Interesting. Finally some hard facts or at least some serious clues.
Can you please provide a link to this information?

Spicejetter, please explain how it is ?

I think the SAR efforts are acceptable given the situation and the absolute lack of clues as to the whereabouts of the aircraft.

Stop bagging pprune
 

There has been some good analysis, timely information and euradite comment on the forum.
Far more informative than the stale tripe being dished up by an ill informed, lazy and ignorant media.
If you can't sort out what is worthwhile from what is not, then complainers should move on. No disrespect intended.

Seems like the coordinates would be approximately:

N 18 40, E 107 40

The Vietnamese have said the yellow object found by the Singaporeans does not come from a 777.

Oil slick -Red tide - Telemetry?
 

The BBC pics of possible oil skick looks more like red tidal algee. That frequents tropical waters due to warning oceans. Surely Boeing and Engine manufacturer would have recieved telemetry data?

The only thing we know for sure is that the triple 7 is somewhere on planet earth, either in bits (more likely) or in one piece (very very unlikely)

Apparently no distress call was heard and it disappeared in next to no time.

So what would bring down a large airliner with such rapidity that no distress call was made? Here are some options..whether they are applicable to this accident... i have no idea!!!!!

1) Shot down. This may account for the silence, confusion and/or lack of willingness to divulge too much information.

2) Mid Air collision. This is possible if it happened to be with a UAV in this case as there have been no reports of any other missing aircraft.

3) Structural Failure leading to in flight breakup. Another possibility such as a cargo door opening in the cruise or the loss (detachment) of a control surface maybe. Rupturing of a pressure bulkhead might have the same consequence as seen before or a few other possibilities...stress cracks etc. An initial failure would cause the crew to deal with the failure first, to bring the aircraft under control, this then may result in a manoeuvre to get back home... and then the secondary effects or additional breakup renders the aircraft uncontrollable. This may explain a non communication scenario as in Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. Contrary to what non pilots may think... the first action of any pilot in a non normal event is to control the situation, not bang out a distress message, verbally or otherwise.

4) Flight Control Issue. Ive never flown a FBW aircraft so "put this out there" IF a control surface separated, what would the computers do? If the right aileron (high speed or low speed) detached, for example, during a left turn, how would the computers compensate?

5) Bomb on board. Again possible but difficult to do with the amount of security these days....but then how secure is this region?

6) Hi Jacking. Possible... especially if it was bungled and went wrong... such as a fight breaking out in the FD, AP tripped due to unintentional force applied on the stick... A/C goes off in its direction whilst the melee ensues and A/C hits the water. However the supposed communication with the aircraft might debunk this myth.

7) Crew incapacitation. This would only really be likely if another inexperienced or flightsim champion person tried to hand fly the aircraft instead.

8) Terrorist attack. In association with 6 above, Terrorist decides to commit suicide. Possible. He (she) gains access to FD, knock out Capt and F/O and push hard on the stick.

9) Crew Suicide. Possible but unlikely i would to suggest.

Im sure there are a few more potential failures that would have the same effect.

I think descending down to 500 feet and flying to some remote island to land is rather unlikely. I wouldn't want to do it during the day, let alone at night!!!

CCTV - Bandwidth, economy
 

Fore those suggesting CCTV cockpit live streams, how on Earth would you transmit all the data? With an update rate of several/second in a resolution that gives some useful idea of the inner workings, in any lighting condition?

Advance of technology is all well, but it seems that even for a rather simple set of parameters only some of the possible transmissions are paid for by the airlines.

Just a month ago, Interpol released:

INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database currently contains 40 million records from 167 countries. Though it was searched more than 800 million times in 2013, with the United Arab Emirates alone making one in every eight searches as the third largest user, Secretary General Noble said not enough countries are making use of this critical global policing tool.

“The bad news is that, despite being incredibly cost effective and deployable to virtually anywhere in the world, only a handful of countries are systematically using SLTD to screen travellers.

“The result is a major gap in our global security apparatus that is left vulnerable to exploitation by criminals and terrorists,” said Secretary General Noble.

Seems like the coordinates would be approximately:

N 18 40, E 107 40

Isn't that off the north Vietnam coast? Doesn't seem right.

Martin,

primary radar is used for approach control, eg at VVTS, but not built to cover entire oceans. There's certain physical limitations on radar range :)

I would have thought that'd be obvious. Aviation Turbine fuel is clear, and an aircraft wouldn't carry anywhere near enough "oil" to make that slick.

or Coral Reef spawn...very similar colour.

Barrel owl
 

Links to Dantri and Thanh Nien


Here's a map of the most interesting sightings so far. The red pins are from today.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...20140309B6.jpg

Keep in mind that as far as I'm aware, there is still no confirmation that any of this (except the last known position) would belong to MH370. Patience...

Appears to be right in the middle of china....

Malaysia DCA is leading the SAR.

Singapore only assisting with assets.

Freescale Semiconductor managers on board
 

About 20 top management employees from semiconductor company Freescale Semiconductor (with HQ in Austin, TX,) were among 38 Malaysians onboard MAS flight MH370.

Read full article here:

Fag-packet max range for raw radar will be in the order of 200 nm for high-flying aircraft, usually quite a bit less.

@ snowfalcon2
 

Thanks a lot for the infos and the screenshot.
Yes, no confirmed debris so far, only suspicious objects spotted.

Submarines to search? :rolleyes: sure, the sonar may yield something but it's got to be a WTF moment here! Even if they find something, surely they won't be surfacing and collecting the debris.
Sure hope it isn't an opportunity to go to where they normally don't get to go...

No Submarines involved.

Learn to filter out the BS.

Well according to a Singapore Airforce mate the Sing Navy operate Subs in that exact area and were probably in or near the area at the time. He said they would be useful in locating debris on the sea floor using their active Sonar, advanced local knowledge and would most likely join in the search.

Yes they are being used.

Would there be someone lurking here who would have knowledge of Malaysian (and Vietnamese) primary radar coverage ? My understanding is that the typical maximum range of current civilian PSR is about 60 miles, question is where are the facilities located.

http://aip.dca.gov.my/aip%20pdf/ENR/...1.6/Enr1_6.pdf

A bit dated, but I don't think it'd change dramatically.

Update - Photo of suspected debris
 

This is a picture from Dantri of the "window liner" object that was sighted just before nightfall today.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0Q1_-a001c.jpg

Interesting rainbow pattern on the sea as well, might indicate oil but hard to tell.

Another one.... Just released by India Today. Not sure it makes perfect sense, but...

Mystery around the 154 Chinese passengers on board the missing Malaysian airliner deepened today with a Chinese man, who was believed to be among those on the flight, saying he did not even board the jet, state media has reported.

The Chinese police said one of the persons listed did not board the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Friday. The person, a resident of Fujian Province in east China, has no departure record and is still in Fujian, Chinese police said today.

The owner said the passport has never been lost or stolen.

Why does it have to be civilian radar?

I can assure you that military early warning radars are designed to detect aircraft much further than the range you quoted and, unlike what some have said earlier, are very capable of utilising primary radar to determine the height of aircraft as well as bearing and range.

ELT???
 

It looks like the ELTs failed miserably on both this and the AF447.
Anybody with a more specific knowledge dare to comment?

Photo of Sea
 

As someone who does a lot more photography than flying these days, the colour of the sea (to me) looks more like low-light noise in the photo than anything else.

To Codyblade

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Singapore sends 2 warships, naval helicopter to search for flight MH370

Learn to check for confirmation before you criticize. :rolleyes:

Re; reports of Chinese man on false passport, this report in the Sunday Mirror today: " Questions are now being raised about a Chinese passenger who was on the flight. Chinese authorities say the passport number of missing passenger Zhao Qiwei - in fact, matches the passport of a man whose surname is Yu. He is said to be alive and well in the Fujian Province.According to Yu, he has never lost his passport, nor has he ever used it since it was issued in 2007."


Missing Malaysia Airlines flight live: Passengers who boarded plane with stolen passports 'bought tickets together' - Mirror Online

If by ELT you mean the one putting out an electromagnetic signal, then they most likely haven't failed. Electromagnetic waves don't go so well under water, thats why they have a pinger.

Military radar range for something that big would be something like to the radar horizon with a 10 degree mask. 160nm plus I would hazard.

Although I'm not so sure about the oil colurs, I have the distinct feeling: We are getting closer. That looks indeed suspiciously like a window liner of an airliner. You don't see that floating in the water on your regular Sunday.

Edit: If the CNN message is true we are indeed back to zero.
/Edit

That said it is a fairly light part and wind will play a significant role in where and how far it will drift. Might be quite some miles away from the crash site itself.

At 18:30 local time, Dantri reports the debris at this position:

SkyVector Chart (center crosshair)

hasnt the debris been denied to have came from a 777 already ?

Remember, the Ping is 40khz. Beyond Human Hearing Range.
 

I hope the vessels "listening" for the ping from the black boxes, realize it's at 40khz, so is out of the range of human hearing. It will need to be down converted in order to hear it. As silly as it sounds, the French nuclear sub that went around listening for the ping from AF447, literally listened for it, through their headphones, without alteration, so it's no wonder they never heard it. It needs to be seen on a spectrum analyzer or down converted to human hearing range, unless, of course, you have a dog on board to listen for it.

interpol just confirmed no one could be bothered to check its database. N2014-038 / 2014 / News / News and media / Internet / Home - INTERPOL

Agree with several contributions (including a couple whose postings have disappeared). A lot of questions remain unanswered by both the airline and the authorites in Malaysia elsewhere.

Nobody seems to have addressed the question of how did those with the stolen passports enter Malayasia – if in transit at KUL from Thailand, how come that Thai exit immigration did not pick up on the stolen passports? Thailand issues entry visas, which should have expired in both the stolen passports. If they were already in Malaysia, where are their photos and fingerprints that Malaysian Immigration take for all arrivals?

Could it be corruption, incompetence or something more sinister?

I also find it more than a little puzzling that Malaysian ATC did not tell the airline that its plane was missing much sooner, and why MH’s own systems did not alert them sooner. Why, if it now appears, there are radar indications that the flight turned around has it taken 36 hours for this info to come to light?

Also, I am surprised that there seems to have been little mention of the FAA Airworthiness Directive for Boeing 777’s issued as recently as Wednesday 5th March 2014 which refers to “cracking and corrosion in the fuselage skin, which could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane.”
(http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/d91639a24674ca8f86257c920050edf7/$FILE/2014-05-03.pdf).

One lesson that surely needs to be learned from this event is that immigration and airline security systems world-wide need to be linked to the Interpol database for missing passports and those travelling with such documents detained. Had that been the case in this instance, closer attention might now being paid to the question of the structural integrity of the Boeing 777 aircraft in this instance.

Signals detected - NO
 

@Yankee Whisky --- that Vietnamese report first came up way back at post #54 --- and was later discredited/retracted. So it is stale (not) news.

If it is only 720 kms from KL to the coast of Vietnam why do they say the plane was airborne for 2 hours ? I'm guessing time zone change to Vietnam adds one hour ?

edit: Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41 on Saturday (16:41 GMT Friday), and was due to arrive in Beijing at 06:30. Air traffic controllers lost contact at 01:30.

Looks like 49 mins in flight total.