Putao, Myanmar 7000 ft runway
 

While it seems extremely unlikely that MH370 could maneuver over land undetected to a point that intersects the distance from the last satellite ping, nevertheless I looked at the only airport in northern Myanmar that could possibly be used by the 777 and the right distance from the satellite....although a night landing there would seem absurd, I suppose it could be done with enough simulator practice.
PBU / VYPT is 7000 feet long at 1500 ft elevation. Can't imagine the aircraft could be there or anywhere else on land....where would they hide it! Surely someone has checked PBU by now just in case. Anyone familiar with Myanmar capabilities?...is it possible a 777 could overfly their country without being detected as a primary target on their radar?

Access to E/E bay
 

I earlier commented about there being access to the E/E bay located outside the cockpit and that this was questionable. However, it makes sense after reading this:

"This access is potentially needed for extreme emergencies, such as by the cabin crew to fight an E/E bay fire."

Question is do you put possibility of emergency above chances of sabotage...?

I think that line of reasoning is inverse from the political positions of both US and Malaysian governments.

It seems to me that it is of greater political benefit for both of those nations if things are of a mechanical malfunction, burden of remedy on the aircraft manufacturer or MAS maintenance practices, than the burden being on either nations' security charade being exposed for the farce that it is. ;)

That's a bit more hurtful to Malaysia for this case, of course.

Transponders off under pilot control:
I have turned off a transponder per ATC request when it was malfunctioning and doing something like a constant IDENT or jibberish numbers. Also when flying formation. Also with a generator failure to ease the load on the battery.

I beleive I have read every post.
Has it been verified that one of the last contacts signed off with the words "Roger that"? If so, then the investigators need to question as many crew as possible that flew with the Captain and FO to ascertain if they ever used those words. IF NOT, then I would investigate the individual who had flight sim training and see if he was taught or used these words in training. The answers to the above would point to either Southern route an Captain/FO surcide, or Northern route and hijacking.
The individual who had flight sim training intriques me. As a SLF, I had 2 separate one hour sessions in a major airline's 777 SIM. I found that controlling MASS is no easy thing. Some of the reported altitude excursions could be explained by someone like me thinking the real plane flew like the SIM only to find out that it was massively more difficulut in a real 777 for an amateur. The amateur would then switch to VNAV and LNAV and other modes to let the computers do the work.
Just thinking out loud......

its this simple
 

There's a movie about such a scenario:

Fate Is The Hunter

Not at all like the book...

@ jcjeant:

"Politician whose career is tied to terrorism declares 'this is terrorism' "

CNN making the news
 

First, Lithium cells. A pink herring sans roe each new day. Now they've latched on to the coffee thing. I'm heading for Fox who at least seem to stay current.

DCrefugee


yes, that's the scenario. one of my favorite movies (though hated by many pilots). I saw it when it came out in the theatres in the 20th century.

It just tells everyone that the littlest thing can bring down something big.

With all the 'confirm' assumptions and concurrence that ACARS was deliberately disabled, wouldn't it be a possible scenario that the C/B's for VHF2 and 3 were pulled, and ACARS happen to transmit via VHF3?
And if it is a deliberate (i.e. hijack/suicide) action, I would want to keep VHF1 and HF1 alive to monitor radio chatter.

for the record, the incident I inserted the link to was 3 years ago and CNN is not currently calling it involved with the current 777 missing.

let's all settle down and recall that just last week an official of the malaysian govt said the plane disintegrated in flight and that was what was being investigated

Maybe it has been refuelled and is now nowhere near where it first went to

The Telegraph is reporting

Quote:

---

Malaysian Airlines MH370: aircraft may have been on ground when last signals sent

---

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10700892/Malaysia-Airlines-MH370-plane-crash-live.html but I see nothing tangible to support that and I suppose on the ground does not mean intact.

Reading the background of the two Pilots:

MH370: profile of missing Malaysian Airline plane's pilots starts to emerge - Telegraph

None of them had any reason to throw away his life let alone to take 238 people with along. That simply does not add up.
Any info about outsized life insurance?

I do not buy it that one of the two are involved in a plot.

I do wonder how long it will take CNN to read pprune and replay the incident they covered 3 years ago, per the link

AMF
 

Some have discussed in this thread -- and many more have discussed elsewhere, including in the lamestream media -- MAS370's last words to ATC. On one level, unless it was "Allahu akhbar!" or "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" who cares?

The two versions I've heard are either "Roger that," as quoted above, or "Alright, good night." Either phrase can be completely normal for a professional flight crew member to use, depending on what ATC said to engender the response.

Until we get a full/complete transcript of ATC comms, we don't know what was said by Malaysian ATC other than some version of "Contact Vietnam on such-and-such a frequency."

Lonewolf

I actually have flown formation an airliner (DC-8 with a Gulfstream, with an F-18 and then again with a C-130, and a 747 with an F-18) and have been requested by ATC for one of us to squawk STBY. Same request with a flight of two or three in little airplanes.

I could not agree more. Somewhere on the "red" 40 degree arc. Either in the ocean or in china.

So, having been reading (and very occasionally posting) since the outset, it appears that these detected ACARS 'pings' are the definitive article, the 11th tablet of stone and thus an eternal truth? These signals to a satellite are 110% reliable data? ... and the lack of any information on previous pings should be regarded as unimportant, or potentially disturbing a pre-conceived idea?

In consequence all other possibilities are to be discarded, because these 'pings' are deemed so absolute that no other feasible options can be considered?

I earnestly hope that the subsequent investigation will be more rigorous.