Frenchwalker: two Iranians

Two Iranians? I thought the one using the Italian passport had been established as an African - I don't know what nationality.

I first looked at this thread when there was just the very first post and nothing else. Sadly, I don't think it's just press briefings which are descending into farce. So many circular discussions, spiralling down...

Ci 611 inflight breakup:

The wreckage was discovered quite quickly, while this one is very unusual.

ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-209B B-18255 Penghu islands, Taiwan [Taiwan Strait]

China Airlines Flight 611 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personally I'm inclined to the "Helios" theory that that the crew became incapacitated in some way.

In other words, it's happened before and could happen again...hypoxia leading to confusion, unconsciousness and ultimately impact with the ground.

Having worked "on the ground" in various parts of Cambodia and Vietnam I am very aware that there are some extremely remote regions that are deeply forested. Just as an example, I was familiar with Ratanakiri province in eastern Cambodia.

It may sound unlikely, but at night, it could just be possible for a 777 to come down without being 'noticed'.

I don't know to what extent these areas are being searched?

I'm not certain if this piece if news has been mentioned here but Berita Harian, a Malay language daily in Malaysia is reporting that flight MH370 did indeed turn back from the SCS. The RMAF chief Rodzali Daud is quoted as saying that the last time the flight was detected by military radar, was at 2.40 am and somewhere around Pulau Perak (Perak Island) north of the straits of Malacca. It was flying at 1,000 metres lower than its 10,000 metres altitude when it turned back. Apparently the Singapore ATC also detected the plane.

The source: Berita Harian | Operasi SAR ke Selat Melaka

I don't know how credible the news is but MalaysiaKini is also reporting it.

I think you're referring to the "debris" that was photographed over land and was electric lighting.

I'm surprised we haven't heard much from Rolls Royce. They have an engine data monitoring service which should have a readout from this flight...

Live monitoring helps engine manufacturers track performance - Telegraph

Where is the debris?
 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/...6175070a5c.jpg


Notice the lack of debris in the water in this shot? There is none. Hundreds of photos on google and not one piece of debris in the water. Clean as a whistle. The entire tail section is clean off and it landed in the water. All doors still closed and intact. You can bet if it wasn't sitting on the reef, it would be on the bottom of the ocean without a trace......This one lacked a mayday call as well......Could the tail section have parted company with the fuselage?

Am i right in saying the 777 comms are located on the centre pedestal? If so could an electrical fire beneath the panels disable VHF and transponder?

The 'debris' was not over land according to this -
Aerial Photos of Unidentified Objects Off Vietnam's Coast


A passenger on a Beijing to Kuala Lumpur flight on the morning of March 9 photographed unidentified objects off the southern coast of Vietnam. The approximate location of the photograph places it to the north of the area being searched for debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

The time stamps suggest they were taken in sequence, at approximately 6:40am Beijing time on March 9. This matches the flight path and time. The internal airplane map shows the airplane placed off the southern tip of Vietnam.

About the Bomb theory
 

"Also raising doubts about the possibility of an attack, the United States extensively reviewed imagery taken by spy satellites for evidence of a mid-air explosion, but saw none, a US government source said. The source described US satellite coverage of the region as thorough."

Read more: Malaysia Airline's flight probe finds scant evidence of attack

I light of the above info is it possible bomb may not be the cause.

Sorry, the fact that you don't see any debris on this photo doesn't mean there is none, photo is at too oblique angle to spot any floating debris. Poor example.

Images and interviews have just been shown on Australian TV of two girls invited to spend the entire flight in the cockpit of a Malaysian Airways flight. Ths copilot was the same one on the MH370 flight.

Smoking ciggies, posing for snaps with girls, both were plucked out of the queue by the pilot and copilot and invited to spend the flight in the cockpit.

Air steward took them into the cockpit, helped to fold out jump seats.

Pilot was palm reading one of the girls, commenting on nail polish.

Fariq Abdul Hamid is his name.

They are very pretty girls, they say the pilots seemd in control the whole flight. Dec 13 2011.

Ok so what has this got to do with it?:=

(perhaps stoopid) question from frequent PAX.

If deliberate / accidental cut-off of all signalling/monitoring equipment occurs, would that same cause stop control of the pressurisation system ?

Thus, cut/off of electrical control occurs (which is instantaneous) followed by fairly gradual (1 to 2 minutes ??) of loss of cabin/cockpit pressure and oxygen, resulting in incapacity of whover was in the cockpit at the time.

2 Conjectures
 

1 - Contrary to what Holywood would have us believe, a primary radar screen can be quite messy at times and much skill is needed to produce a valid interpretation of what one sees. Even more so at the fringes of the equipment range. It may well be the case that some radar operator is "not quite sure" of seeing an unexpected return around that time in a westward direction. Malaysian authorities are under a lot of pressure (at least, a lot of attention) to show some results and maybe shooting in both directions makes sense, but claiming that the plane turned back only to find it further down the intended track the next day would look bad, as would look bad to concentrate search efforts in the Gulf of Thailand and find the fuselage much later in the opposite body of water. Hence the ambiguity in saying that some things can be told, some can't.

2 - It was a very sophisticated operation dreamed about in some think room in some powerful nation-state at some point in time and then filed, to be used later when needed, so as to divert world attention from more pressing matters...

Also, how long after the crash was the photo taken? Any debris is probably washed up on shore, which is only a few feet away.

Come on, seriously? Your post could at least have dignified his career and accomplishments. Ffs.

oh please - A Current Affair?

Half the photos they showed as "evidence" showed buildings in the background. Bit difficult to explain those at 35,000 feet eh??

I think they were using ALL Local times and, as you know, Vietnam in one hour BEHIND KUL. Zulu times would have been less confusing.

I'm not sure it was established one of the 2 was african. I believe at the earlier news conference said he looked similar to the soccer player.

Many Iranians from the south, as well as many arabs look very dark and some look very similar to being black.