If electrical went out, maybe he would have attempted to glide towards the nearest land mass, explaining why they may think it tried to turn back or went off course.

[lockmat]

So does anyone know if they're just looking for surface debris or if they're using sonar too?

[nativehoustonion]

I think the plane had a major explosion.  It still had a lots of fuel on it.  It was a little over an hour into the flight with a full tank.  If it fell into the ocean they should find fuel, pieces of the plane, seats but it disappeared.  I think at 35,000 feet something catastrophic happened.  I feel so sad for the family members.          

[brijonmang]

If there was a major explosion at 35,000 feet there would be debris scattered over a lot of square miles.  I just read that we are sending a ship to the Indian Ocean based on multiple bits of information that lead people to believe the plane went down between Australia and Madagascar.

[lockmat]

It seems to me that whether it went down immediately or even veered off to find land to make an emergency landing it was relatively close to land. Therefore, it should have gone down near the last place it made communications.

If you're looking for land, there's plenty nearby, there's no reason to pass it up, so it seems to me they expanded their search too wide. The only way they pass up land and eventually fall in the water is if they went just past the coast and didn't know it was there because they didn't have electronics up and they couldn't see it.

Im curious if they still expect to see any floating debris. They would have found it by now if as CNN said, they're going over the area like you do mowing a yard.

[ricco67]

The difference between mowing your yard and this is the fact that the surface is constantly changing. What may be in one spot at one point maybe a hundred miles away in only a few hours or so depending on the currents.

[lockmat]

The WSJ was the first outlet to report information about the engines, now they're providing more detail. But after their initial report, the authorities denied it. Actually, they're denying everything. Why would someone give them false information? Why would they report something from an unreliable source? They wouldn't. Either the WSJ has become a conspiracy theorist, or something really strange is happening:

 

 

Communication satellites received intermittent data "pings" from a missing Malaysia Airlines jet, giving the plane's location, speed and altitude for at least five hours after it disappeared from civilian radar screens, people briefed on the investigation said Thursday.

 

The final satellite ping was sent from over water, at what one of these people called a "normal" cruising altitude. The people declined to say where specifically the transmission originated, adding that it was unclear why the transmissions stopped. One possibility one person cited was that the system sending them had been disabled by someone on board.

 

The automatic pings, or attempts to link up with satellites operated by Inmarsat PLC, occurred a number of times after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's last verified position, these people said, indicating that at least through those hours, the BoeingCo. 777 carrying 239 people remained intact and hadn't been destroyed in a crash, act of sabotage or explosion.

 

 

 

Five hours?! Above water?!

 

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304185104579437573396580350?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304185104579437573396580350.html

 

More crazy info from the image at the article. Check out the chart to the bottom right where it says "no signal detected." If someone didn't take it over and land it somewhere, it seems most logical to look for the debris on land somewhere.

 

My crazy self and wife have concluded terrorists may have gathered all cell phones while still over the ocean where no signal could be had, before they got close enough to cell towers on land, which explains why nobody made a phone call. 

 

They have crazy good timing though at their take over initiation, since it was after the pilot last spoke to whoever they communiate with.

 

Okay, call me luny.

 

[lockmat]

Seems most people are more interested in a 40-story downtown Houston tower than a mysteriously missing airplane with crazy information

 

Two U.S. officials tell ABC News the U.S. believes that the shutdown of two communication systems happened separately on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. One source said this indicates the plane did not come out of the sky because of a catastrophic failure.

 

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/malaysia-airliner-pinging-indication-crashed-indian-ocean/story?id=22894802

[little frau]

"Lost" anyone?

 

It's getting more bizarre as the time passes.

 

I cannot imagine the torture that the families of passengers must be enduring.

 

It does seem to me though, with all the planes and ships searching, whether over land or sea, that something should have been sighted by now.

[lockmat]

IMO, the picture is becoming more clear with the latest information. But yeah, before that, contradiction after contradiction.

 

Some interesting graphics from the WSJ, in terms of the depth of the sea around there.

 

 

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/03/11/the-difficulty-and-mystery-of-mh370-search-explained-in-two-graphics/

[lockmat]

New evidence indicates they were using "navigational waypoints", something only pilots would normally know about.

The article:

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said.

The last plot on the military radar's tracking suggested the plane was flying toward India's Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.

Waypoints are geographic locations, worked out by calculating longitude and latitude, that help pilots navigate along established air corridors.

A third source familiar with the investigation said inquiries were focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSBREA2D0DG20140314?irpc=932

[lockmat]

"Lost" anyone?

It's getting more bizarre as the time passes.

I cannot imagine the torture that the families of passengers must be enduring.

It does seem to me though, with all the planes and ships searching, whether over land or sea, that something should have been sighted by now.

Unfortunately, either everyone on that flight is dead or if it was hijacked, only the hijackers are.

[lockmat]

It seems all indications are pointing towards a hijacking.

[lockmat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?hp&_r=0

 

 

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 experienced significant changes in altitude after it lost contact with ground control, and altered its course more than once as if still under the command of a pilot, American officials and others familiar with the investigation said Friday.

 

...

 

An Asia-based pilot of a Boeing 777-200, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said an ascent above the plane’s service limit of 43,100 feet, along with a depressurized cabin, could have rendered the passengers and crew unconscious, and could be a deliberate maneuver by a pilot or a hijacker.

 

...

 

The investigators considered but dismissed the possibility that hijackers landed the plane somewhere for later use in a terrorist attack, according to a senior American official briefed on the investigation.

 

The data, the official said, “leads them to believe that it either ran out of fuel or crashed right before it ran out of fuel.” It would take a long runway to land a plane of that size, the official said. Although the radius that the plane could have flown extends into South Asia, the official added, “the idea it could cross into Indian airspace and not get picked up made no sense.”

[lockmat]

Yeah, this just got even more interesting

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp&_r=0

 

[Subdude]

To me the theory that makes the most sense is that it was just an onboard fire, perhaps starting with the tires.  After the pilots turned west to head to the nearest airport, they ended up incapacitated by smoke and the plane just continued on its heading until it ran out of fuel over the ocean.  Simple explanations are generally the best.

[arche_757]

To me the theory that makes the most sense is that it was just an onboard fire, perhaps starting with the tires.  After the pilots turned west to head to the nearest airport, they ended up incapacitated by smoke and the plane just continued on its heading until it ran out of fuel over the ocean.  Simple explanations are generally the best.

 

VEGGIE!

 

Simple explanations are usually the best but this is a large plane, and there are quite a few large airports (hence sophisticated radar) in the area... excluding Burma, plus China and Australia and the US have extensive radar capabilities.  Besides that there is simply no trace of anything.  Even a plane this large - plunging 30,000 feet straight into the sea/ocean would cause some debris to float and then wash ashore.  Perhaps it was so far off course (out in the Indian Ocean) that the debris won't be easily found for weeks?

 

My theories:

1) Plane was shot down by a nation state (either accidentally or purposefully).  Governments are aware of this and are attempting to cover it up to prevent public outrage.

2) Plane was shot down by terrorists.  Governments are aware and to prevent shutting down Singapore/Thailand/Malaysia/Indonesia and other airspace with fear, are not saying anything.

3) Something odd happened and the plane crashed in a remote part of the world (either dense jungle or water).  It is plausible the emergency transponders malfunctioned.  Machines fail sometimes.

4) Plane was hijacked and passengers told to surrender all electronic devices or else.  That plane - could have landed somewhere - or even been forced down at sea in an emergency water landing and whomever survived (think the NYC plane landing after birdstrike a few years ago) was then captured and is being transported somewhere?  Piracy is actually quite lively in that part of the world.  And I don't mean burned cd/dvd piracy.

[lockmat]

To me the theory that makes the most sense is that it was just an onboard fire, perhaps starting with the tires. After the pilots turned west to head to the nearest airport, they ended up incapacitated by smoke and the plane just continued on its heading until it ran out of fuel over the ocean. Simple explanations are generally the best.

Could be. The problem with that theory is they have satellite communications of its position seven or so hours later and they were either north or south, not out west where it could have continued gliding until going into the water.

[arche_757]

Could be. The problem with that theory is they have satellite communications of its position seven or so hours later and they were either north or south, not out west where it could have continued gliding until going into the water.

 

I think we can all safely assume that this is no longer just the "simplest explanation" the myriad of conspiracy theories are all plausible.  Could be anything?

 

I can only imagine the anguish the families and friends of those on the flight.

[lockmat]

I think we can all safely assume that this is no longer just the "simplest explanation" the myriad of conspiracy theories are all plausible. Could be anything?

I can only imagine the anguish the families and friends of those on the flight.

If there is anything in the deleted simulator files, that could break it wide open.

Track with me here. The planes was on its way to Beijing and took a hard left. I've seen maps that after it crossed over Malaysia it took a northwest turn. Has that been confirmed?

If so, I saw a theory that said at that turn it could have flown next to another plane already headed in that direction. I went on a website that shows live and playback locations of planes and it seems plausible. (By the way, when using playback, you can see the plane vanish. Eerie)

[arche_757]

Here is an interesting take on this whole thing from a former pilot on Wired.com.

 

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

 

Seems like Subdude could be correct.  Though if that's the case, the plane must have flown on and on, since I think that area has been initially searched?  Yes?  so its somewhere in the central Indian Ocean.

[Subdude]

Here is an interesting take on this whole thing from a former pilot on Wired.com.

 

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

 

Seems like Subdude could be correct.  Though if that's the case, the plane must have flown on and on, since I think that area has been initially searched?  Yes?  so its somewhere in the central Indian Ocean.

 

That's where I had read it.  Today however it seems that the fire theory is being discredited by a number of sources.   See here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-26640114

[arche_757]

Well... yes... this is truly an odd and really disconcerting story!

 

So that theory is at least put to rest.  As sound and logical as it seemed.

[lockmat]

Here is an interesting take on this whole thing from a former pilot on Wired.com.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

Seems like Subdude could be correct. Though if that's the case, the plane must have flown on and on, since I think that area has been initially searched? Yes? so its somewhere in the central Indian Ocean.

The main reason why this theory doesn't work is because after they headed west, it's presumed they all died and it continued straight until crashing, but the last satellite signal was north or south. It would have needed to take a 90 degree turn after they were dead.

I have to find it, but the best theory I've heard is one that gives specifics about after crossing Malaysia again, it could have intercepted a flight path north that another plane was on and it could have hidden in its shadows. I've checked the plane in playback mode from flightradar24.com and it seems to work. I'll have to find the article, it y'all will like it.

[arche_757]

Well, isn't it possible there was some mechanical failure (if there was a fire) that would turn the plane?  Is that out of the realm of possibilities?  I would think not at this point.

[lockmat]

Well, isn't it possible there was some mechanical failure (if there was a fire) that would turn the plane? Is that out of the realm of possibilities? I would think not at this point.

Maybe, no idea. Or his dead body could have fallen on the steering wheel it veering it left or right.

But to me, if it was on fire it would not have another 7 hours.

[Subdude]

If the plane depressurized for whatever reason it could have continued on for hours with no one conscious.  Remember that happened to a pro golfer some years back?  The plane flew for hours before it crashed. 

 

Payne Stewart.

 

 

[lockmat]

If the plane depressurized for whatever reason it could have continued on for hours with no one conscious. Remember that happened to a pro golfer some years back? The plane flew for hours before it crashed.

Payne Stewart.

But that one wasn't on fire and it also went straight. This one turned 90 degrees (after they would have died) or more to reach one of those archs of satellite communication.