Malaysian airlines plane missing

[Obelix 11]

Just about all reports consistently state that the plane suddenly went off radar screens at 01:30 AM local.

 

Now, granted, those reports may have been based on incomplete or misunderstood info/factually incorrect, if the disappearing was that of a transponder signal rather than a radar echo.

 

With everyone saying that it vanished it sounds like the transponder was turned off, either deliberatly or some catastrophic action. The same thing happened over Lockerbie - the flight just disappeared from the screen but there was also active radar available from the nearby airfields and they saw the debris coming down.

[johncocker 10]

Underwater radio comms is incredibly challenging - the US and UK Navy have some of the most enormous transmitters known to talk to submerged ships and they can send perhaps a letter of Morse code every ten seconds. The subs cannot send anything back at all unless they surface. The situation with a downed aircraft is similar and the flight recorders use sonar beacons because radio is ineffective.

 

the black box as its known can give a signal from ft20,000 underwater plus a range of 1-2 kilometers , the gulf of thailand never gets any deeper than 100 meters.

Edited March 10, 2014 by johncocker

[L00b 441]

With everyone saying that it vanished it sounds like the transponder was turned off, either deliberatly or some catastrophic action.

There are some reports about (military) active radars in the area, according to which the plane may have u-turned shortly before vanishing off their screens.

 

In any case...yes, it's a bit "much" that, in this day and age of pervasive-always-on-comms-everywhere, something as conspicuous as a large airliner can just vanish out of thin air then leave everyone wondering at its whereabouts.

[johncocker 10]

it took them 5 days to find the airfrance plane and 2 years to find the blackbox

[JFKvsNixon 11]

There are some reports about (military) active radars in the area, according to which the plane may have u-turned shortly before vanishing off their screens.

 

In any case...yes, it's a bit "much" that, in this day and age of pervasive-always-on-comms-everywhere, something as conspicuous as a large airliner can just vanish out of thin air then leave everyone wondering at its whereabouts.

 

If you'd watched the program mentioned earlier Aircrash Investigations you'd see how common it that it's really difficult to locate a plane after it's crashed. There have been occasions where it's been a struggle to locate the plane when it's crashed over land, an ocean crash just makes it all the more difficult.

[dosxuk 10]

the black box as its known can give a signal from ft20,000 underwater plus a range of 1-2 kilometers , the gulf of thailand never gets any deeper than 100 meters.

 

But, as it's known from the AF447 accident, you can be right over the top of it and still not detect it.

 

In any case...yes, it's a bit "much" that, in this day and age of pervasive-always-on-comms-everywhere, something as conspicuous as a large airliner can just vanish out of thin air then leave everyone wondering at its whereabouts.

 

It's a good demonstration (despite what some people think) of how limited our communications are in parts of the world, even highly populated parts. This is a modern aircraft, with numerous different communications systems, all of which have failed at the same time, which AFAIA is unprecedented.

 

However, since the Malaysian's are now also searching the waters to the east of the country - for the aircraft to be here would mean the it had crossed the entire country, which would be impossible to avoid being picked up on radar - either indicates there is a large amount of information being withheld, or a staggering amount of incompetence at work.

[Obelix 11]

the black box as its known can give a signal from ft20,000 underwater plus a range of 1-2 kilometers , the gulf of thailand never gets any deeper than 100 meters.

 

It can't give a radio signal from those depths - it has to be sonar. Also it was going ove rthe South China Sea, which does get very deep in places as I recall.

 

Regardless, it's just speculation as it didn't crash where the transponder was lost as there is no wreckage on the sea at that point, so it seems clear it's flown on somewhere... but where?

[alchresearch 215]

Aliens was the first thing that came to mind. Been a while since xfiles was on!

 

It got me thinking of the Stephen King book the Langoliers.

[dosxuk 10]

Regardless, it's just speculation as it didn't crash where the transponder was lost as there is no wreckage on the sea at that point, so it seems clear it's flown on somewhere... but where?

 

Roughly somewhere in this this area

[Obelix 11]

Roughly somewhere in this this area

 

I presume that's it's fuel distance that it had on board then? It's a big search area....

 

The news has also just announced that the oil slick found at the last known point wasn't kerosene, hydrualic or lubricating oil, so it seems unlikley that is connected with it.

[truman 10]

If it's landed, as opposed to crashed,then you'd have thought someone might have seen it...it's not as though something like a 777 can land at a place like Netherthorpe is it?

[dosxuk 10]

I presume that's it's fuel distance that it had on board then? It's a big search area....

 

Yes, it's only a rough map, based on the fuel available for the planned flight.

 

The news has also just announced that the oil slick found at the last known point wasn't kerosene, hydrualic or lubricating oil, so it seems unlikley that is connected with it.

 

And with the other objects spotted either being confirmed as not connected or not seen again, there's literally no sign of where the aircraft has ended up. It's starting to look like a question of "where did it go when it disappeared", rather than "what happened to make it disappear".

 

Apparently, the Chinese authorities are also saying that one of their passengers listed on the manifest wasn't on the aircraft either, and there are suspicions about two more, along with the two confirmed people with stolen passports.