@Wannabe Flyer: Read today that Allianz has started insurance payouts.

@DA

Wow thats fast and premature, are your sure that is not the interim relief that MH provides?

Over and above this people do take out life insurance policies and any bizarre amounts or coverage usually needs some investigation.

Insurance
 

Vermisste Boeing: Allianz zahlt für den Flug MH 370 - Versicherungen - Unternehmen - Handelsblatt

- 100 milion $ to be paid
- paying for airframe as well as to families
- all payments will be made this week
- it seems to be a standard clause for airline insurances, that money is paid rapidly, independent of the cause

I think the pictures of the authorities man-handling family members back into the hotel room, where they're effectively held under house arrest, is rather more disturbing

Hmm. What happens with the payment the insurance company made, if the plane and the passengers show up?

They're not under house arrest.

I'm sure they are being well briefed, and its for their own good that they are being kept away from the savage journalists !

If I were in their position I'd probably want someone keeping the media well away from me too !

Later waypoints
 

One of the "facts" that has been circulating for some time is that the a/c turned at two or more waypoints after IGARI. At the press conference just now someone asked what was the evidence for this "fact". The head of the CAA blatantly evaded the question replying that the emphasis is on searching for a/c, ie I think indicating that there is no evidence. As previously noted here, the origin of this "fact" is Reuters quoting an unnamed source.

Part of the problem is that interesting facts only emerge under questions from journalists. If the journalists don't ask the right questions, facts don't emerge.

I don't altogether blame the Malaysians for this. The more they tell, the more we will want. Perhaps we should just leave them to get on with their job.

Burning the witch
 

Many eons ago, when the community couldn't understand why the crops had failed for the second year running, the river had dried up or some village immaculate conception had occurred, we needed solace, normally in the shape of a witch, burnt at the stake We don't appear to have traveled much beyond this.

The community stills appears to require a witch when events cannot be understood and we appear have a coven of four in this instance.

Initially we had the mad Malay witch which couldn't produce the evidence required. This witch grew with impatience to cover the whole of South East Asia.

Next witch on the block (well stake) was the FO. Obviously not up to the task, he was ripe for a bit of kindling. However why have a FO witch when you can have a captain and he has a flight sim.
Oh NO he hasn't,
Oh YES he has murmur the ever deepening crowd.

Finally we have an onboard engineering witch, not as potent as a captain witch which was disappointing for the amassed crowd but a way a select few can knowingly nod, probably the FO and Captain collective no doubt. ;)

Is it time we got back to thinking that the crew may have attempted to save the aircraft due to another reason or is that just not plausible or interesting?

Innocent Until Proven Otherwise?!
 

A profound glimpse into the mentality of the Malaysian authorities...

Malaysia says no sighting of MH370 in Maldives, people on board innocent till proven otherwise

Yes,cache deleted in early February.Doesn't prove or disprove anything.Maybe the hard drive was getting full.Next....

Are you kidding?

If it weren't for a WSJ article that they DENIED (?!) for functionally semantic reasons, for an entire day, the world would probably still be searching by LKP.

They contradict data almost daily.

Newspaper leaks have generally preceded the allocation of SAR assets.

Utter gong show.

I agree with TWT...deletion of data means nothing in itself....Additionally, data is never "really" deleted...I am sure the IT people will be able to recover the deleted data anyway (unless he had a great quality multiple-overwriting program!)

GTC58 said This is not true at all. The B777 is a fly by wire aircraft, the aircraft is flow by the primary flight computers (PFC) which interpret pilot inputs to the flying controls and the current flying conditions (speed, alt, configuration) and move the control surfaces as appropriate. If there is any inherent instability of the wing design it is irrelevant.

If the the auto pilot is switched off and the pilot makes no input on the flying controls the aircraft will continue to fly on roughly the same path as it was before the A/P disconnected.

Journalists showed themselves in their true light today. Appalling behaviour.
Seems the Captain must have been responsible now due to his flight sim files having been deleted.......talk about a bunch of idiots!

Deleted flight simulator data
 

There is an inference in the comments made at today's press conference, but what is needed are meaningful facts, not inferences.

CNN reports:
Malaysian politician: Flight 370 pilot supported me, but was no hijacker

Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim: MH370 pilot supported me, but was no hijacker - CNN.com

Need to dump fuel?
 

If it were a fire, and they were attempting to land at a nearby airport, would they have needed to have dumped fuel before attempting the landing?

Aborted if there were no runway lights where they were attempting.

Perhaps hoping a military response would be mobilised to guide them somewhere else....

If they did dump fuel, how did they manage to keep flying for so long?

Not enough facts to go on.

Ron,
No auto pilot or auto throttle, even a small amount of turbulence will change the attitude and/or course of the aircraft surely? The last position the trim system left the aircraft in would also have an influence. A slight climb and the speed will drop off and the aircraft will eventually stall, (it may even reach FL450!).

Waypoint Passage Debunked
 

Given the evasions in the presser ignoring the question on actual waypoint crossing there now is exposed the lack of any evidence whatsoever that waypoints were entered for the turn to the west. All we have it the aircraft turned to the west which is consistent with an attempt to land at the nearest airport which apparently failed possibly due to incapacitation and followed by continued powered flight in a Markov Chain Random Walk. Trim deteriorates with changes in weight, wind and other variables.

correct ?
 

The predicted flight path 'to the south' not being parallel to the lines of longitude presumably is because they're assuming a magnetic 180 degrees rather than a true south ?

So, if he didn't make the radio call before it went 'dark', the implication is surely that he made the call after it did. And if this is the case, after the initial event, surely the press conference tonight is suggesting that suspicion is on the FO??