From a few pages back:
There may well have been many warships out there but the radar operators are trained to take notice of a contact if it threatens the ship, ie... Flies towards it. Single contacts at high altitude on a constant heading are usually deemed friendly and ignored.
Not necessarily tagged as "friendly" ... but most likely not tagged as "hostile." (Ref: old NTDS symbology, if you get my drift.) Yes, I am nitpicking
... but if the Malaysian Air Force was using a similar methodology, a tagged COMMAIR contact (on its original flight planned course) would not necessarily become "of interest" if it changed course(no major status change as seen by the guy on the scope late one Friday night). Mil Radar Operators would not necessarily have all of ATC's info in front of them. This is an issue for the Malaysian Air Force to address regarding cooperation with their ATC. FWIW: 9-11 seems to have increased the cooperation and communication in the US between ATC and the USAF. Sometimes, it takes a novel event to open some previously closed doors. Coordination among the various nations in SEA between MIL/ATC .. there are politics involved.
surely not
A couple of (well probably 10-20 by now) pages back in this thread there was a post claiming some high ranking US Military official was 100% certain Pakistan was behind this and that within 24-48 hours it would become public.
I think you refer to the March 18 interview of retired Lieutenant General Tom McInerney(USAF) by Sean Hannity on Fox News. He's free to act as an "expert" for the media without sanction, regardless of how credible his hypothesis is, or isn't.
wewereborndrunk
Its looking more and more likely that if the plane did fly south that the US and Australia know exactly where this plan flew and went down.
Not bloody likely. If they knew exactly, they'd not be wasting time looking for it. They are still in SEARCH mode.
All this searching by the Australians in the South Atlantic is a bluff.
It's not the South Atlantic. It's the Indian Ocean (certainly the southern part of the Indian Ocean). Your disrespect of our friends in Australia is IMO out of line.
The Aussies ought to be applauded for their efforts.
@Garage Years: A few pages back, AP-3C AAR was a confirmed as not a capability.
Thought: Lithium ion batteries and mangosteens: a deadly combination in a cargo hold?
(Sorry, thought I'd toss in a little humor).
@ RazorRay: respectfully request that you learn how to take a hint.
