saw the pix of the raft....got to say after lots of years in the industry I do not remember black aircraft rafts...they were bright orange top to bottom for visibility during aerial searches. :hmm:

Last Military Radar plot was is now being reported as being 200NM NW of Penang.

Just reported by the Military at the press conference.

They seemed to confirm they have found several radar returns after reviewing the radar recordings from the night in question

The life rafts on board are equipped with electronic tracking devices that are automatically triggered on contact with water. Given the size of a B 777, I would imagine there are quite a few on board. That 1 hasn't gone off is quite puzzling. ( there may be someone here that can tell us how many would be required on board)

Media just questioned the officials regarding the body supposedly found in the life jacket, this was immediately discredited.

With all the bells, lights, and whistles on a modern flight deck, there is a lot of information that needs to be processed by the brain before some complex non-normals can be accurately diagnosed. As a result, it is relatively easy to miss a benign change in the "normal" aircraft status/systems whilst the flight crew are otherwise dealing with what may be a confusing information overload.
This is a human failing you see again and again in sim - essentially a failure to effectively monitor. At night, with a lack of visual cues from the cockpit windows, it isn't that hard to imagine the aircraft heading off in the "wrong" direction (unnoticed by the flight crew) following some hasty and erroneous input to the FMC.
I would dearly like to know what the military policies are in that part of the world in dealing with an unresponsive seemingly rogue aircraft that may appear to be headed straight toward an area that is either heavily populated and/or militarily very sensitive.

5 Passengers Found
 

According to the news conference underway, five passengers were no-shows at the airport and replaced with four standby passengers, consequently no baggage was off-loaded. This contrasts with the statement a few days ago that five passengers who had checked in failed to board and their baggage was off-loaded.

And their signals are not going to be heard after hard contact with water and the shallow sea bed.

If after a diligent search, no sign is found, then I think it inevitably points to a fast, steep impact with the sea. If the sonar signalers from the data recorders are buried in the mud in the tail, then the wreckage may not be found. Perhaps a trawler will eventually unearth something.

Boy these guys are unbelievable!!

- So we have SSR that disappears (for reasons unknown), then it would appear from that point we have a primary radar trace that shows 'something' leaving that position and moving west.

- Reports today that the Vietnamese passed on information to the Malays, during the event, that an aircraft had deviated from its flightpath and was heading west.

- Despite this evidence the entire search operation was based on where the SSR stopped and it took an unofficial 'leak' of the above information 5 days into the search to move some resources to the point the Primary radar trace disappeared.

- The Malay Government came out today and said there was NO radar information showing the jet moving west yet they continued to search in the new area.

- Now they come out and say there is infact a primary radar trace that shows 'something' moving west but say they dismissed this initially due to the fact that the trace had no identifying features as would be found with SSR.

I hate to say it but the guys running this are absolute muppetts who seem to be letting their own 'face saving' worries and incompetence reduce the effectiveness of the entire search operation, for god sake there could have been wreckage / bodies / a complete aircraft etc etc floating around for 5 days in an area they should have been searching from day one.

I just feel so so sorry for the relatives and friends of all those onboard, it must be devastating to be face with smirking and smiling idiots who change the story at every press conference. :ugh:

<<RMAF chief: unidentified plot on primary radar at FL295, >>

How do they determine altitude from primary radar?

Where has been ATC in all these live Media Releases??

Life Raft
 

Hiflyer1757,

It is indeed a life raft, the picture shows mostly the bottom half. But I would guess by its size that it fell off from a boat. This pic shows a similar model.

http://www.rfd.co.nz/media/73277/lif...sb-500x300.jpg

Regards.

HD: air defense radar

News conference

the last rmaf radar plot of an unidentified aircraft was at 02.15 am 200 nm north west of penang.

The PC I just watched.
Reporter asked about ACARS but the DCA man evaded the question and answered about Radar. Intentional or just clueless.??????
ACARS sends aircraft systems report down real time.

Conference
 

Some points picked up so far from conference:

Reports of a body discovered with life jacket dismissed

Military representative reiterates there was no live tracking of this aircraft, a review of the data for this aircraft was reviewed and a potential indication of a turnaround.

Admission more international help is arriving today to help review their current findings.

Poorly handled press breifing and utter lack of disciplined control on press, was a free for all. The military rep looked like he was going to break down in tears.

These press conferences are way too short and should be held for one hour, twice daily.

It's almost like they can't wait to leave and don't want to be there either.

"What was in the information from the engines that was sent to Rolls Royce?"

"It is imperative to find the aircraft and its black box so that we can put that information into perspective".


Hmmm. Strange reply if all was normal in those data.

When I looked at the press conference, especially the parts about expanding the search to Malacca straits and the military radar, I thought it was very consistent and logical.

The initial search was last known position. That's the most logical place to look. When that proved inconclusive, the military ran analysis of recorded military radar over a wider area and noted an unidentified aircraft flying over the Malacca Straits at around the right time.

They had no idea if it was the missing aircraft as it was unidentified. They decided to search the Malacca Straits area as a secondary search based on the possibility.

Pretty straight forward and logical to me.

Re the press conference. Don't get too hung up on the smiling - it may seem insensitive to us but in S.E. Asian cultures it's often an expression of emotional pain or embarrassment. Plenty of reason for both.

Easy.

I was Swiss Air Force Air Defense Radar operator

Easy thing. I have on my screen the unidentified echo with altitude, speed, heading and intercept course in order to scramble the planes ;-)