Malaysian Airlines Flight Missing, Presumed Crashed

[geauxforbroke]

Just saw this on Facebook. Prayers for the families of all on board. I've also seen some reports that it crashed in the Sea of Thailand, but not sure if that's been confirmed yet.

Malaysian Airlines Flight Missing

[David in FL]

Crap....

[Ernest Jones]

That sucks...

[JetFan1983]

Any theories?

[iacas]

Any theories?

I haven't been following this story very much. What happened with those two suspicious passengers who used stolen passports (right?)?

[jamo]

I haven't been following this story very much. What happened with those two suspicious passengers who used stolen passports (right?)?

Apparently they now think they were Iranian nationals trying to illegally immigrate to Germany. And the four people who bought tickets for the plane but didn't board also never showed up you the terminal, so they didn't check luggage. http://mobile.theverge.com/2014/3/12/5500212/what-happened-to-malaysia-airlines-flight-370

[Golfingdad]

At this point we have to start considering the possibility of aliens, no?

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Kidding aside, I would assume it just had some sort of mechanical failure, so the plane went down somewhere in the ocean.  It just goes to show how very big our planet is ... that they can't find the plane or even a single trace of it, after all of these days.

Very sad.

[MS256]

I've been following the story pretty closely but there's so much misinformation and lack of evidence that everything is speculation.

Definitely a weird story. Especially that the transponders went dark just as the plane made a left turn. Since there are backup electrical systems the only way the transponders should ever go dead is if they are turned off on purpose, and that takes some expertise.

Then they searched for two days in basically the wrong area before the military said they picked up the plane going toward the Indian Ocean west of Malaysia (a report the military now says it didn't say even though everybody heard them say it).

No calls were made from passenger cell phones but mysteriously the phones would still ring after two days. Presumably if it crashed in the ocean the phones would no longer ring.

Basically right now nobody knows anything except there are over 200 families wondering what happened to their family member.

[JetFan1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS256

No calls were made from passenger cell phones but mysteriously the phones would still ring after two days. Presumably if it crashed in the ocean the phones would no longer ring.

I think this was debunked already... something about how international calls/calls using different networks will give the caller the "ringing sound" on his end, even though the receiving end hasn't actually heard any ringing yet. It wouldn't go straight to voicemail is it commonly does over here... Or something to that effect.

But like you said though, it doesn't sound like anyone knows much of anything. The misinformation is out of control obviously.

This is the top comment from one of CNN's many articles on this story. I thought it brought up some interesting issues:

Quote: some user named "johnny"

My understanding is that the pilots piloting the Air France plane radioed in with a distress call prior to losing all contact. That's huge. In this case, there was literally nothing - no feedback from the pilots, no location data which is fed automatically and electronically (human intervention is incapable of cutting that data off)... absolutely no communication whatsoever. AF flight 447 was actually still reporting data (after pilot communication was cut off) on its coordinates and other vital statistics about the plane all the way up until it physically crashed into the sea. Furthermore, large pieces of the AF plane were found within 36 hours of the disaster with less efforts and nowhere near the international effort that's taking place in this case. There is no precedent like this article directly implies. Considering aircraft tracking technology and its accuracy has leap-bounded that of technology we had just 10 or 15 years ago, it makes this disappearance even more absurd. Search and rescue technology has also dramatically improved over the years. With omnipresent GPS, radar, dozens of redundant backup forms of communication the plane just goes poof and it's gone. If it was a catastrophic explosion mid-air, wouldn't there be debris raining down over dozens of square miles of area? A lot of which would be buoyant and therefore float. Even a massive explosion (result of accident or terrorism/bomb) can't vaporize a plane. If it crashed intact the sea is only about 100- 200 feet deep in that area. It makes you wonder if we are being fed all the facts by authorities. Conspiracy theorists are going to be all over this tragedy. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the passengers aboard. I really hope they find irrefutable evidence of a crash soon so these poor people can have at least a little bit of closure. What an absolute nightmare

Yea, I don't know if there's much "truth" to any of the above -- and I do admit... I'm more likely with Golfingdad who says the planet is a lot bigger than we often think it is -- but it's fairly interesting. Maybe a bit too "conspiracy" leaning, but still interesting. Obviously it seems occam's razor would say it crashed somewhere in the expanse of the ocean and we just haven't found it yet.

[Chilli Dipper]

I'm thinking back to EgyptAir flight 990, when the pilot deliberately crashed the plane into the ocean. I wonder if that kind of scenario is at play here.

[geauxforbroke]

This is some f-ed up JJ Abrams type sh*t.

There are so many things that don't add up to me. As I see it, there are 5 basic possibilities here:

1. Plane crashed into the ocean.

As mentioned before, there are plenty of part of a plane and its contents that would float. I think it's nearly impossible that nothing has been found if the plane actually crashed in the ocean. A crash would help explain the sudden loss of communication.

2. Plane exploded mid-air.

Similar to possibility 1, I would think that an explosion would leave debris scattered all over the ocean and/or land. This would explain the sudden loss of communication.

3. Plane crashed on land.

Similar to possibility 1, I would would think that a crash would have been seen or reported. Additionally, I don't think the plane was anywhere near land when communication was lost. That's assuming the information that was being received was correct.

4. Plane landed on land.

The big question here would be "why did communications abruptly stop". If the plane landed, there would have to be communication, and someone would know that it landed.

5. Plane landed in ocean.

I would think that this would be the easiest way for a plane to disappear. Land intact in the ocean, then sink. However, there would still have to be an issue with communications going out.

In all the possibilities I've mentioned, there are still holes that don't make sense. I can't think of a likely scenario that makes sense, unless there was foul play.

[dsc123]

I find it hard to accept that we still use a black box that goes down with the plane.  Maybe it wouldn't have mattered since the communication equipment went out.  But even that seems preventable in this day and age.

Also, can't Apple and Google and 24754 app makers that surreptitiously track our phones find the last locations of these people?  They're tracking us all the time.  Or was this doomed by "airplane mode"?  I know they refuse to help if your phone is stolen (so you have to buy a new one)...maybe the NSA has it already?

A friend of a friend of a friend who is a commercial pilot thinks something could have happened that made the nose come off.  I think he said the communication equipment is contained there, which would explain the sudden loss of communication.

[newtogolf]

There are a few sites that I've read which have a number of pilots and air traffic controllers posting.  It seems the most likely explanation given what we know is that the plane depressurized at 38,000 feet and caused everyone on board to lose consciousness.  The planes autopilot would have then lowered to 8,000 feet altitude automatically and flown on an emergency course.  The altitude of the plane would have caused it to go off of air traffic radar but explains why military radar was able to pick it up 100 miles from the last radio contact.

The question is why the pilots did not regain consciousness, as the plane should have reached 8,000 feet in about 4 - 5 minutes which would should have allowed the pilots and passengers to regain consciousness.  Also it's unknown where the planes wreckage is, which could suggest that after contact was not re-established and given the planes heading the decision was made to shoot it down.

The other more conspiracy theorist possibility is that the plane was hacked mid-air and hijacked.  It seems there was a notification that this particular model was outfitted with WiFi access for passengers but the network shared servers with flight systems.  While no one is aware of such a breach occurring, the letter sent to Boeing requested proof that the flight systems could not be compromised by a passenger given the flight system servers were not physically or network isolated from passenger access.

[MS256]

In the ever-changing story now they think they may have found something close to Vietnam in the ocean on the original flight path. Still nothing concrete yet.

[Golfingdad]

There are a few sites that I've read which have a number of pilots and air traffic controllers posting.  It seems the most likely explanation given what we know is that the plane depressurized at 38,000 feet and caused everyone on board to lose consciousness.  The planes autopilot would have then lowered to 8,000 feet altitude automatically and flown on an emergency course.  The altitude of the plane would have caused it to go off of air traffic radar but explains why military radar was able to pick it up 100 miles from the last radio contact.

The question is why the pilots did not regain consciousness, as the plane should have reached 8,000 feet in about 4 - 5 minutes which would should have allowed the pilots and passengers to regain consciousness.  Also it's unknown where the planes wreckage is, which could suggest that after contact was not re-established and given the planes heading the decision was made to shoot it down.

The other more conspiracy theorist possibility is that the plane was hacked mid-air and hijacked.  It seems there was a notification that this particular model was outfitted with WiFi access for passengers but the network shared servers with flight systems.  While no one is aware of such a breach occurring, the letter sent to Boeing requested proof that the flight systems could not be compromised by a passenger given the flight system servers were not physically or network isolated from passenger access.

If I had to rank those two, I think I'd flip them around and call the theory that it was shot down by authorities and then kept a secret for several days (and counting) a tad more "conspiracy theorist" than the idea that it was hijacked.  (I'd go with my aliens theory long before I'd buy that a passenger jet ever gets shot down)

Either way, the idea that an airplane could be hijacked using computers is pretty freaky.

[newtogolf]

If I had to rank those two, I think I'd flip them around and call the theory that it was shot down by authorities and then kept a secret for several days (and counting) a tad more "conspiracy theorist" than the idea that it was hijacked.  (I'd go with my aliens theory long before I'd buy that a passenger jet ever gets shot down)

Either way, the idea that an airplane could be hijacked using computers is pretty freaky.

A plane with limited fuel heading towards a populated area, flying below air traffic radar detection and without radio communications would result in fighter jets being launched.  If the fighter pilots determined the plane was hijacked or the pilots were incapacitated they would shoot down the plane in a safe zone rather than allow it to crash into a populated area.

Remember, this isn't the US government so we don't know what information would be released about such an event until all the proper authorities were notified first.

[Golfingdad]

A plane with limited fuel heading towards a populated area, flying below air traffic radar detection and without radio communications would result in fighter jets being launched.  If the fighter pilots determined the plane was hijacked or the pilots were incapacitated they would shoot down the plane in a safe zone rather than allow it to crash into a populated area.

Wow, that is ..... intense.  Has this actually happened before?

Remember, this isn't the US government so we don't know what information would be released about such an event until all the proper authorities were notified first.

Fair point.  Who knows how other countries handle these sorts of things.

[jamo]

Apparently now a Chinese satellite image shows something that could possibly be debris near the original search site: http://news.yahoo.com/report-chinese-may-show-plane-debris-images-214930324.html