use of a secure deletion program would be....
 

...a red flag alright. running a defrag however would essentially perform the same function. you could tell a drive has been defragged, but that's about it, and wouldn't be unusual.

Looks like the search conditions today will be very difficult, how they can spot a 20m piece of wreckage in this, professional indeed.

Somewhat frightening video from search boat here. (Telegraph UK)

http://i.imgur.com/J7k9v4hl.jpg

Relatives of those lost are starting to get agitated.

The group shoved past police officers as they left their hotel, arriving on foot at the embassy about 40 minutes later. The street was crowded with journalists, police officers and people trying to get past police roadblocks to reach some of the other embassies on the block, including the American, Israeli and French embassies. A line of paramilitary police officers then blocked the road and prevented journalists from following the marchers.

A few thoughts from a man who designed bits and pieces of the missing airplane
 

Gentlemen-
Let me share a few thoughts from a man who designed bits and pieces of the missing airplane, and probably bits and pieces of half the jets you folks fly on.

You should be highly suspicious of these stories about fires. Have any of you folks ever seen a cargo compartment smoke test? Modern jetliners will detect a burnt napkin in a space the size of a living room in under 3 minutes.

You should be highly suspicious of stories of large volumes of smoke propagating out of the cargo compartment. That’s because after we supplier types detect a teensy puff of smoke in all that big space, the airframer types goes back and flood it with smoke so dense you can hardly see and makes sure not one bit of smoke comes up into the passenger compartment.

Those folks at Hamilton aren’t sitting still, neither. Once we find smoke, they turn off the air conditioning fans and turn up the packs to keep smoke downstairs.

Now you’re going to say to me, what about Swissair? To which I’ll say, no modern jetliner is lined with insulation blankets made of tinder and oily rags, and no competent designer wires up a disreputable pile of entertainment boxes so the breakers won’t trip when it arcs.

Did the fire burn a hole in the fuselage and decompress it? Well, I have to say I followed the 787 lithium battery incident in great detail and was privileged to see pictures of the damage. That fire didn’t burn through a plastic fuselage. I would say it beggars the imagination to come up with a fire that burns through an aluminum skin without setting off a smoke detection a considerable time previous.

What about carbon monoxide? Well, you’re going to have to tell me what could generate CO in the airplane without making detectable smoke. Have you ever been on a jetliner when an engine leaked some of that wonderful fireproof oil they use? It’s a smell you’re not going to forget, let me tell you!

Now you’re going to say, what about a fire in the avionics? Most new jetliners automatically goes into smoke override, and the 777 is no exception. I have not personally witnessed it, but I’m told the override clears smoke so dense you can’t see the instruments in under 90 seconds.

And now let’s talk wiring – did you know that we have to supply extra long wire bundles for critical equipment? That’s because the airframers have to meet FAA separation requirements. So now your undetected fire has to burn through two different redundant wire bundles kept over 12 feet apart. That’s a darned big undetected fire! This is a modern jetliner – everything is multiply redundant to the point of absurdity.

If that isn’t enough, read this excellent post by Albert Driver, who covers all the points I didn’t:
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/5...ml#post8396452
And auraflyer: http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/5...ml#post8401172

Now I can’t say there isn’t some magic bullet that takes out the transponder and disables ACARS and depressurizes the airplane but somehow leaves the plane able to fly to fuel exhaustion after making several apparently commanded turn. Maybe some near impossible common mode failure in the load management system shut down a dozen isolated, multiply redundant systems without bringing up the backups. But I’ll tell you, it’s darned hard to believe.

@wantion - Three Chinese warships, two Chinese patrol/SAR vessels, the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, and HMAS Success.
The warships are the amphibious landing ship Kunlunshan, the missile destroyer Haikou and the supply ship Qiandaohu.

Rescue vessels Haixun 01 and Nanhaijiu 101 have also been tasked to the search area. These are high-speed Coastguard-style patrol vessels around 1500 tons. They're nearly new and cutting edge patrol vessels.
They have helipads and high-speed, crane-launched inflatables, and it appears that at least the Haikou has one helicopter aboard.

The Kunlunshan is reported as carrying 4 x Frelon Z-8 helicopters. The Haikou is reported as carrying 1 x Kamov KA-27 or 1 x Harbin Z-9C. The Qiandaohu is reported as having 1 x Frelon Z-8.

No helicopter on the HMAS Success, debris recovery by the Success is by launch of small craft.
The Success tried unsuccessfuly to recover the debris spotted Monday afternoon by aircraft, on Monday night, but failed to find the reported debris and had to leave the area due to deteriorating weather and sea conditions.

Type 071 Amphibious dock ship - Kunlunshan - Type 071 amphibious transport dock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Type 052C destroyer - Haikou - Type 052C destroyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Type 903 supply ship - Qiandaohu - Type 903 replenishment ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

China´s largest rescue vessel Haixun 01 heads toward Singapore CCTV News - CNTV English

Chinese rescue vessel Nanhaijiu 101 heads toward Singapore - Xinhua | English.news.cn

This event reminds me of the Apollo 13 incident. Not the actual incident or cause, but the response to it.

An event that occurred which had not been thought of, or tested, or trained for.

The response by multiple organisations and individuals working the problem, doing the improbable, thinking outside the square, performing tasks that would normally take extensive resources and time, and developing multi-level solutions.

Consider the multiple employment disciplines involved in this event, science, aviation, satellite techology, computer and mobile phone technology, weather and marine science, data analysists, to name but a few.

If there is a positive outcome to this situation, I think these actions will add to our extensive knowledge and provide solutions for future events and improvement to not only aviation but all facets of life.

Thank you all who have put in their input, relevant/pertinent, farcical/fanciful or any which way.

The lack of facts made even the conspiracy theories useful : after all up to the time mh370's black box is found, we are only scenario painting.

For the the few professionals who were worried that some info compromised operational security, fear not : the bad guys are smarter these days.

Some crew took exception to contributions by non professionals, please get off that high chair (you won't be an air jock if you were so smart) : those contributors are your "out of the box" hive of ideas improving the forum's collective neuronal bandwidth.


Thank you PPRUNE et al.

SupplierSam - An excellent post that effectively debunks the much-vaunted fire scenario, thank you.
All that remains is destruction of electrical and mechanical components by flying shards of external debris. I have heard no mention of an uncontained engine explosion, and whether both engines were still functioning after the deviation from the original flight path? And I'm personally still suspicious of space debris, which often contains some mighty durable metals.

Many thanks onetrack Excellent info ! :ok:

Seems like they have got resources now in place to get the job done...if the weather will just abate! My hope and best wishes to the crews out there in tough conditions....for all the Math and predictions its up to them now and just hard yakka to finally prove that plane went down as expected

..Is Australia short on vessels? ...just wondering..no heli on Success either..yet it has a pad?

Auto fuel balancing
 

VinRouge, NO the 777 does not auto balance fuel. B787 has a auto fuel balance system, however you still have to push a switch to turn the system on.

"...if the weather will just abate!"


Looking at the low (ex cyclone) and the direction it was heading late yesterday, hope it stops going south soon or that will complicate things.

Others, with better knowledge will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that it doesn't always put to Sea with a Sea King on board and, if it didn't have one when tasked with the search, I doubt they would have waited.

That is my understanding as well. It doesn't always have one on board.

They can always pick one up in Perth ;)

Nope, no Seakings (do we have any any more?? not sure) or Seahawks kept over in the West. Only here as needed. No Black Hawks of fighters either

:bored:

I know. But we have C-17's that can fly them over ! :O

Is Australia short on vessels? ...
 

Wantion ... ..Is Australia short on vessels? ...

Maybe not quite the armada fielded by some of the world's super powers but probably consistent with a population of 25 million

500N - The cyclone has dissipated into a weak low pressure system, and the cloud and moisture associated with it, is dispersing into the Southern Ocean and the Bight. However, the weak low pressure system is now producing another buildup of heavy cloud, West of Shark Bay.

The search area is again being traversed by a cold front with increased cloud, and the likelihood of moderate weather and good sea conditions with vastly improved visibility isn't looking good for today, either.

It's been noted by oceanographics experts, in line with my prediction hundreds of posts back, that debris from MH370 will appear on the West Australian coastline in the not-too-distant future.
I trust any fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean have been notified by AMSA to keep a sharp lookout for MH370 wreckage.

Australian weather satellite and lightning tracker

Supplier Sam, Kudos to you sir.

Finally someone who has expertise with the 777 fire warning and suppression systems to debunk many of these so called experts. This post should be read aloud during all of the Media's nightly Circus Clown roundup, and made mandatory reading prior to anyone posting anything at all having to do with their half-assed theories of what happened to MH370, because they have their CPL and they "know" how it all works at 35,000ft.

Bravo

Accident Investigation
 

Supplier Sam

This kind of belief doesn't carry weight among those charged with investigating air accidents.

We have been faced with too many lessons unlearned by those who think they have done it right this time.

All avenues are open until facts are in evidence.

Fuel burns ?
 

Nice table it's a little weird when you look at your kgs/hr check. Take for example the FL100 column.

600nm. 11.5 Tonnes in 1:50 equals 6.38 Tonnes/hour

1200nm. 23.3 Tonnes in 3:18 equals 7.06 Tonnes/hour

2000nm. 38.5 Tonnes in. 6:08 equals 6.31 Tonnes/ hour

Surely it would burn more in the first 600nm?

Is there any tail trim tank fuel with 38.5 Tonnes left?