Malaysia Airlines MH370

Jesus, must you prevaricate everything?

Well, it's not that I must...

More debris discovered by Chinese satellite 120 kilometers from previous debris.

There is also speculation of a lithium ion battery failure and fire that may have rendered everyone unconscious or dead as the aircraft flew until it ran out of fuel. Seems plausible... except for the intentional, deliberate act in the beginning of turning off transponder and cutting communications.

But then a battery failure might explain that too I suppose.   

The first turn, entered into the navigation computer... and the second turn, made manually while over the Strait of Malacca. Those are not unconscious pilots (read the Slate link I posted above).

And besides, the first "debris" reported by Chinese satellites turned out to be living, breathing tanker ships steaming through the area.

Assuming for a moment a battery failure and fire were possible, it wouldn't necessarily be an immediate process of incapacitating everyone at once at the same time. Headings could have been programmed while fire, smoke, and general havoc ensued.

But then you'd have to explain why the avionics was turned off, and no distress call sent.

I don't know anything about electrical systems on aircraft. Is there no possible scenario that a fire could explain shutting down such systems to deal with the emergency? Or the battery failure and slow spreading fire might have rendered certain specific instruments inoperable at certain times?

According to what I have read, the on-board avionics equipment -- the ACARS and the ADS-B and the transponder -- were manually and intentionally turned off, in sequence, shortly after the first turn west, which was made by entering new course coordinates into the navigation computer rather than manually veering off the scheduled flight path.

The last radio transmission, just before the course change, was "Alright, good night." No distress or mayday call.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26514556

Finally admitting the obvious. Still no explanation.

I'm not sure it was that obvious. The only way they could officially state it now was due to the UK satellite company's expert analysis. They needed the data to back up the assertion.

Well after 16 days without a peep from the passengers or crew I think everybody had pretty much ruled out hijacking.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Well after 16 days without a peep from the passengers or crew I think everybody had pretty much ruled out hijacking.

It could have been a really, really, really incompetent hijacking.

If they ever do find the plane and figure out what caused the problem - and there's a very good chance they won't do either - I believe they will find it was a catastrophic failure.

The plane flew for something like 7 hours after losing radio contact. Let's hope the passengers were all dead or unconscious.

If the plane lost cabin pressure, everyone would have been incapacitated within seconds and unconscious soon thereafter. It's not uncommon for planes to continue flying after their crews croak. They just buzz happily along until they run out of fuel.

Yeah, again, there were at least two course changes -- one programmed into the navigation computer, the other apparently just manual.

We may never know why. Or who.

_Howard wrote:

If they ever do find the plane and figure out what caused the problem - and there's a very good chance they won't do either - I believe they will find it was a catastrophic failure.

Yep, just about the time they hit the water.

_Howard wrote:

If the plane lost cabin pressure,

You thinking a hijacking, followed by a fight with the crew or passengers followed by a gunshot or grenade or something, big enough to depressurize the cabin at 35,000 feet but small enough to leave it airworthy?

Mythbusters did a segment once and proved that gunshots won't cause a plane to come apart.

Not at all. I'm thinking a loss of cabin pressure early on - caused by equipment failure or malfunction - which led to the change in course.

I read one report - and they are many and contradictory - that said after changing course, the aircraft descended rapidly to 12,000 feet. In the event of oxygen loss, you have to get the plane down to 10,000 feet so that the passengers can breathe.

Loss of cabin pressure is just one catastrophic failure which I believe could have initiated the situation. And yes, the plane could have continued flying after everyone on board was unconscious or dead. Several years ago, a Lear Jet lost its cabin pressure just a few minutes after takeoff, but after reaching altitude. It was tracked across the country for nearly four hours before it crashed.

Odd that no distress call was issued.

With a sudden loss of cabin pressure - and oxygen - the pilot has about ten seconds to get on to supplemental oxygen. If he fucks around checking alarms or scratching his head, he will likely be unable to accomplish the task of getting to the oxygen mask. Eight or ten seconds without any oxygen will incapacitate the crew and they won't be able to do a damn thing. Perhaps they punched in the change of course before going to supplemental oxygen...perhaps.. well, just a bunch of stuff.

I'm not saying I believe that pressure loss was the cause, just suggesting it is one failure that would explain the strange flight. I have no fucking idea what happened, just looking at possibilities.

There is probably a valid reason that the NTSB doesn't hire the Mythbusters as advisors. Although I do remember seeing that episode of the program and expecting them to get just the results they did.

By the way. In the Lear Jet incident I mentioned, there was no distress call sent.

Of course, according to Fox News, Obama did it. Has some connection to Benghazi.
According to Hannity, it is connected to Iran, and is Obama's fault.
Holy shit! I wish I was much younger and still well armed. Bang, motherfucker, bang!

_Howard wrote:

By the way. In the Lear Jet incident I mentioned, there was no distress call sent.

Wikipedia wrote:

On October 25, 1999, a chartered Learjet 35 was scheduled to fly from Orlando, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Early in the flight the aircraft, which was cruising at altitude on autopilot, quickly lost cabin pressure. All on board were incapacitated due to hypoxia — a lack of oxygen. The aircraft failed to make the westward turn toward Dallas over north Florida. It continued flying over the southern and midwestern United States for almost four hours and 1,500 miles (2,400 km). The plane ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Aberdeen, South Dakota after an uncontrolled descent.

Pay particular attention to the bit I have highlighted. It's important.


Granted, this map was prepared BEFORE they concluded it flew south-southeast rather than north-northwest after reaching the Strait of Malacca -- but either way, there were apparently turns involved.

Of course that could change -- but the last known heading would not end up where they're now looking, would it?

_Howard wrote:

Of course, according to Fox News

Oh why do you bother?

Now we pretty much know that it likely went down in the southern Indian Ocean, I think Howard might be onto something. It doesn't make sense that a hijacker or suicide pilot would take the time to head toward Antarctica and just wait out the time it takes for the fuel to get used up...

If a suicide pilot or suicide hijacker wants to die and take a plane full of people with him, he could just force the plane into the drink shortly after take off.

It's the 7 hour flight to a dry gas tank that doesn't make sense. Something unexpected happened. Something that may very well have incapacitated the crew and passengers... or at least the pilots.

I recall a report saying the plane was at 30,000 feet most of the trip. How that was known I don't know, but if true, that would put decompression as very likely. We know that decompression can put out fires too... if a fire was even part of this scenario.

There's too little data. But what there is I think makes catastrophic event most likely. The 7 hour flight toward Antarctica doesn't make sense otherwise. The manual adjustment of course seems plausible in this context if the pilots were experiencing an emergency initially, that then later got out of control to a point that incapacitated them and perhaps everyone else.

I also remember hearing about a flight similar to Howard's description, where everyone on the plane was rendered unconscious and the plane flew for many hours before falling out of the sky. If only autopilots were more intelligent.

NoCoPilot wrote:

_Howard wrote:

Of course, according to Fox News

Oh why do you bother?

Just for humor. (I don't watch Fox News. Someone told me about it.)