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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:13
  #7501 (permalink)  
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Ok, so if it caught fire, it would not have stayed airborne for hours. So where is the wreckage?
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:16
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Originally Posted by wiggy
Been answered before, so I suspect this will b yet another short lived answer but....

No need to switch the Xpdr to standby on modern kit of the type installed on the T7, you just punch in the new code..
This FO was new to the aircraft. Was he even told there was no need? Even if he was, old habits are hard to break.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:28
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Ok, so if it caught fire, it would not have stayed airborne for hours. So where is the wreckage?
How do you know it didn't burn itself out before doing too much damage? The plane could have flown itself until it's fuel was exhausted.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:32
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This FO was new to the aircraft. Was he even told there was no need? Even if he was, old habits are hard to break.
Good point.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:32
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Ok, point taken.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:33
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This FO was new to the aircraft. Was he even told there was no need? Even if he was, old habits are hard to break.
Does anybody have a source to establish exactly how many flight hours he has on the 777?
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:33
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Ghost Flight

Capt Kremin

Constant magnetic headings over this scale are indeed weird.

First, wind drift leads to a non-recoverable drift of longitude coordinate.

Second the longitude drift rate for given wind strength increases as latitude becomes more polar.

So the westerlies could have more effect on the longitude of the end point than the easterlies.

So a more Westerly heading would be needed to arrive in the same place.

And the aircraft would arrive there on a more Westerly heading - ie on a heading nearer to the direct track.

It's a rhumb world.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:40
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cabin air contamination?

There is a lot of talk about decompression and the subsequent affects of hypoxia on crew and passengers.
There is another possible cause for crew incapacitation, which is insidious and can appear similar in nature to hypoxia- cabin air contamination.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:42
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Does anybody have a source to establish exactly how many flight hours he has on the 777?


Richard Quest was on one of his training flights in Feb (19th). So he had one to maybe three months experience on the 777.


First officer on missing jet was transitioning to 777-200s - CNN.com
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:45
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Ok, so if it caught fire, it would not have stayed airborne for hours. So where is the wreckage?
SOPS,
They did stop searching in the South China Sea about 10 days ago. Did they cover it all, did all countries check their waters and coastlines. Answer IS no because they were all told to stop due the Sat data. Well IMHO the SATCOM installation which is above the economy section in B777 at the back of the aircraft could have still been pinging as wreckage in the ocean which subsequently sunk after 08:11. The only thing needed for accurate handshakes is ADIRU info for direction. If this ADIRU info was cut surely it would still handshake at its last recorded position of the satellite MAY NOT BE STRONG SIGNAL but floating in the sea it would vary in strength. The Satcom installation in the B777 is totally autonomous to the rest of the avionics which are located in the pointed end of the jet. It has its own power supply, battery is close by Rack E10, SDU Satellite Data Unit, BSU Beam steering unit ( which would be stuck in one position after no ADIRU info)in Rack E11. They will have to retrace their searches and cover new areas in the South China Sea and Malacca straits, this time Thailand needs to be included. All options are still on the table.
Formation Drivers theory on an intense Lithium Ion battery fire in the forward cargo and then burning antenna connections or boxes in or near the forward avionics is still plausible. Loss of the Transponder and the VHF effectively simultaneously would indicate some coaxial junction box may have been damaged.

Last edited by Sheep Guts; 23rd Mar 2014 at 15:02.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:49
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The live ATC archive has vanished of their website, anyone else see this?
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:58
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Originally Posted by misd-agin
Does anybody have a source to establish exactly how many flight hours he has on the 777?


Richard Quest was on one of his training flights in Feb (19th). So he had one to maybe three months experience on the 777.


First officer on missing jet was transitioning to 777-200s - CNN.com
Was the FO finished with his training? Has it been established whether or not this was a Line Indoctrination flight?

The Captain was an examiner so there is a good chance the FO was not fully qualified yet.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 14:59
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Originally Posted by Coagie
How do you know it didn't burn itself out before doing too much damage? The plane could have flown itself until it's fuel was exhausted.
Does not explain anything as a fire to destroy all communication etc would also render the plane's hydraulic systems and electrics to fail too, making the plane unable to continue flying for long.

Seriously, how can you believe such a theory when it turned around as we know, but not towards the airport?

Compare that to other major fires where communication of the situation on board was relayed to ATC (SR111 & SA295).
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:06
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Is it known what type of transponder MH370 had?

There are at least two configurations that I know of. One has a keypad and one has rotary selectors. Do they both automatically go to "Standby" while a new code is being selected?



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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:09
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Do they both go to "Standby" when a new code is selected?
I have operated both types and not ever gone to STBY to select a new code.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:11
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That doesn't answer the question as to whether or not they "automatically" go to standby while selecting a new code.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:28
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Excellent work Capt Kremin. Very nice graphic.

I think that many of us who fly the 777 for a living agree with you. The AP is going to follow a limited number of lateral inputs--LNAV, HDG HOLD, HDG SEL, TRK, or LOC. Plus, for LNAV we know that it is a three-step process of selecting the waypoint, executing it, and then selecting LNAV on the MCP. How many times have we had that drilled into us about "Execute then LNAV?"

At the very least, the initial turn off course and the entering and/or selection of new waypoints reveals very deliberate actions--by whom I will leave open pending further discovery and investigation. I think however, that many posters have overlooked just how deliberate those actions need to be and that they were most likely not the result of a happenstance case of hypoxia or fire brigade duties...
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:43
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ATC vanished? No

Livesinafield The live ATC archive has vanished of their website, anyone else see this?
I found it here, live: LiveATC.net Worldwide Airport Coverage Map
and archives ATC Audio Archives | LiveATC.net

I've listened to most of the recordings for 3/7 and 3/8, and can't find that flight on Kuala Lumpar / WMKK ATC. Am I not looking in the right place or is it gone? I remember that the original news report said it "lost contact" with Subang (or Sepang?), so he took off under WMKK who passed him to that SZB and then contact was lost or? I couldn't find ATC for the "Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport" aka SZB.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:43
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It does get tiring when we continually have to revise and dismiss the data that we thought we knew for certain. Agree with previous poster... only certainty is that a B777 is missing.

So now the previous data that the turn inputs into the FMS that supposedly happened before the final voice transmission may not have happened after all.
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Old 23rd Mar 2014, 15:48
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miscellaneous

. According to the World Health Organization, the rate of suicide in Malaysia is close to the lowest on the planet; a tenth or so of rates in European countries.
But, is this due to Malaysia's measurement criteria? In a society where suicide is taboo (and not saying this applies), facts on the ground may be interpreted to uphold the norms. Durkheim spoke to this in his classic Suicide.

The rate of suicide-by-loaded-aircraft amongst pilots is vanishingly low as well; statistically it's zero plus noise. Pilot suicide is a highly unlikely explanation for this incident. Unfortunately, so are all the other possible explanations.
The commercial aircraft accident rate is also vanishingly small, too, isn't it? What % of this rate is due to pilot suicide?

As for the culture of suicide - I think the opposite... I think that in countries such as Malaysia etc, the pride and prestige of being an airline pilot is still very high compared to the western world where it seems to have been devalued...
Agree. But perhaps this introduces other issues. Malaysia is still a traditional society, wherein individuals reach various developmental milestones at an earlier age, as the West did years ago. So, one marries at 20, is a grandparent at 53. At the same time, individuals on certain career paths --whether young women working in MNC assembly plants, or pilots flying international routes-are exposed to Western values and lifestyles. This presents problems for the young women, who are sometimes 'ruined'. They may no longer fit in to the society within which they're trapped. Could this apply to pilots as well?

SIM cards...I was able to purchase a microSIM for my unlocked cell at an airport kiosk in KK recently, without showing any ID. I paid for it in ringgits. Only Mexico seems to strictly enforce an ID requirement.
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