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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

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Malaysian Airlines MH370 contact lost

Old 8th Mar 2015, 19:45
  #11701 (permalink)  
 
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Fly26 we seem to have had the same thought processes!
My guess?
One or other pilot had a 'spectacular' in mind, as you suggest, to let the world know of his grievance perhaps (I won't speculate here what those were, but I have my suspicions).
So this person acts at the ideal moment - takes control - disables anyone else on the FD - then gets on O2, switches off the pax O2 and depressurises the cabin (outflow valves open). The reported climb to FL400(?) was to guarentee total final incapacitation of all others on board.
Aircraft is then descended and turned. This is where the plan changes. I think something changed his mind and he snaps out of it. Instead of the 'spectacular' he slinks off to die in the empty and vast Southern Ocean.

That's all speculation of course.
But having taken the a/c succesfully, in such a planned way, was this really the planned endgame? Or an improvisation?
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Old 8th Mar 2015, 21:29
  #11702 (permalink)  
 
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Originally Posted by portmanteau
etops. luckily ian w speaks only for himself. I can assure you and others that here is one controller who would have been highly interested in an aircraft that dropped off my radar seconds after I had spoken to it regardless of "not my airspace/problem etc". wait four hours to initiate a search? unbelievable. icao will have much to say about this incompetence alone.
Understandable that you would react immedately Portmanteau, you work with synthetic mosaiced or multi-sensor tracker integrated surveillance systems with coasting track infilling. It is not likely that you would see an aircraft 'disappear' on handoff to the next sector. However, in airspace where the controller is using one radar not a multi-sensor system having patches where aircraft drop out is not uncommon. After working with one of those for a few shifts people might get a little restive with emergency actions every time an aircraft handed-off dropped off the display due to being on the ragged edge of radar cover.
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Old 8th Mar 2015, 21:50
  #11703 (permalink)  
 
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Is there ever a requirement for a proper handover rather than a simple hand-off ?

Like a courier delivering a parcel that has to be signed for, the current ATC must hear contact with the next ATC before the handover can be confirmed.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 03:52
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Now they say the ATC was asleep.

MH370 report: Air traffic control supervisor asleep on duty after plane disappeared

A Malaysian air traffic control supervisor was asleep on duty four hours after MH370 disappeared amid confusion and misleading reports on the whereabouts of the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 04:30
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I don't fly the 777. Is it possible to access the CVR/DFDR in flight from a cabin access panel?
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 06:41
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Surface debris

If the plane flew on AP until fuel exhaustion and then spiralled into the ocean, there would have been fragmentation of the fuselage and release of all sorts of floating items - pieces of composite lining, seat cushions, oxygen masks, possibly life jackets.

I'm not surprised none were found initially - roaring 40's, and several days before we started searching in the current area.

But it is surprising nothing at all has washed up after 12 months.

This makes me think wasn't a high speed crash with fragmentation.


Interesting site where you can input crash location and see where and when debris is most likely to wash up. It obviously depends exactly which position you nominate, but the densest flow of material is generally towards south and then SE coast of Australia (relatively densely populated).

Adrift: tracking the global ocean circulation


Famous rubber duckie story, but given these float on of water and are affected by wind, probably different to MH370.

What can 28,000 rubber duckies lost at sea teach us about our oceans? | MNN - Mother Nature Network
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 10:00
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Just for those who comment on "no debris", these closer-to-land incidents never washed up any debris either and were large jet aircraft:

1969 – Boeing RC-135 jet. Never found, last known position over ocean.
1979 – Boeing 707 jet. Never found, last known position over ocean.
2003 – Boeing 727 jet. Never found, last seen over ocean.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 10:12
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Interesting site where you can input crash location and see where and when debris is most likely to wash up. It obviously depends exactly which position you nominate, but the densest flow of material is generally towards south and then SE coast of Australia (relatively densely populated).
Worth noting though that, from the example crash location you linked to, whatever type of plastic it is that they are modelling takes around a year to reach significant portions of the Australian coast.

So, given all the uncertainties, we are still relatively early in that process.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 10:45
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DFDR Battery

For info - the DFDR is only a memory stick with a lot of protection and doesn't have a battery. Normally over rear galley and is accessible in flight.

The battery referred to is the DFDR ULB ("pinger") and it was the 'shelf life' that had expired; may still have worked anyway for 30 days when activated. The problem is that the 30 days had expired by the time they got to anywhere near the current search area.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 11:27
  #11710 (permalink)  
 
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A few people have privately asked about my recently deleted post.

Rather than attempt to repost it here, it is available at the link below

MH370 - time to think of it as a criminal act

Presumably the mods won't object to this.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 11:50
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Interim Report

Most interesting event to me is 'controlled' flt from IGARI to join N571 at VAMPI to fly to N of MEKAR before disappearing.

Why do that if intention was to fly South eventually. Loads of theories but that's all they can be
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 13:08
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one thing seems a little strange to me .. the Captain on the radio to ATC..he seems to be having some kind of trouble with virtually all the read backs ..lots of aa..ahh ..err.. ehhh..malaysia ONE ...7370 ... etc

small things maybe and yes its the middle of the night and he had flown a lot of hours in the previous 28/90 days..

the only read back without any prefix of err ahh aa etc is the very last one .

very precise ( although with no new frequency mentioned)

probably means nothing at all ,just made me think a bit .
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 13:08
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Originally Posted by Scubascooby
Is there ever a requirement for a proper handover rather than a simple hand-off ?

Like a courier delivering a parcel that has to be signed for, the current ATC must hear contact with the next ATC before the handover can be confirmed.
In a standard hand over the releasing controller contacts the assuming controller says that there is an aircraft to be handed over then identifies the aircraft to the assuming controller
The assuming controller has normally been prewarned by the system and has usually been watching the aircraft track approach the boundary in the 'area of common interest' and will accept the handoff and provide the frequency for the aircraft to call.

These handoff's become extremely routine and both the controllers and often the flight crews know the frequencies and know each other by voice in most cases.

Some systems internally have made the handoff even simpler into what they call a 'silent handoff'. In those the assuming controller will see the aircraft track approaching his boundary become a 'full data block' instead of a simple limited data block. When the releasing controller is ready to hand the aircraft over then the data block starts flashing, the receiving controller 'clicks on' the flashing data block and it stops flashing for him and starts flashing for the transferring controller indicating the acceptance of handoff. The transferring controller then sends the aircraft to the frequency for the next controller.

There are multiple variants between those types of handoff.
For example another common method is to ask the aircraft to contact the next center on 'their second box' when the next controller is ready to accept them they will cancel service from the current sector. This is common on transfers to oceanic where the contact may be by HF or by CPDLC rather than by voice.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 13:30
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ian w. there are rules for controllers covering handovers which " people who might get a little restive with emergency actions etc" ignore at their peril. malaysian dca lists them in their Interim Report and it is likely all atcc's have similar versions. it seems some were not followed in this case according to the report.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 14:48
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http://mh370.mot.gov.my/download/InterimStatement.pdf


In the Interim Statement they state the aim is the prevention of future accidents or incidents. They list seven organisations and details of factual information and evidence gathered. As part of this process they don't mention having gathered the medical records of the crew members. However, in 8.4 they mention they are now going to gather information on crew. Seems a bit strange they have waited so long.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 15:33
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As part of this process they don't mention having gathered the medical records of the crew members. However, in 8.4 they mention they are now going to gather information on crew. Seems a bit strange they have waited so long
Sect 1.5 of the Factual Information report makes it perfectly clear that they have already gathered a great deal of information about the crew, including their medical records.

S8.4 of the Interim Statement is merely listing the various headings under which they are conducting analysis of said factual information.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 16:05
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My reading of the factual information is it relates to the medical records that MAS themselves hold and not necessarily medical information gathered from any Doctor the crew may have attended and which may not have made it into their medical files at MAS.
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 17:35
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Originally Posted by slats11
A few people have privately asked about my recently deleted post.

Rather than attempt to repost it here, it is available at the link below
Thanks for the link.

But I'm afraid I stopped reading at

the probability it lies within a relatively small search area may be less than the probability it lies in one of an enormous number of individually less likely locations
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Old 9th Mar 2015, 21:00
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Since the definition of underwater search areas in the ATSB's report of 26 June 2014, it has always been clear that the "Priority Search Area" of 60,000 square km's, as the name implies, is only a fraction of the area of possible locations of the airplane that are compatible with INMARSAT's data log and the fuel-limited "performance boundary":

(Bolding mine)

This suggested that, for MH370, it was possible that after a long period of flight under autopilot control, fuel exhaustion would occur followed by a loss of control without any control inputs.
Note: (...)
Also allowing for the fact that a maximum glide distance of 100+ NM would result in an impractically large search area, the search team considered that it was reasonable to assume that there were no control inputs following the flame-out of the second engine. Accordingly the aircraft would descend and, as there would be some asymmetry due to uneven engine thrust/drag or external forces e.g. wind, the descent would develop into a spiral.
As the BEA found in their study, in the case of an upset followed by a loss of control, all the impact points occurred within 20 NM from the point at which the emergency began and, in the majority of cases, within 10 NM.
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Old 10th Mar 2015, 00:20
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There has been an interesting discovery with regard to MH370 wreckage, on a West Australian beach.
An unopened towelette in its packaging, with the Malaysia Airlines symbol in it, has been discovered by beachcombers.
The item has been sent to the National Capital, Canberra, for further examination to see if its origin can be more precisely indentified.
It's a long shot, but it does focus attention to this area of the coastline, which could possibly lead to a more concrete find, such as a readily-identifiable MH370 component.

Towelette washed up on W.A. beach being tested for connection to MH370
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