What It Is
One of the most fascinating and gruesome mysteries since the JFK assassination, MH370's disappearance has engaged the world's collective imagination.
Yet a view of posts to Pprune and Twitter shows we still react with knee jerk enthusiasm to every tantalizing satellite sighting of flotsam, although our oceans, like space around us, is filled with junk.
Let's go back to square one for a moment:
1. Whether cell calls were or were not possible, at least 80 (30%) phones should have been on and attempting to register with cell towers. The 9-11 Shanksville aircraft was at 40,000' and several air-to-ground calls were successfully placed. But again, the question is not calls, but registration (pings). Why no analysis of cell phone registration attempts from take-off and along any possible flight path?
2. Why would radar be off in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, as well as long-range radar in China and Australia?
3. Wouldn't civil/military radar have tracked MH370 as it overflew Indonesian space (which it would have had to do assuming it was headed to the Indian ocean)? Why no discussion of the need for this data?
4. How can INMARSAT pings all be at 40 degrees from the satellite? I realize this has been covered here on the basis of aircraft altitude, but it makes no sense to me. I understand that the 40 degrees is the angle from the satellite to the aircraft. No aircraft would fly a 40-degree curve from a satellite. Constant 40 degree pings would suggest the aircraft had landed and its engines were still running.