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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:15
  #6861 (permalink)  
 
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Phone call??

At the end of the press conference that ended just now, a journalist from ?Reuters asked about a phone call that was given from ? the cockpit to ??? and the answer was "we are investigating". The sound was not good. Anyone heard about this phone call??
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:15
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SLFJB- not sure what you mean about turning the Comms off when away from the home airport. I've never heard of that before. And napping down the back presumes three crew and no bunks.

At my old airline, three crew kicked in at about 8:30 flight time and 9+ for a daytime report. The blanket FAA 8 hr thing does not apply everywhere and I don't know what kind of FTL's Malaysia use.

I would hope that we wouldn't sleep off the flight deck leaving only one pilot alone up there. It sort of defeats the purpose of having two pilots, non? Rather than getting away with an emergency, I would think it more likely that the cabin crew or a savvy pax would complain to management and you'd have an interesting time explaining yourself.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:22
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@Squawk_ident
Anyone heard about this phone call??
Yes apparently the captain made a personal phone call to someone before take-off. Last I heard was the matter is being investigated, nothing out of it yet.

refer to link: Pilot 'made call in cockpit minutes before take off'
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:24
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Originally Posted by Ornis
ELTs switch on when the aircraft crashes but often the aerial breaks so the transmission is not heard and they don't work under water. Hence the suggestions of having EPIRBs that float. Life rafts have PLBs with an ON switch.

Whatever is done to improve security, nothing can stop determined pilots killing passengers; it might make it more difficult to disguise the fact and get them the benefit of the doubt.
I still find the suicide theory very hard to accept.
If this is suicide it is surely one of the most complicated and bizarre suicides in history. Leaving aside the astonishing cruelty of taking 226 others with you, what counts against murder-suicide, in my opinion is the infeasibly elaborate nature of the plan. You have to ensure the FO (or Captain) was out of the cockpit, passengers and crew incapacitated, you have to make sure this happens on an ATC handover, then you have to sneak past the radar of half a dozen countries and fly seven hours into the Indian Ocean somewhere.
Furthermore this audacious and intricate plan must be executed perfectly by an individual who is so miserable that he no longer wants to go on living. So many things could go wrong with this.

Admittedly there have been pilot suicides in the past, but they have been simple and quick. If murder-suicide is the best explanation that can be made fit the data so far, then I prefer no explanation until something else turns up.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:33
  #6865 (permalink)  

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Now finally being revealed that the the aircraft was carrying a consignment of Lithium-Ion batteries !
El Grifo

can you give us a source for this invaluable information?
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:36
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can you give us a source for this invaluable information?
Today's press conference.

They covered it in some detail.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:39
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Missing MH370 carried lithium ion batteries as cargo but not seen as 'dangerous'
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:42
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ULB battery life

Going forward industry-wide, could another pound of weight be invested in doubling the life of the flight data recorder's pinger from 30 to 60 days?
I think I suggested doubling or tripling the underwater locator beacon battery size already in one of the AF447 threads. One Dukane ULB only weighs 7 ounces (200 grams), battery included, so the amount of added weight would not be much more than a pound or so for two slightly larger ULBs. Besides, they are located on the outside of the recorder boxes, so finding space for them might be easy.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:49
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caution re New Straits Times

@wewereborndrunk

I'd caution about reporting from the New Straits Times. The piece you cite is a television report based on a New Straits Times story that *speculates* that Australia is holding back vital data sourced from its Jindalee radar.

I have noticed that repeatedly the New Straits Times takes a hypothetical (e.g. the Australians have amazing radar and therefore must have seen the plane), combines it with a fact (the Australians would not tell Bloomberg news agency if they saw anything) and then creates a sensationalist story (Australians know and are refusing to share). There is no original reporting, no news, and it's not what I would call journalism.

As to the Jindalee, it's been discussed a lot on here. It would have had to be on and pointing in the right direction. The Australians, no more or less than any of the other nations, are hardly going to publicly announce when and where their radar is pointed.

However, imo, the data or lack of data (and either is helpful) gathered by Jindalee is obviously going to be internally leveraged within the Australian SAR effort. That imo is part of why they're taking the lead in the south. They can leverage their intel without routing it through other countries. They certainly are not hiding it from their own SAR effort -- otherwise they'd be putting on a multi-million-dollar theatrical event! Let's show some good faith that what seems to be a well-conducted and earnest search in the Indian Ocean is exactly that.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 10:50
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Batteries

During the PC the MAS CEO was questioned about these batteries packages. Answer was that it was properly packed and NOT considered dangerous/hazardous as per ICAO standards.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:00
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There is little evidence about anything, so all possibilities remain open.

So, if the Lithium batteries weren't categorised as dangerous goods, how can you pack them according to ICAO instructions? ICAO only provides instructions for dangerous goods, doesn't it?

A quick search reveals lithium batteries have UN code 3090 or 3481 in the dangerous goods manual, so they are categorised and the CEO is lying.

Last edited by max nightstop; 21st Mar 2014 at 11:14.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:03
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"Anyone notice that Hishamuddin definitely said six pings were received at the press conference tonight?"

The only way they could have narrowed down the search to such an extent is with the data from all six pings. It would have been impossible with just the final ping at 8:11 (unless I've got the facts wrong).
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:05
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They say ICAO, probably mean IATA
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:06
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Cynar,

Any data aust has us likely to be shared with the us and nz if relevant to the sar effort.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:07
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Hmmm, it is two years since I left cargo operation, but at my last place we did consider those batteries as CAO (cargo aircraft only), and included a temperature check before loading and a holdover time in hot outside temperatures. Basically we treated them like any other temperature sensitive material with the addition of an potential offload in case of.

Malaysian Cargo has obviously changed a lot since management change.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:07
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Survivors

Along with the searching of the southern oceans, there has been talk of "survivors". While I for one am hoping that this may be the case, is it really feasible?
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:11
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The quantity may have been too small to qualify as such.

But again, this has not been disclosed.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:11
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And Dangerous Goods range from corrosives and the real stuff to things which aren't dangerous when limitations are complied with. Like gas powered hair curlers, matches, and sporting ammo. I would be interested to know what "a shipment of lithium ion batteries" actually means. A couple of new laptops in their boxes? Or a slab of just the batteries?
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:13
  #6879 (permalink)  

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currawong

DGR is DGR. It always qualifies. The quantity allowed on board is a different subject.
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Old 21st Mar 2014, 11:17
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@500N

Totally agree. I have thought from early on that the U.S. and Australia would pool intel that might not necessarily be routed through Malaysia. Sort of a back-channel. Plus, they might not reveal the exact *sources* of the intel, even to one another.
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