Originally Posted by
BuzzBox
I'm curious to see where you intend going with this. At a heavy weight of about 210 T, the descent point from FL340 would be about 130 NM from Penang.
The TOPD from FL340 in nil wind, for 210T, is approximately 130 NM from the airport.
If we now look at the potential diversion to BANDA ACEH, then at the last primary radar position, approximately 10 NM north-west of MEKAR at 1822:12, the aircraft is 110.4 nautical track miles from Banda Aceh via NILAM-SANOB ie it is past TOPD.
If everyone was deceased at TOPD, then the autopilot mode changed to VNAV ALT, maintained FL340, and the serviceable right Autothrottle reduced speed to 267 KIAS (268 CAS for MH370).
Given the known winds (010T/3kts) and ISA deviation (+10.9), then the groundspeed has reduced from 498 knots to approximately 458 knots.
The SATCOM logged on again at 1825:27, therefore from the last radar point it has travelled 24.8 NM, thus on the LNAV route it is approximately 2 NM west of NILAM turning left to SANOB through heading 262T. The track to the Indian Ocean satellite at this point is 262T.
Therefore, without any human intervention, it is highly likely that the SATCOM could finally commence its log on, when it automatically switched from the inoperative left HGA to the right HGA, which is now exposed to the satellite on the right side of the fuselage!