Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost
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Lots of updates here...
Oil slicks spotted in search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane | World news | theguardian.com
Oil slicks spotted in search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane | World news | theguardian.com
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The story coming to light about the stolen passports on MH370 isn't surprising.
When we passed through WMKK in January, my wife was able to get through immigration on my sons passport - it appears that not too many visual checks were made.
The error was noticed when my son attempted to go through immigration a few minutes later, which caused some angst in the family but didn't appear to spook the officials who simply looked at my wife (now airside), and processed her passport accordingly.
-edit... Just to put it into perspective though, we travel through 4 or 5 times per year... first time there was any issue...
When we passed through WMKK in January, my wife was able to get through immigration on my sons passport - it appears that not too many visual checks were made.
The error was noticed when my son attempted to go through immigration a few minutes later, which caused some angst in the family but didn't appear to spook the officials who simply looked at my wife (now airside), and processed her passport accordingly.
-edit... Just to put it into perspective though, we travel through 4 or 5 times per year... first time there was any issue...
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The Malaysian Civil Aviation General has confirmed that no ACARS message linking to malfunctions of the aircraft were sent to Malaysia Airlines Operations Centre at press conference just broadcast on Sky News.
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24 hours plus now and the most intriguing part of this is the absence of any reports of a crash or wreckage from the numerous boats/aircraft in the area.
All of the main scenarios discussed have some sort of inflight breakup as the main explanation. So far there seems to be no witnesses to anything like that. Where are the seat cushions, suitcases and pieces of magazines floating on the water that we usually associate with such an event? No bodies either.
Even large pieces of floating wreckage aka AF447? We are not talking the mid Atlantic here. It is a smallish body of water heavily populated with all sorts of marine traffic. It is very strange.
There are air defence radars scattered though out the area. Surely they must be being reviewed for primary traces to aid the search.
All of the main scenarios discussed have some sort of inflight breakup as the main explanation. So far there seems to be no witnesses to anything like that. Where are the seat cushions, suitcases and pieces of magazines floating on the water that we usually associate with such an event? No bodies either.
Even large pieces of floating wreckage aka AF447? We are not talking the mid Atlantic here. It is a smallish body of water heavily populated with all sorts of marine traffic. It is very strange.
There are air defence radars scattered though out the area. Surely they must be being reviewed for primary traces to aid the search.
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Rumour, supposition, insight, speculation and deduction are what makes PPRuNe so popular...
Having read each and every post on this thread, as always it was gratifying to get an early industry perspective. It is timely, argumentative and deductive with an oversight of critical introspection and thoughtful supposition and counter argument that relegates the commercial media to the back seat; I am sure every crash investigator has it bookmarked.
For MH370 there are social, engineering and military aspects that are yet to be investigated before a reasonable cause can be allocated. As with most incidents there will be a chain of events uncovered that will lead to that final event. Here we seem to have a catastrophic inflight failure with no current reports of debris or electronic/human distress/ACARS signals in a proven Boeing aircraft in clear weather with as yet no terrorist claims.
Whatever the reason for “MH370 contact lost” it seemed to have happened instantaneously…hopefully with least suffering to the unfortunate victims.
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Re the report that the other aircraft reportedly contacted them around 1:30.
If the other pilot is uncertain whether it was pilot or copilot that he contacted, could it not also have been someone else in the cockpit? And he claims he heard "mumbling" - could that suggest that the crew was somehow partially incapacitated? Either under threat/control, injured, or possibly the presence of toxic fumes/pressurization problems?
Is there an incident timeline posted anywhere with take off, scheduled landing, last contact, etc? Thanks.
If the other pilot is uncertain whether it was pilot or copilot that he contacted, could it not also have been someone else in the cockpit? And he claims he heard "mumbling" - could that suggest that the crew was somehow partially incapacitated? Either under threat/control, injured, or possibly the presence of toxic fumes/pressurization problems?
Is there an incident timeline posted anywhere with take off, scheduled landing, last contact, etc? Thanks.
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Maybe this is a silly question, but is it possible that they're just looking in the completely wrong area? So far the SAR efforts are concentrated in the central part of the Gulf of Thailand. Is it possible the plane made landfall over Vietnam and crashed in a remote area there? Or perhaps even in the South China Sea?
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Did anyone watching the Sky News press conference awhile ago notice how defensive the general became when a reporter questioned Malaysia's passport scrutiny? there seems to a plug on information or maybe just like us they are clueless as to what happened.
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Re the report that the other aircraft reportedly contacted them around 1:30.
If the other pilot is uncertain whether it was pilot or copilot that he contacted, could it not also have been someone else in the cockpit? And he claims he heard "mumbling" - could that suggest that the crew was somehow partially incapacitated? Either under threat/control, injured, or possibly the presence of toxic fumes/pressurization problems?
Is there an incident timeline posted anywhere with take off, scheduled landing, last contact, etc? Thanks.
If the other pilot is uncertain whether it was pilot or copilot that he contacted, could it not also have been someone else in the cockpit? And he claims he heard "mumbling" - could that suggest that the crew was somehow partially incapacitated? Either under threat/control, injured, or possibly the presence of toxic fumes/pressurization problems?
Is there an incident timeline posted anywhere with take off, scheduled landing, last contact, etc? Thanks.
My logic is that if it was indeed MH370 they would have had a meaningful conversation and had them establish contact with the appropriate ATC facility.
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During the search for AF447, BEA convened experts in the field of oceanography to come up with an estimated position (The Drift Group).
Toward the end of the report, they reported an unreconciled observation by the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the COSMO SkyMed 1 satellite.
The shape of the slick was cusp shaped, not elongated as it would be from a ship.
I hope people are looking for this type of information now.
Toward the end of the report, they reported an unreconciled observation by the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the COSMO SkyMed 1 satellite.
The shape of the slick was cusp shaped, not elongated as it would be from a ship.
I hope people are looking for this type of information now.
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@LiamNCL
Having looked out for MH370 crossing the same area this evening , The coverage seems very stable in that region on FR24 to suggest that when it indicated altitude 0 last night it was infact not receiving data due to something sudden.
If a completely destructive explosion would it be possible there could be no discernible debris?
Even if a big bomb went off amidships, the tail and wings would fall off but would still be in big pieces for the float down to the ocean. And all the stuff in the cabin, cushions, furnishings wouldn't just be vapourised.
What time is daylight? Presumably air SAR will recommence?
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Speculation
Speculation is part of the research and investigation process.
As long as you can't rely on conclusive evidence, you can only speculate based on the few ascertained hard facts.
That said, if ACARS do not indicate any mulfunction, as reported by the airline, this is an additional indication of a sudden catastrophic event.
My two cents.
As long as you can't rely on conclusive evidence, you can only speculate based on the few ascertained hard facts.
That said, if ACARS do not indicate any mulfunction, as reported by the airline, this is an additional indication of a sudden catastrophic event.
My two cents.
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Lost in Saigon -
Yeah, to me hearing "mumbling" buried in static isn't any sort of positive connection. As you say, it could have been another aircraft, and even if it was the right flight, no actual meaningful information was exchanged.
The lack of debris bothers me. Unless they're looking in the wrong place, if there was a bomb or a breakup, it seems that there should be a fairly large debris field. It's been daylight for awhile now, and yet no reports of debris, and no one claiming to have seen a fireball or other explosion.
What if the pilot attempted a ditching? As I recall, when Sully landed in the river, there was little debris other than the rafts and life jackets. If the plane was ditched, and for some reason the passengers were unable to get out before it sank, would that explain the lack of debris?
Yeah, to me hearing "mumbling" buried in static isn't any sort of positive connection. As you say, it could have been another aircraft, and even if it was the right flight, no actual meaningful information was exchanged.
The lack of debris bothers me. Unless they're looking in the wrong place, if there was a bomb or a breakup, it seems that there should be a fairly large debris field. It's been daylight for awhile now, and yet no reports of debris, and no one claiming to have seen a fireball or other explosion.
What if the pilot attempted a ditching? As I recall, when Sully landed in the river, there was little debris other than the rafts and life jackets. If the plane was ditched, and for some reason the passengers were unable to get out before it sank, would that explain the lack of debris?
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Besides the usual wild speculation from the plane spotters and wannabe pilots does anyone one have any factual /concrete infromation of what happened to this aircraft.
Seems an inane and frustrated comment so far into this thread and adds absolutely zero to the discussion. Just what contribution would you be making to aviation if you had this factual/concrete information other than to inject some hind-sighted speculative comment for all of us plane spotters and wannabe pilots to read.
Does anyone know about the last reported tracking? Was it primary radar? SSR? ADS-B?
The reports say "radar" but lots of laymen throw that term around generically.
The reports say "radar" but lots of laymen throw that term around generically.
Last edited by evilroy; 9th Mar 2014 at 01:10. Reason: Correct spelling error
Re: post 528
I wonder about the credibility of the Captain who was quoted as saying he had a conversation:
"He said those on the same frequency at the time would have heard the exchange.
This, he said, would include vessels on the waters below."
The Maritime Mobile Service uses frequencies in the range 150-160 MHz using Frequency Modulation, and well as some HF SSB. The aeronautical service uses frequencies between 108 and 132 MHz, using Amplitude Modulation, as well as some HF SSB.
The HF SSB frequencies are not in common between the services, unless we are talking about 2182 or 5680 kHz, the distress frequencies.
Two aircraft half an hour apart at 35,000 feet should be able to talk very clearly on VHF, where the boats below would not be listening (unless military). However I wonder why he would be using HF if VHF was adequate?
"He said those on the same frequency at the time would have heard the exchange.
This, he said, would include vessels on the waters below."
The Maritime Mobile Service uses frequencies in the range 150-160 MHz using Frequency Modulation, and well as some HF SSB. The aeronautical service uses frequencies between 108 and 132 MHz, using Amplitude Modulation, as well as some HF SSB.
The HF SSB frequencies are not in common between the services, unless we are talking about 2182 or 5680 kHz, the distress frequencies.
Two aircraft half an hour apart at 35,000 feet should be able to talk very clearly on VHF, where the boats below would not be listening (unless military). However I wonder why he would be using HF if VHF was adequate?