BTW...
 

I'm on the side of: sudden decompression > pilot incapacitation while implementing descent/turnback > airplane flies on a/p until fuel starvation (i.e. the Payne Stewart scenario).

But the longer we go without finding debris, the more alternatives have to be considered.

I also agree completely that the authorities would be better served by releasing more factual information like fuel on board at departure, whether ACARS messages were logged, etc. But believe Hanlon's Razor is most useful to explain why they haven't.

GPS
 

I know many companies who track their vehicle fleets and helicopter operations 24/7 on GPS programs. The flying public will start to demand this if 370 is not located. Hopefully they will demand this regardless. The airlines charge you premium dollars to fly but will not spend extra to track, we can now see where this thinking has left them. Totally clueless.

inmarsat
 

Actually :

Isatphone Satellite Phone Coverage - Inmarsat World Wide Coverage Map at Globalcom

But all the inmarsat stuff is nothing but a rumor as long as there is nothing established about the equipment actually on board and the state is was in during the flight. For all we know some journalist can have read something like the above link and made up the rest.

Skynews reporting that sources at Inmarsat have confirmed that data packet audio pings were being received for 5 hours after aircraft radar contact lost.

ramjet

my gut feeling was the same - i was only discussing this this morning

start again at the last known position transponder and track along that and
see how it goes with the witness position and drop the sonar's
i concur

Well lets hope that's confirmed officially...

No mention of 'audio' in the actual Inmarsat media release:

Inmarsat statement on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 - Inmarsat

Ole.

that's for a handset - a phone - which has data capability, but at a very low bit rate.

the isatphone is a relatively new product - 5 years..?

Most other Inmarsat products have directional antennas

but even if they were using an Inmarsat product without a directional antenna, the antenna still probably had a GPS, and the location could be transmitted in the "ping", without any need to get the location from other instruments on the aircraft

BBC summary, 14th March
 

This is a helpful summary and explanation with excellent computer graphics – 2 minutes 43 seconds.

BBC News - Missing airliner: How do transponders and radar work?

With over 200 people on board at least one would have left his mobile phone turned on in spite of the requirement to turn it off or to Flight. If that was the case is there a way to track the signal of that phone? The mobile companies in Malaysia should be able to highlight a phone travelling at 480 mph in the relevant direction of the flight, would it then be possible to track that signal by satellite?

What about the fuel management system?
 

Now, as to the military not responding: I would gently mention that, in the height of the Cold War, some youngster flew his four-banger from the Baltic Sea all the way to Moscow and put it down smack in Red Square, and the vaunted USSR military did not react.:ugh: Then we have the case of those four deserters from the Cuban Navy that stole a gunboat, sailed it right smack past the US Naval Station Key West (with the Cuban pennant flying), on to the dockside at the Hyatt, tied it up, and strolled ashore past the veranda breakfast crowd carrying their rifles, on into the streets of Key West to go find someone to surrender to. They tapped on the shoulder of a cop writing a parking ticket and asked nicely if they could surrender to him. All blithely right through all the advanced military hardware spying on and guarding from the pesky Cubans manned 24/7 for decades. And nobody reacted.

Don't expect too much from either the military or the spooks. Cell-phone calls in English from some lovestruck kid in Boise to his girlfriend are much more interesting to go eavesdrop on. And likely more salacious.:=

The Imarsat statement merely mentions routine signals were received and it does not mention how many or for how long.

I seem to remember from early posts that one or possibly two such routine signals occurred at the normal expected times and positions. Receipt of thse two transmissions alone would fall within the statement above.

The first quarter Moon sets approximately 6 hours after sunset. The Moon that night had set and was well below the horizon when the aircraft apparently turned.

Than you are not a pilot or f/a, the reason is a phenomenon called "beancounters", looking for dollars, euros, rupies, pesos you name it!

Rolls-Royce Statement - Rolls-Royce

IIRC that statement by the Transport Minister was, only two engine datasets were received, the last one at TOC shortly before the transponder signal was lost. I don't remember any statements if those datasets were transmitted via VHF or SATCOM/Inmarsat.

IF they were transmitted by VHF (possible because close to land), then the Press Release by inmarsat could mean, that the "Routine Messages" were part of lower layer communication between transceiver and satellite. Obvious is that none of the protagonist is making an unambiguous statement.

Testpanel, I am indeed one of those beancounters. I know how much I spend on training, security and safety. Hence my comment.

Is it possible the Inmarsat pings continued to be sent after a crash, or successful ditch at sea attempt?

How long does the 777 FDR keep info for? Remember in the case of the Helios flight, it flew on for so long all the essential data was wiped.

Back to the basics...
 

I have noticed differing posting of the last 10 or so flight data points. The original postings in the early days of this event display the last 2 updates with a flight level of zero(0). The recent postings and news reports I've seen in the media seems to fill in those two values with the same 35,000ft as the rest of the 10 updates rather than the original reports of zero.
This maybe a key oversight. And why so many "experts" are focusing on other areas. I believe the last two reports of zero for altitude along with a constant reading for air speed may provide insight.
1. Is the SPEED input to the TRANSPONDER from a PITOT tube based system or another source, say GPS?
2. If it is PITOT tube based, does it share any sub-system component with the PITOT tube based system providing the ALTIMETER input to the transponder?
3. Once that is established a look at relative placement of the two pitot tubes, common power bus connections to the different/same modules, etc. could be analyzed.
4. Many failure possibilities for a perfectly functioning altimeter would produce erratic readings or at least none-zero reading. For an alt. that has ceased to work, the transponder or the system will fill in "zero's" in the data packet.
The fact that the transponder is instantaneously reporting zero while the a/c is 7 miles high in the sky is a key piece of information. The lack of radio reports while the transponder is still working would indicate an in-cabin event which precluded a radio report. Then over a three minute period the transponder ceases reports all together.
It looks like this geographical area is where transponder updates become sketchy as some historic tracks lose data up to a point just short of reaching the Vietnam coast.
All of this points to a rapidly deteriorating electrical system in the aircraft.
The oil rig observation is interesting. The observer is over 300 nm away but it is a dark, cloudless night. His observation of a burning plane would be down near the horizon. But his comment that, from his vantage point, he could percieve no lateral motion lends credibility to his report as we know the plane had just turned more in his direction, head on along with the indication that the event took place much further away than it appears.
If one of those US destroyers in the area is ASW equipped they should run their towed array sonar along 060 to 075 from LKP. The idea it was still in the air for 4 hrs lacks any published data... same as the "military radar" theory. Lets see some data.

Inmarsat
 

From: BBC News - Lost Malaysia plane 'may have flown on for five hours'

'However, the BBC understands that a satellite system operated by London-based telecommunications company Inmarsat received an automated signal from flight MH370 at least five hours after the plane was reported lost.'

have the bbc managed to get inside information from inmarsat?