Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[skippybangkok]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit

Your right.... but still 3 levels above calling someone a troll because they don't meet ones Obsessive Compulsive Disorder requirements to provide an audit trail

[jpinx]

It's been mentioned many times by Mods in here that source links are preferred. In consideration to the families and friends of the missing passengers and crew, we owe it to them to not mislead in any way.

This one appears to have been a crowd source effort -- good work from them.

https://twitter.com/ThisDigitalLtd/status/445176117805056001

[Adeeos]

I'm QUITE SURE,,,, as forthcoming,, "honest" as they've been so far,,, we'll find that the pilot, (who at this point, and maybe NEVER be able to defend himself),,,, will be,, "found" on his simulator,, that he, MANY, MANY times,,, practiced landing the 777, on a REMOTE, abandoned runway,, somewhere that's been forgotten for 60 years,,,,, THEN,, they'll NOT be able to explain,,, "OK,,, He landed there,,,, WHERE IS IT NOW?!?!?,,,,,, "UUUhhhh,,,, Sorry, we NEVER thought about that,,, said that,,, Next question please?"

Pretty amazing simulator setup. Will be interesting when the government

divulges what they found after going over the simulations. Did notice that they saying there may be

crew involvement coincided with the search of his house.

You are an anti-government activist planning on stealing a commercial aircraft. You build a wonderfully realistic Flight Sim at home so you can practice all the things you need to learn to do so (let's forget the fact he was a trained 777 pilot with thousands of hours of experience).

What do you do?

(1) Keep it quiet?

(2) Announce all over the net that you've got a brilliant flight sim, and list all the parts you bought to put your system together to show off to other gamers with whom you share information?

CNN reported that Capt Zaharie had posted on German online forum, X-Sim.de, that he had built a flight simulator himself in November 2012.

"About a month ago I finish assembly of FSX and FS9 with six monitors" in a message signed Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah BOEING 777 MALAYSIA AIRLINES.

Checks reveal that FSX and FS9 were over the counter flight simulator games made by Microsoft that could be easily bought online.

Capt Zaharie studied aviation at the Philippine Airlines Aviation School in Pasay City, Manila in 1980, before joining Malaysia Airlines in 1981.

The Penangite became a captain in the early 1990's and has 33-years and 18, 360 hours of flying experience under his belt.

His colleagues described him as a jovial but professional "aviation geek" who collects remote controlled miniature aircrafts, light twin engine helicopters and amphibious aircrafts.

Outside of aviation, he runs a YouTube channel dedicated to DIY projects, where he teaches viewers how to fix home appliances like air-conditioners.

Come on people, leave the trial by media to the stupid media.

How about this point of view. Let's say you are a long distance truck driver, and you spend a lot

of time driving on the road. Are you going to set up a truck simulator in your home so you can do

driving simulations after you get off the road ?? He was certainly proud of his set up, but at this

point we have no idea what he was doing with it. He had nothing to hide until the flight disappeared.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Adeeos

[phuketandsee]

Interesting piece from Wired Magazine:

How the Missing Malaysia Airlines Jet Could Have Been Hijacked

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/malaysian-airlines-flight-370-possibly-hijacked/

[Overandout]

Perhaps I've missed something, but what is the message in the Daily Mail article about the pilot's political loyalties?

If it is true (I know it was the Daily Mail, but stranger things have happened..) they seem to be suggesting that he may have taken the plane as a revenge for Anwar Ibrahim's conviction. OK, but what did he hope to achieve with this?

Unless there is some message to the world, the action of the hijack is empty, it just leaves us guessing. And if the pilot crashed the plane in revenge or suicide, why deviate from the planned course?

Even if the idea was to negotiate for Ibrahim's release, using the plane and hostages as bargaining chips, there was no need to fly back across Malaysia towards the west.

Also, why wait for so long before dumping the plane? If you're on a suicide mission, flying around for 7 hours doesn't really add much to your cause does it?

I'm thinking that those hours of prolonged flight were for a reason. Some bargaining was going on, possibly the political asylum or freedom of Ibrahim. When it didn't work out, the pilot stuck to his word...

That would also explain why it took so long for any news to come out. A failed negotiation which could have saved over 200 lives is not something anyone would want to explain. Ever.

[F430murci]

Pretty amazing simulator setup. Will be interesting when the government

divulges what they found after going over the simulations. Did notice that they saying there may be

crew involvement coincided with the search of his house.

You are an anti-government activist planning on stealing a commercial aircraft. You build a wonderfully realistic Flight Sim at home so you can practice all the things you need to learn to do so (let's forget the fact he was a trained 777 pilot with thousands of hours of experience).

What do you do?

(1) Keep it quiet?

(2) Announce all over the net that you've got a brilliant flight sim, and list all the parts you bought to put your system together to show off to other gamers with whom you share information?

CNN reported that Capt Zaharie had posted on German online forum, X-Sim.de, that he had built a flight simulator himself in November 2012.

"About a month ago I finish assembly of FSX and FS9 with six monitors" in a message signed Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah BOEING 777 MALAYSIA AIRLINES.

Checks reveal that FSX and FS9 were over the counter flight simulator games made by Microsoft that could be easily bought online.

Capt Zaharie studied aviation at the Philippine Airlines Aviation School in Pasay City, Manila in 1980, before joining Malaysia Airlines in 1981.

The Penangite became a captain in the early 1990's and has 33-years and 18, 360 hours of flying experience under his belt.

His colleagues described him as a jovial but professional "aviation geek" who collects remote controlled miniature aircrafts, light twin engine helicopters and amphibious aircrafts.

Outside of aviation, he runs a YouTube channel dedicated to DIY projects, where he teaches viewers how to fix home appliances like air-conditioners.

Come on people, leave the trial by media to the stupid media.

How about this point of view. Let's say you are a long distance truck driver, and you spend a lot

of time driving on the road. Are you going to set up a truck simulator in your home so you can do

driving simulations after you get off the road ?? He was certainly proud of his set up, but at this

point we have no idea what he was doing with it. He had nothing to hide until the flight disappeared.

Whike I don't know truck drivers, you obviously don't know pilots. Father, brothers, several cousins are commercial or AF pilots, uncle retired ATC and mom's side of family started and original owners of Value Jet and Messaba Aviation (now NW Airlink) with family members chief pilots of both companies at one time.

These guys eat, sleep, drink and are generally obsessed with all things aviation. 24/7 for most them. Flight sims, radio control, screwing around in the Pitts, Cap21 or Citabria whenever weather permits, going out to FedEx with father and jumping in the 727, DC10 or MD11 sims whenever they were not being used and etc. Their whole lives centered around aviation and, unlike what I do, they wanted to be around it 24/7.

I would venture to say my brother who is former AF pilot will probably get the bug to put together a simulator like this guys if and when he sees his kayout. After all of his years in F15 and type rating on business jets ranging from Diamond jet to Global Express, he sits around at home and plays those computer flight simulator games constantly.

I would say wait until their is some credible evidence, other than speculation, before disparaging the 370 pilots.

[Tywais]

A possible breakthrough!

Two interesting links which may be turn out to be true for the sake of those poor relatives who must just want to know where their family members are.

http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/news/article/greek-ship-looking-for-lost-plane-debris?rel=newsfeed1

https://twitter.com/ThisDigitalLtd/status/445176117805056001

That is the Tonad crowd search project from DigitalGlobe commercial satellite company.

The image from the Tonad project

After image analysis, suggesting a boat? - tomnod facebook

[Tywais]

An off topic and lack of fair use article removed and reply to it.

[3NUMBAS]

if someone wanted to get into the cockpit by force there would be a fracas outside the door with stewards ,then the pilots would check the cctv outside the door to see what was happening ,then send a

distress call pretty quickly ,long before the alleged hijackers would have blown the door and gained access.

anyways you cant just wander into 1st class from the standard economy without stewards blocking you and asking you why you are there .

theyre trained for such things happening

[Thai at Heart]

Perhaps I've missed something, but what is the message in the Daily Mail article about the pilot's political loyalties?

If it is true (I know it was the Daily Mail, but stranger things have happened..) they seem to be suggesting that he may have taken the plane as a revenge for Anwar Ibrahim's conviction. OK, but what did he hope to achieve with this?

Unless there is some message to the world, the action of the hijack is empty, it just leaves us guessing. And if the pilot crashed the plane in revenge or suicide, why deviate from the planned course?

Even if the idea was to negotiate for Ibrahim's release, using the plane and hostages as bargaining chips, there was no need to fly back across Malaysia towards the west.

Also, why wait for so long before dumping the plane? If you're on a suicide mission, flying around for 7 hours doesn't really add much to your cause does it?

I'm thinking that those hours of prolonged flight were for a reason. Some bargaining was going on, possibly the political asylum or freedom of Ibrahim. When it didn't work out, the pilot stuck to his word...

That would also explain why it took so long for any news to come out. A failed negotiation which could have saved over 200 lives is not something anyone would want to explain. Ever.

It was also on the BBC in the uk about how he is fiercely pro anwar Ibrahim and anti govt.

[JesseFrank]

Whike I don't know truck drivers, you obviously don't know pilots. Father, brothers, several cousins are commercial or AF pilots, uncle retired ATC and mom's side of family started and original owners of Value Jet and Messaba Aviation (now NW Airlink) with family members chief pilots of both companies at one time.

These guys eat, sleep, drink and are generally obsessed with all things aviation. 24/7 for most them. Flight sims, radio control, screwing around in the Pitts, Cap21 or Citabria whenever weather permits, going out to FedEx with father and jumping in the 727, DC10 or MD11 sims whenever they were not being used and etc. Their whole lives centered around aviation and, unlike what I do, they wanted to be around it 24/7.

I would venture to say my brother who is former AF pilot will probably get the bug to put together a simulator like this guys if and when he sees his kayout. After all of his years in F15 and type rating on business jets ranging from Diamond jet to Global Express, he sits around at home and plays those computer flight simulator games constantly.

I would say wait until their is some credible evidence, other than speculation, before disparaging the 370 pilots.

Strange, last time your family were in yacht charter business, and of course one the major players.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/607092-steve-jobs-superyacht-impounded-over-unpaid-bill/?p=5958519

internet forum

Web definitions

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people pretend to be somone else.

[3NUMBAS]

latest plot

Satellite transmission data analyzed by U.S. investigators showed that the Malaysian Airline (MAS) System Bhd. jetliner’s most likely last-known position was in a zone about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) west of Perth, Australia, said two people in the U.S. government who are familiar with the readings. Najib was told that is the most promising lead on locating the plane, one of the people said.

[F430murci]

Whike I don't know truck drivers, you obviously don't know pilots. Father, brothers, several cousins are commercial or AF pilots, uncle retired ATC and mom's side of family started and original owners of Value Jet and Messaba Aviation (now NW Airlink) with family members chief pilots of both companies at one time.

These guys eat, sleep, drink and are generally obsessed with all things aviation. 24/7 for most them. Flight sims, radio control, screwing around in the Pitts, Cap21 or Citabria whenever weather permits, going out to FedEx with father and jumping in the 727, DC10 or MD11 sims whenever they were not being used and etc. Their whole lives centered around aviation and, unlike what I do, they wanted to be around it 24/7.

I would venture to say my brother who is former AF pilot will probably get the bug to put together a simulator like this guys if and when he sees his kayout. After all of his years in F15 and type rating on business jets ranging from Diamond jet to Global Express, he sits around at home and plays those computer flight simulator games constantly.

I would say wait until their is some credible evidence, other than speculation, before disparaging the 370 pilots.

Strange, last time your family were in yacht charter business, and of course one the major players.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/607092-steve-jobs-superyacht-impounded-over-unpaid-bill/?p=5958519

internet forum

Web definitions

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people pretend to be somone else.

Yep, still are. Family also owns Artic Cat Snowmobiles and a scattering on banks in Thief River Falls, Bimidji and Minneapolis St. Paul area. Dad began operating a charter fishing business in Key Biscayne in late 1960s with two other Eastern pilots and it grew and expanded greatly when retired from FedEx in the 90s. Thanks for checking . . .

Last name is Swenson if you want to check common thread for all of the family business holdings and I left out my cousin Rob being CEO of Air Tran in addition to Messaba Aviation before family sold Messaba to Northwest.

Aviation is deep in my family history and I am the exception to the rule here.

Edited March 16, 2014 by F430murci

[EyesWideOpen]

I would say wait until their is some credible evidence, other than speculation, before disparaging the 370 pilots.

I do know pilots , and in fact am one. I am not disparaging anyone. I had simply said early on

in this thread that the pilots were an obvious object of concern, and that the house of the chief

pilot should have been searched. And specifically go through sim scenarios on his computer

and see if there were any clues there. Indeed, that is what Malaysia did a few days later. The

very last thing that Malaysia Air wants to admit is that rogue pilots are involved somehow in

this hijacking. Yet that is what they have in essence admitted. So will certainly be interesting to

see what evidence drew them to that conclusion....

My brother owned and operated a small airline in rural Alaska. He ended up with about 30,000 hours

of bush time, which is not easy to do and keep alive. He likened flying to operating a bus with wings,

cannot imagine him spending one second on a simulator. Maybe the big boys are different.....

Edited March 16, 2014 by EyesWideOpen

[davidstipek]

A possible breakthrough!

Two interesting links which may be turn out to be true for the sake of those poor relatives who must just want to know where their family members are.

That is the Tonad crowd search project from DigitalGlobe commercial satellite company.

The image from the Tonad project

After image analysis, suggesting a boat? - tomnod facebook

The first link @ 5deg39'08.5" North and 98deg50'38.0" East raises a question...

It is in direct line with takeoff and approch to Pulau Langkawi International Airport! Maybe 4-5 miles into channel. Would not Radar here have picked up this aircraft here or even possibly be able to see If it was truely MA370 this is super close to shore!

[F430murci]

I would say wait until their is some credible evidence, other than speculation, before disparaging the 370 pilots.

I do know pilots , and in fact am one. I am not disparaging anyone. I had simply said early on

in this thread that the pilots were an obvious object of concern, and that the house of the chief

pilot should have been searched. And specifically go through sim scenarios on his computer

and see if there were any clues there. Indeed, that is what Malaysia did a few days later. The

very last thing that Malaysia Air wants to admit is that rogue pilots are involved somehow in

this hijacking. Yet that is what they have in essence admitted. So will certainly be interesting to

see what evidence drew them to that conclusion....

My brother owned and operated a small airline in rural Alaska. He ended up with about 30,000 hours

of bush time, which is not easy to do and keep alive. He likened flying to operating a bus with wings,

cannot imagine him spending one second on a simulator. Maybe the big boys are different.....

It's all good. Everyone is entitled to their view points. The pilots very well could have been victims here and may have acted heroically to try and save the plane. We just don't know so I would prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point. Be sad to make them scapegoats if they were victims.

These planes are not difficult to fly and one could easily learn how to turn off or be instructed how to turn off communication devices such as transponder so I don't necessarily buy into the "it had to be the pilot" theory.

Perhaps I get too defensive of the pilots . . .

[pmugghc]

NY Times reported the pilot's wife and kids moved out the day before the flight.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[F430murci]

NY Times reported the pilot's wife and kids moved out the day before the flight.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

That is not a good sign. Losing one's famy can make a sane man do drastic insane things.

[pmugghc]

NY Times reported the pilot's wife and kids moved out the day before the flight.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I may have mixed uo the source, the UK's Mirror has it:

http://tiny.iavian.net/22l4 @drudgereportapp

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Loptr]

I'm QUITE SURE,,,, as forthcoming,, "honest" as they've been so far,,, we'll find that the pilot, (who at this point, and maybe NEVER be able to defend himself),,,, will be,, "found" on his simulator,, that he, MANY, MANY times,,, practiced landing the 777, on a REMOTE, abandoned runway,, somewhere that's been forgotten for 60 years,,,,, THEN,, they'll NOT be able to explain,,, "OK,,, He landed there,,,, WHERE IS IT NOW?!?!?,,,,,, "UUUhhhh,,,, Sorry, we NEVER thought about that,,, said that,,, Next question please?"

Pretty amazing simulator setup. Will be interesting when the government

divulges what they found after going over the simulations. Did notice that they saying there may be

crew involvement coincided with the search of his house.

You are an anti-government activist planning on stealing a commercial aircraft. You build a wonderfully realistic Flight Sim at home so you can practice all the things you need to learn to do so (let's forget the fact he was a trained 777 pilot with thousands of hours of experience).

What do you do?

(1) Keep it quiet?

(2) Announce all over the net that you've got a brilliant flight sim, and list all the parts you bought to put your system together to show off to other gamers with whom you share information?

Come on people, leave the trial by media to the stupid media.

How about this point of view. Let's say you are a long distance truck driver, and you spend a lot

of time driving on the road. Are you going to set up a truck simulator in your home so you can do

driving simulations after you get off the road ?? He was certainly proud of his set up, but at this

point we have no idea what he was doing with it. He had nothing to hide until the flight disappeared.

As a pilot myself, I believe you would be hard-pressed to find a pilot that did not have a simulator of some kind at home. I have one similar to the one in the photo. Does that make me a terrorist suspect? If so, please adjust your tin foil hats.

[khaosai]

Hi,

I had a good look of some charts last night. I don't think the aircraft headed over land to the north, certainly not over a significant distance due to the fact it would be picked up by primary radar and then encounter high terrain issues. It could cross over land east of Calcutta, heading north then north west. Pass north of Delhi and then onto Pakistani border beside Lahore. The highest minimum safe altitude on this route would be 2000ft to 2500ft. Thereafter is where the problems would arise. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar all have air defence in place and any aircraft not identified would not go unchallenged. Fuel considerations would also be a significant factor on distance travelled at low altitude.

I have not heard the spokesperson mention any fuel uplift prior to departure so I had a guesstimate of approx 50 tons. That would account for taxi fuel, trip fuel and contingency fuel. It would also include fuel to fly to an alternate, let's say Dalian which requires approx 5 tons. Finally it would include final reserve fuel which is another 30 minutes worth.

Some other info I dug out for interest:

Flying at 29000ft over a still air distance of 3000 nautical miles will require approx 44 tons of fuel.

Optimum altitude is 35000ft with an aircraft weight of 240 tons. Maximum altitude at this weight will be approx 38000ft.

At a landing weight of 200 tons the landing distance required using maximum auto brake is 1600 metres.

The search area is potentially very extensive. The aircraft could be in an area bounded by Northern China, Northwest Australia, East as far as Guam and west to the Seychelles, but I think over the oceanic areas are more probable.

[Maestro]

Removed an off-topic troll post.

[LennyW]

A possible breakthrough!

Two interesting links which may be turn out to be true for the sake of those poor relatives who must just want to know where their family members are.

That is the Tonad crowd search project from DigitalGlobe commercial satellite company.

The image from the Tonad project

After image analysis, suggesting a boat? - tomnod facebook

The first link @ 5deg39'08.5" North and 98deg50'38.0" East raises a question...

It is in direct line with takeoff and approch to Pulau Langkawi International Airport! Maybe 4-5 miles into channel. Would not Radar here have picked up this aircraft here or even possibly be able to see If it was truely MA370 this is super close to shore!

Would the floating luggage just hang around in the vacinity of the sunken aircraft like that? Dont think so.

[steven100]

A possible breakthrough!

Two interesting links which may be turn out to be true for the sake of those poor relatives who must just want to know where their family members are.

http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/news/article/greek-ship-looking-for-lost-plane-debris?rel=newsfeed1

https://twitter.com/ThisDigitalLtd/status/445176117805056001

That is the Tonad crowd search project from DigitalGlobe commercial satellite company.

The image from the Tonad project

After image analysis, suggesting a boat? - tomnod facebook

You've found the plane ? has the search party been notified ? has a boat been sent to the location ?

[MaxYakov]

A possible breakthrough!

Two interesting links which may be turn out to be true for the sake of those poor relatives who must just want to know where their family members are.

http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/news/article/greek-ship-looking-for-lost-plane-debris?rel=newsfeed1

https://twitter.com/ThisDigitalLtd/status/445176117805056001

That is the Tonad crowd search project from DigitalGlobe commercial satellite company.

The image from the Tonad project

After image analysis, suggesting a boat? - tomnod facebook

You've found the plane ? has the search party been notified ? has a boat been sent to the location ?

Straws, grasping at. Marginally better than grasping at air, I suppose.

[Arma]

The "fly-by-wire" theory continues to get some press - http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/was-missing-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370-hijacked-using-a-mobile-phone/story-fnizu68q-1226856570824

[wisterialane]

A guy from an Australian strategic center has called into doubt the effectiveness of the Malaysian Air Force, allowing an unknown aircraft to fly in it's airspace unchallenged. He also went on to say it will be countries like the USA. UK and Australia who will solve this, adding Malaysia just do not have the capability.

True. Does Thailand have any ships or planes searching? What a nightmare to have Malaysia and Thailand co-ordinating the search.

[Carmine6]

The "fly-by-wire" theory continues to get some press - http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/was-missing-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370-hijacked-using-a-mobile-phone/story-fnizu68q-1226856570824

That would not explain the lack of any emergency messages. Plenty of ways to have gotten messages off that plane including the radio, and she's only talking about tricking the navigation system.

[SjaakNL2013]

It seems that a Greek oil tanker did see some debris an that to that location now search people go. Lets wait and see .

The Malaysian Air Space Defense seems nothing more that air. If airplanes from this size can fly in without trigger an alarm then its waiting till the next Boeing hit that lovely high rise in their capitol. It seems that they didn t lean much from the 9/11 attack.

[kotsak]

I would have believed this story if it hadn't mentioned MV Maersk Alabama

This ship has been involved in too many incidents..