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Just checked the list, only ask as our QAR has a few more parameters stored than the sfdr.

jolihokistiks

Considering the Chinese icebreaker was already in port near Perth and two Chinese military aircraft just landed at a RAAF base, I doubt it.

We also don't have the same tensions as India does with China plus the Australia military has visited China and done some exercises with them so working with them is not totally foreign.

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however this is a moment to be human together; to show sadness and compassion and do all that we can to bring this tragic matter to a close.

Exactly!

It was lovely to see footage of the various SAR crews standing shoulder to shoulder with each other, holding their national flags at Pearce RAAF base.

Stuff their corrupt leaders! These are the people who will eventually find MH370.

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If he wanted to commit suicide, just lock the door and push nose down forward will give the wished result - why care about all the bells and whistles ringing in such action?

Maybe the pilot/hijacker wanted to avoid the adrenaline filled drama of a death spiral into the dark hole of the ocean and instead preferred an easier death, like switching OFF the packs while the autopilot kept motoring on till fuel exhaustion.

Though we only have information about the last MH370 ping at 0:11 UTC, a massive search operation in the middle of a remote ocean would only be carried out if the (unknown) hourly pings made that area feasible.

As the flight originated near the equator, a mirror track to the north would also correlate with the returns, then leading to a last ping area in northern China close to the Gobi desert. Bearings more to the west, however, would appear less likely, given ping data is coherent.

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According to the World Health Organization, the rate of suicide in Malaysia is close to the lowest on the planet; a tenth or so of rates in European countries.

This, plus the fact that in every picture you see of either pilot, they are smiling, and not forced smiles, but "I'm so happy, I can't help but smile", smiles, are two reasons I lean away from pilot suicide in this case. But, you never know. If I had to guess, I think it was a fire, that may have done damage, resulting in crew and passenger incapacitation or death, then burned out, leaving the aircraft to fly until it ran out of fuel. The "facts" used to debunk the case of a fire may not be any more accurate than the "facts" the Malaysian officials have changed from day to day. BTW: I take back my qualified "some Asian countries" remark. Even qualified, it was far too sweeping. I stand corrected.

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So 4-5 handshakes, if one handshake gives you an arc I don't see why we wouldn't get at least an approximate path, at least north or south

A VERY approximate path and only then after making big assumptions about altitude and heading. And given that the satellite was over the equator, the two sets of 'ping arcs' mirror each other exactly so no information re. a north flight path or a south flight path can be derived.

@ wildgoose : altitude versus oxygen

Yes the oxygen percentage will remain 21 % at whatever altitude. But is it the oxygen percentage or partial pressure that matters ? At higher altitude, the partial pressure drops . ( partial pressure of oxygen = % oxygen X barometric pressure )

Just heard a rumour that a French satellite has spotted debris in the same "southern search corridor"

If the initial radar returns can be trusted, the plane was piloted in two or three distinct changes of course.

On to 270 degrees, at the loss of the transponder.
(Maybe on to 240 degrees over the Andaman Sea.)
Then on to 180 degrees about an hour after.

So someone was still alive then.

Anyone aware of the "unofficial" Jump Seat policy at MAS ?

"Some" countries in Europe are "lax" (no names, no pack drill, Si !).

The French have just passed on to the Malaysians a new image that shows 'something' in or around the current search area. Apparently such satellites have '2 metre pixel size', hence able to give dimensions for the object in question.

@Innaflap

The possible debris spotted by the French satellite was announced during the latest Malaysian press release by the transport minister, this info was passed onto the Aussies this morning. No press conference today just the following release.

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SUNDAY, 23 MARCH 2014
1. Search and rescue operational update

a. The search and rescue operation remains an international effort, co-ordinated by Malaysia. A number of countries are leading in their respective search areas and all countries involved are displaying unprecedented levels of co-operation.

b. This morning, Malaysia received new satellite images from the French authorities showing potential objects in the vicinity of the southern corridor. Malaysia immediately relayed these images to the Australian rescue co-ordination centre.

c. Two Chinese Ilyushin IL-76s have arrived in Perth, and will depart for the search and rescue operation tomorrow at 05:00 and 06:00

d. Two Japanese P3 Orions today left Subang airport for Perth.

e. The Australian rescue co-ordination centre will deploy eight aircraft (four military and four civilian) to the southern corridor today, to conduct visual searching.

f. The Australian Defence Vessel ‘Ocean Shield’, which has a sub-sea remotely operated vehicle, is currently en route to the southern corridor.

g. As of 2:30pm Malaysia time, Australian officials have informed us that they have not made any new sightings regarding MH370.

h. One Indian Navy P8 Poseidon and one Indian Air Force C130 left Subang airport today to join the search and rescue operation in the northern part of the southern corridor, which is being led by Indonesia.

i. A number of other sorties from Subang airport to the southern corridor were cancelled today due to bad weather caused by tropical cyclone Gillian.

j. Australia, China and France have now released satellite images that show potential objects, which may be related to MH370, in the vicinity of the southern corridor. All this information has been forwarded to Australia, as the lead country in the area of concern.

2. Family briefing
a. The Malaysian high level team started a briefing in Beijing this morning for relatives of those on board MH370. The meeting lasted more than 6 hours. This is the third such meeting that has been held. The team presented information to the relatives and answered questions. The Government wishes to reiterate its commitment and continued engagement with the relatives of those on board MH370.

3. Update on ACARS transmission
a. The last ACARS transmission, sent at 1.07am, showed nothing unusual. The 1.07am transmission showed a normal routing all the way to Beijing.

-ENDS-

New satellite objects

Satellite imagery showing "potential objects" in the search area of the Southern Corrider.

BBC news reports today that the M'sian authorities have received the images from the French

I've tried to read every post on this thread.

Can i ask, given that the civilian crew spotted a field of debris i am suprised the report of what they saw ins't more descriptive than 'a pallet', surely they had a closer look?

As for the character assasination of the crew by anonymous cowards, im apalled.

Obviously the powers that be are witholding information. :mad:

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The rate of suicide-by-loaded-aircraft amongst pilots is vanishingly low as well; statistically it's zero plus noise.

You're looking at the wrong statistic. The question is how many airliners have been lost in the cruise with no immediately apparent cause, and of those how many were due to deliberate pilot action?

I'm really skeptical about all those "satellite sightings" - I'm afraid the ocean is full of junk. Does anyone believe that a positive identification could be obtained on that basis only ? Short of physically retrieving the debris and matching it to the missing airliner (if possible by some serial number or other undisputable identification mean) I would be very prudent about deploying that many resources...

atakacs:

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My guess is that, depending of course on ocean currents, it could well be that the sort of debris and junk that is found that far south is normally fishing debris rather than shipping debris. The searchers have good ocean current experts working with them, so there's every possibility that they have advice that a "wooden pallet" used for aircargo fruit exports, say, would be unusual in a fishing & not shipping debris area ...

Pallet and debris

The other items mentioned as having been seen near the pallet were "strapping belts" of various sizes.

So today's press release says that there was nothing unusual about the last ACARS transmission and the route hadn't been changed. This was the root of all assumptions about a deliberate act, now it is debunked 2 weeks on. Bit of a game changer IMHO.