Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[F4UCorsair]

Nobody seems to have picked this up yet

Posted Today, 17:35

RT@STcom: JUST IN: 'Unconfirmed reports' from Aussie media say #MH370 black box has been found, PM Abbott to make a statement at 11.45am Perth time.

That was 8 hours ago.

[P45Mustang]

I'm going to be controversial and put forward my theory.

I think there was possibly an emergency of some sort, electrical fire perhaps, that took out some of the radios, and caused a turn back.

I've flown with Asian pilots, several different nationalities, and I can say definitively that their lateral thinking leaves a lot to be desired, and missing/forgetting to advise ATC would be entirely understandable to me. I don't doubt their dedication, and their ability to memorize manuals is second to none, but actually applying the knowledge is a different matter altogether.

The profession of pilot is sometimes called the 'military mentality' because pilots are rule bound people (that's what keeps it safe) as are military personnel, but when all goes pear shaped, they also need the ability to think a little laterally. I've intentionally avoided using that terrible cliche 'think outside the square'. They have checklists to cover most emergencies, but no rule book can ever cover ALL possible emergencies, and there have been a couple of occasions when crews have had to really use a great degree of common sense to extricate themselves from potentially disastrous circumstances, e.g., the BA 747 that had four flameouts after ingesting volcanic dust over Java, and a BAE 146 that had four engines fail over the Pilbara in Western Australia almost twenty years ago.

With that background information, I can easily see that a radio call wasn't made, if indeed it could have been made, and it's almost inconceivable that at least one radio wasn't operating.

After the turn back it starts to get a bit messy. I think it's possible that if the initial emergency was an electrical fire, that things started to get out of control with the flight crew possibly affected by smoke/fumes, not donning masks, hence the erratic flight path, climbing to 45,000'. That wouldn't, in itself, cause the masks to drop, but a disoriented crew could be reacting irrationally, and manually drop the masks, at which point all pax would start breathing oxygen, about 12 minutes life in an oxygen generator. Of course the cabin crew could have gained access whilst all this was going on, unless the electronic door lock was U/S, and it was manually bolted.

It's not inconceivable that it was manually depressurized accidentally. I don't think there would be too many Boeing pilots who have intended turning off the engine anti-ice and flicked a hydraulic pump off instead, purely because of the proximity of the switches.

I've worked for a company where an Asian Captain, as part of a post major check flight, depressurized an aircraft at 35000', and didn't don an oxygen mask, so the co-pilot and local CAA observer also didn't, in deference to the Captain (that's the culture), and the Captain was fortunately the only one who didn't pass out, although didn't function too well either. The drill required an emergency descent to be made, and they weren't functional until about 20000' feet, but were out of it for over two minutes.

After that, with the flight crew disabled, the aircraft flew on with the autopilot on 'heading' mode, until it suffered fuel exhaustion in one engine, the autopilot ran out of authority to control the aircraft, and it speared into the ocean. That doesn't explain the lack of wreckage, and there would inevitably be wreckage, regardless of the degree of breakup. That is, of course, unless the search is still a long way from where it hit the water, and that's now unlikely with some evidence of signals from the FDR/CVR.

The only circumstances I can see for no significant wreckage is if the aircraft was 'flown onto the water', resulting in a far lesser degree of breakup than if it hit the water out of control. There would still be some items that would float though.

I don't think the suicide scenario likely only because of the two known suicides by pilots, Egyptair and Silkair, it was spontaneous, and it's difficult to imagine that anybody could knowingly kill 238 pax, and then fly the aircraft several more hours to crash into a remote part of the Indian Ocean, but not impossible. Both the Silkair and Egyptair pilots had axes to grind with their managements, but nothing has yet emerged about the MH370 crew to that effect. Possibly due to his 'friendship' with the jailed Malaysian opposition leader, he may have been about to be charged with similar offences??

Before any armchair accident investigators dissect my post, I am only speculating. I'll say it again, I'm only speculating.

Speculation understood.

Agree totally with you about the lateral thinking thing.

No better example than the PRC.

Mechanical failure. Personally, I wouldn't put money on it.

But, up to you.

[WorriedNoodle]

The Captain was highly regarded so speculating about him should wait until they find the black box.

For all we know, he could have died a hero.

Ok, so what if he was respected (as were all the pax) - maybe something suddenly changed that? The black box might never be found or help if it is.

Shouldn't the public be shown all avenues are being investigated now related to the possibility of a rogue captain , to give confidence the authorities know what they are doing and that there is no cover up?

[boomerangutang]

This bizarre insistence on continued debate of this particular issue puzzles me - does anyone really think there's some scenario that has the pilot flying all that time and all that way just to finally try and save the aircraft in a controlled ditch?

I know that's a rhetorical question, but I'll endeavor to answer it anyway. First let me piggy back a question: Why do you assume he wanted TO SAVE the aircraft? From the time, just before the handover to Vietnam, it appears someone in the cockpit was manually shutting things down. He didn't put out a distress call, and apparently didn't allow anyone else to either (it's reported that the co-pilot was trying repeatedly to make calls with his mobile phone at that time, but was not able). If the pilot wanted to create as big a mystery (cover his tracks as much) as possible, he succeeded brilliantly. Hand in hand with getting the craft to a very remote location, would be a ditching in such a way as to maintain the fuselage as intact as possible. By doing so, it would have further stumped investigators - by having as little floating debris as possible.

Nobody is saying the fuselage didn't split open or disintegrate, because nobody now knows. To presume, as the above post does, that he tried to save lives or save the aircraft goes against many facets of the on-going investigation. Indeed, there's not a shred of evidence which points at the pilot trying to save lives or the craft. Not a mayday call. Nada.

[boomerangutang]

I don't think the suicide scenario likely only because of the two known suicides by pilots, Egyptair and Silkair, it was spontaneous, and it's difficult to imagine that anybody could knowingly kill 238 pax, and then fly the aircraft several more hours to crash into a remote part of the Indian Ocean, but not impossible. Both the Silkair and Egyptair pilots had axes to grind with their managements, but nothing has yet emerged about the MH370 crew to that effect. Possibly due to his 'friendship' with the jailed Malaysian opposition leader, he may have been about to be charged with similar offences??

The pilot is reported to have attended the courtroom hearing where his friend Anwar was sentenced (unfairly) for sodomy.

To me, that's not a key component, but could play a part in the investigation (if a call or note was found which related to that).

However, claiming the Egypt Air crash in the Atlantic was spontaneous, is a stretch. How does anyone know whether the pilot planned that suicide/mass murder or not? As for Silk Air, could have been same same, though a later US court case successfully sued the maker of a specialty engineered tail item, by proving it had a mechanical problem.

The point being; we don't know what's spontaneous, and what's planned. Human behavior is the quirkiest thing in the known universe. A person can love you one moment, and in an instant can hate your guts - depending on circumstance, and the weird way the brain works (or doesn't work, as the case may be). Similarly, a person can harbor deep set feelings on one spectrum, yet that same person can manifest a completely different visage. Nearly everyone in N.Korea is doing that as we speak.

[wprime]

This bizarre insistence on continued debate of this particular issue puzzles me - does anyone really think there's some scenario that has the pilot flying all that time and all that way just to finally try and save the aircraft in a controlled ditch?

I know that's a rhetorical question, but I'll endeavor to answer it anyway. First let me piggy back a question: Why do you assume he wanted TO SAVE the aircraft? From the time, just before the handover to Vietnam, it appears someone in the cockpit was manually shutting things down. He didn't put out a distress call, and apparently didn't allow anyone else to either (it's reported that the co-pilot was trying repeatedly to make calls with his mobile phone at that time, but was not able). If the pilot wanted to create as big a mystery (cover his tracks as much) as possible, he succeeded brilliantly. Hand in hand with getting the craft to a very remote location, would be a ditching in such a way as to maintain the fuselage as intact as possible. By doing so, it would have further stumped investigators - by having as little floating debris as possible.

Nobody is saying the fuselage didn't split open or disintegrate, because nobody now knows. To presume, as the above post does, that he tried to save lives or save the aircraft goes against many facets of the on-going investigation. Indeed, there's not a shred of evidence which points at the pilot trying to save lives or the craft. Not a mayday call. Nada.

There is no evidence to indicate anything was manually shut down. The "reports" of different systems failing at different times purported by the Malaysia media were out unfounded. They're based on the last handshake of the ACARS system being at 1:08 and the captain communicating at 1:24. The ACARS system reports every 30 minutes so it was shut down between 1:08 and 1:38. That leaves a 14 minute window in which some event could have caused both systems to fail.

The most likely scenario is that something went wrong, the pilot turned around to land at the nearest airport but lost consciousness/died and the plane kept flying until it ran out of fuel.

[boomerangutang]

BTW, there are at least 3 other pilot-suicides with passenger-laden commercial aircraft. Here is a well-written story of two to add to the two mentioned in above posts.

There's another, where a Thai pilot flying passengers from Vietnam to Thailand, purposefully ditched the plane en route. He had money problems and had taken out a hefty insurance policy to benefit his family, days before the flight. I tried to google a link to the story, but the missing Malaysian jet is commandeering the web searches.

[boomerangutang]

This bizarre insistence on continued debate of this particular issue puzzles me - does anyone really think there's some scenario that has the pilot flying all that time and all that way just to finally try and save the aircraft in a controlled ditch?

I know that's a rhetorical question, but I'll endeavor to answer it anyway. First let me piggy back a question: Why do you assume he wanted TO SAVE the aircraft? From the time, just before the handover to Vietnam, it appears someone in the cockpit was manually shutting things down. He didn't put out a distress call, and apparently didn't allow anyone else to either (it's reported that the co-pilot was trying repeatedly to make calls with his mobile phone at that time, but was not able). If the pilot wanted to create as big a mystery (cover his tracks as much) as possible, he succeeded brilliantly. Hand in hand with getting the craft to a very remote location, would be a ditching in such a way as to maintain the fuselage as intact as possible. By doing so, it would have further stumped investigators - by having as little floating debris as possible.

Nobody is saying the fuselage didn't split open or disintegrate, because nobody now knows. To presume, as the above post does, that he tried to save lives or save the aircraft goes against many facets of the on-going investigation. Indeed, there's not a shred of evidence which points at the pilot trying to save lives or the craft. Not a mayday call. Nada.

There is no evidence to indicate anything was manually shut down. The "reports" of different systems failing at different times purported by the Malaysia media were out unfounded. They're based on the last handshake of the ACARS system being at 1:08 and the captain communicating at 1:24. The ACARS system reports every 30 minutes so it was shut down between 1:08 and 1:38. That leaves a 14 minute window in which some event could have caused both systems to fail.

The most likely scenario is that something went wrong, the pilot turned around to land at the nearest airport but lost consciousness/died and the plane kept flying until it ran out of fuel.

When you state, "most likely scenario" it sounds a bit like wishful thinking. If your final sentence is on the mark, then why would the plane go on a heading far out to sea, west of Australia? If it was flying for Penang or Langkawi, and pilots lost consciousness, wouldn't it have kept a westward bearing - perhaps towards Sri Lanka or India?

[RubbaJohnny]

" Authorities from several countries were searching fruitlessly for the missing MH370 flight in the South China Sea for days, even though the Malaysian military reportedly knew the plane was not there".

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/04/12/15/11/malaysian-military-withheld-data-on-mh370

yes thats either real dumb pr or incpetence or worse

some interesting map analysis links here

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26956798

[Chicog]

If you're interested, download a doco from Nova called "Crash of Flight 447".

They did a good job of extrapolating from the information available before the black box confirmed what happened.

The key thing was the amount and type of data that came from ACARS before the plane was lost; there were several similar incidents documented around the same time.

And it suggests that a trained pilot would know just how much ACARS would give away *in real time*; a good reason to turn it off.

[3NUMBAS]

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/14/14/01/64/nst_pa11.jpg

Co pilot was trying to make a phone call while aircraft was above Penang.

its been poopooed as it would have been found out long ago. and nobody knows the unnamed source of the disclosure

and tony abbot back tracks

quote

With no new underwater signals detected, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Saturday that the massive search for the missing Malaysian jet would likely continue “for a long time,” with electronic transmissions from the plane’s black boxes fading fast.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/aussie-pm-backtracks-says-jet-hunt-will-take-long-time/article17949446/

Edited April 12, 2014 by 3NUMBAS

[Scott]

Posts without links have been deleted.

[Carmine6]

I'm going to be controversial and put forward my theory.

I think there was possibly an emergency of some sort, electrical fire perhaps, that took out some of the radios, and caused a turn back.

...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/709464-missing-malaysia-airlines-jet-carrying-239-triggers-southeast-asia-search/?p=7596411

I posted a similar scenario a couple weeks ago. The really questionable stuff is they appear to have not just overflown Indonesia, but there were changes in direction, and possibly several after they came back over Malaysia.

They turned northwest, which could conceivably be part of a crisis they were trying to handle. The staying over water doesn't bother me since they might have just decided to point it somewhere un-populated while trying to deal with a situation inside the plane first. Set autopilot then deal with the fire or electrical problems. But then there's the turn south. Is that a, "make sure we don't hit any populated areas" type of thing again as they know they'll get to land over India or somewhere that direction? Seems more unlikely at that point so far into whatever crisis there was, particularly since the plane flew on for 6 or 7 hours after.

[Tywais]

Black boxes like the one on flight MH 370 will soon be obsolete

Date

April 13, 2014

Kevin Maney

Airlines have been dumping valuable data for too long when it could be saving money and lives.

In another 10 years, the very idea of a ''black box'' flight data recorder on an airliner will seem as naive and outdated as a smoking section.

The world is entering a new hyper-connected era, when nearly every physical thing will be connected to networks, each constantly yammering about what it's doing or sensing, sending valuable data through the cloud to computers that can instantly analyse the information, look for patterns and help us understand our world better.

Today's airliners are so out of sync with this era, they might as well be a guy with a mullet. A modern plane such as the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is jacked full of computers and sensors spinning out enormous amounts of data, and yet the plane is connected to nothing. While it's up in the real clouds, the plane's systems have no contact with the technology cloud. It is as ridiculous as buying the most whiz-bang laptop on the market and never connecting it to the internet.

The black box on every airliner records data from up to 1000 different parameters for 25 hours - and then erases it. Data is becoming the most valuable resource on the planet, yet airline companies dump it, thinking the data is useful only if a plane crashes - which is like believing medical data about a patient is useful only as a way to later figure out why the person died.

Of course, black boxes have been in the news because of the Malaysia Airlines crash. Since airliners aren't connected, all the data about that crash is sealed in a box that, as of this writing, has not been located. The same happened when an Air France flight dropped into the ocean in 2009, and the box was not found for two years.

Ever since, technologists have advocated streaming the black box data back to ground computers through constant connections with satellites or towers on land. The concept has gone nowhere. Airline executives and government agencies have said it is too expensive to outfit the world's 20,000 commercial aircraft with the technology and pay for all that communication bandwidth when crashes are rare and a lost box is rarer still

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/black-boxes-like-the-one-on-flight-mh-370-will-soon-be-obselete-20140412-36k3k.html#ixzz2yhRh65Wl

[P45Mustang]

All the evidence to date points to human intervention with the goal being to evade detection and ultimate resting place.

Mechanical failure is grasping at straws.

It would have dropped somewhere easier to find. And there'd be lots of debris.

[Carmine6]

Black boxes like the one on flight MH 370 will soon be obsolete

Date

April 13, 2014

Kevin Maney

Airlines have been dumping valuable data for too long when it could be saving money and lives.

In another 10 years, the very idea of a ''black box'' flight data recorder on an airliner will seem as naive and outdated as a smoking section.

...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/black-boxes-like-the-one-on-flight-mh-370-will-soon-be-obselete-20140412-36k3k.html#ixzz2yhRh65Wl

That's such hyperbole. If they do go to a continuous data feed, they will certainly leave a recorder on the planes. All it takes is something taking out the transmission system and the live data feed will be useless.

Of course in this case it would likely have helped. But any catastrophic incident, or maybe some interference with the signal, would lose the last parts of the data and maybe right at the key points.

Plus there's coverage issues. While radio should cover most flights, does satellite data work really well if the plane gets into weird angles, like sideways or inverted? Doesn't the antennae have to be pointed towards the satellite to send data, or does it just send the data out in all directions?

[Chicog]

ACARS already sends out a range of useful data, just adding a GPS loc and making it RAT powered when the electrical supply is interrupted would be a relatively simple change.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[F4UCorsair]

Black boxes like the one on flight MH 370 will soon be obsolete

Date

April 13, 2014

Kevin Maney

Airlines have been dumping valuable data for too long when it could be saving money and lives.

In another 10 years, the very idea of a ''black box'' flight data recorder on an airliner will seem as naive and outdated as a smoking section.

...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/black-boxes-like-the-one-on-flight-mh-370-will-soon-be-obselete-20140412-36k3k.html#ixzz2yhRh65Wl

That's such hyperbole. If they do go to a continuous data feed, they will certainly leave a recorder on the planes. All it takes is something taking out the transmission system and the live data feed will be useless.

Of course in this case it would likely have helped. But any catastrophic incident, or maybe some interference with the signal, would lose the last parts of the data and maybe right at the key points.

Plus there's coverage issues. While radio should cover most flights, does satellite data work really well if the plane gets into weird angles, like sideways or inverted? Doesn't the antennae have to be pointed towards the satellite to send data, or does it just send the data out in all directions?

Multiple antennae cover that eventuality, and currently aircraft have antennae on different parts of the aircraft for different systems to overcome the problem of 'shielding'. Transmission is omnidirectional, but shielding does occur.

The higher the frequency involved, the greater chance of shielding incidentally.

Edited April 12, 2014 by F4UCorsair

[F4UCorsair]

boomerangutang said,

"The pilot is reported to have attended the courtroom hearing where his friend Anwar was sentenced (unfairly) for sodomy.

To me, that's not a key component, but could play a part in the investigation (if a call or note was found which related to that)."

Sentenced unfairly? My understanding is that he was found guilty of sodomy, (not the first time, incidentally), and the penalty for that 'crime' is imprisonment under Malaysian/Muslim law. He wasn't sentenced unfairly, but we will never know whether the trial process was flawed, therefore unfair.

If pilot (Captain) suicide is a possibility, that may well be the link, his 'friendship' with Anwar Ibrahim may have put him in the firing line for future charges? I speculated on that earlier.

[Carmine6]

ACARS already sends out a range of useful data, just adding a GPS loc and making it RAT powered when the electrical supply is interrupted would be a relatively simple change.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yeah, there's the simpler and cheaper things that can be done. Then the incredibly expensive, more perfect solutions that journalists would like to have mandated for the one in a million times it might matter. Your solution seems very inexpensive and would take care of just about all the issues. Though it seems like it has to be a different data mechanism as ACARS was shut down early in this flight. Pretty sure any live data feed would have been cut off as well. Not sure if they can easily tack some extra bits to that handshake with the satellite or not.

Plus would they really have cheaper searches if they had the black box data, or wouldn't they still go out and look for debris and remains? Having a GPS location within a half hour cuts most of the extra cost they've incurred this time. But they have better location information than that it almost all cases. Only in instances like Air France 447 and this, are the boxes more expensive to get to than general debris recovery. I have a hard time believing that if they had the black box data, they wouldn't send a search down there to find debris. Often the physical debris tells the story that the flight data can't.

[wprime]

This bizarre insistence on continued debate of this particular issue puzzles me - does anyone really think there's some scenario that has the pilot flying all that time and all that way just to finally try and save the aircraft in a controlled ditch?

I know that's a rhetorical question, but I'll endeavor to answer it anyway. First let me piggy back a question: Why do you assume he wanted TO SAVE the aircraft? From the time, just before the handover to Vietnam, it appears someone in the cockpit was manually shutting things down. He didn't put out a distress call, and apparently didn't allow anyone else to either (it's reported that the co-pilot was trying repeatedly to make calls with his mobile phone at that time, but was not able). If the pilot wanted to create as big a mystery (cover his tracks as much) as possible, he succeeded brilliantly. Hand in hand with getting the craft to a very remote location, would be a ditching in such a way as to maintain the fuselage as intact as possible. By doing so, it would have further stumped investigators - by having as little floating debris as possible.

Nobody is saying the fuselage didn't split open or disintegrate, because nobody now knows. To presume, as the above post does, that he tried to save lives or save the aircraft goes against many facets of the on-going investigation. Indeed, there's not a shred of evidence which points at the pilot trying to save lives or the craft. Not a mayday call. Nada.

There is no evidence to indicate anything was manually shut down. The "reports" of different systems failing at different times purported by the Malaysia media were out unfounded. They're based on the last handshake of the ACARS system being at 1:08 and the captain communicating at 1:24. The ACARS system reports every 30 minutes so it was shut down between 1:08 and 1:38. That leaves a 14 minute window in which some event could have caused both systems to fail.

The most likely scenario is that something went wrong, the pilot turned around to land at the nearest airport but lost consciousness/died and the plane kept flying until it ran out of fuel.

When you state, "most likely scenario" it sounds a bit like wishful thinking. If your final sentence is on the mark, then why would the plane go on a heading far out to sea, west of Australia? If it was flying for Penang or Langkawi, and pilots lost consciousness, wouldn't it have kept a westward bearing - perhaps towards Sri Lanka or India?

The ailerons would need to be perfectly straight to maintain a straight course (not likely), if they were even slightly offset the course of the plane would be curved. This would perfectly account for its course after it flew back across the Malay peninsula, specifically why it flew west of Sumatra then back towards the west coast of Australia.

[wprime]

boomerangutang said,

"The pilot is reported to have attended the courtroom hearing where his friend Anwar was sentenced (unfairly) for sodomy.

To me, that's not a key component, but could play a part in the investigation (if a call or note was found which related to that)."

Sentenced unfairly? My understanding is that he was found guilty of sodomy, (not the first time, incidentally), and the penalty for that 'crime' is imprisonment under Malaysian/Muslim law. He wasn't sentenced unfairly, but we will never know whether the trial process was flawed, therefore unfair.

If pilot (Captain) suicide is a possibility, that may well be the link, his 'friendship' with Anwar Ibrahim may have put him in the firing line for future charges? I speculated on that earlier.

He was sentenced based on a confession obtained under torture, a mattress which had fresh semen stains on it was used to prove that he had gay sex in a building many years ago, before the building had actually been constructed.

He could very well have been guilty, but the prosecution manufactured so much evidence to make their case that the case should have been dismissed. I personally think he was sentenced for political reasons.

Also they were more than just friends, they were relatives.

[WorriedNoodle]

Sentenced unfairly? My understanding is that he was found guilty of sodomy, (not the first time, incidentally), and the penalty for that 'crime' is imprisonment under Malaysian/Muslim law. He wasn't sentenced unfairly, but we will never know whether the trial process was flawed, therefore unfair.

If pilot (Captain) suicide is a possibility, that may well be the link, his 'friendship' with Anwar Ibrahim may have put him in the firing line for future charges? I speculated on that earlier.

You need to think outside the box (or cockpit) a little. There is more to this than the Malaysian courts and authorities are letting on. The cover ups cannot be explained by respect for local custom or military security when so many people and an airplane are gone.

[boomerangutang]

boomerangutang said,

"The pilot is reported to have attended the courtroom hearing where his friend Anwar was sentenced (unfairly) for sodomy.

To me, that's not a key component, but could play a part in the investigation (if a call or note was found which related to that)."

Sentenced unfairly? My understanding is that he was found guilty of sodomy, (not the first time, incidentally), and the penalty for that 'crime' is imprisonment under Malaysian/Muslim law. He wasn't sentenced unfairly, but we will never know whether the trial process was flawed, therefore unfair.

If pilot (Captain) suicide is a possibility, that may well be the link, his 'friendship' with Anwar Ibrahim may have put him in the firing line for future charges? I speculated on that earlier.

He was sentenced based on a confession obtained under torture, a mattress which had fresh semen stains on it was used to prove that he had gay sex in a building many years ago, before the building had actually been constructed.

He could very well have been guilty, but the prosecution manufactured so much evidence to make their case that the case should have been dismissed. I personally think he was sentenced for political reasons.

Also they were more than just friends, they were relatives.

....and the pilot had attended the court, where the guilty verdict was read, just the day before the flight. It might be interesting to know who the pilot was conversing with on his mobile - right before the flight (and as it was taxiing?) and what was said. If Malaysian authorities know, they aren't telling us.

I've been following Anwar for 20 years. I think all the charges re; sodomy are trumped up, and fueled by Mahathir's and his cronies' jealousy (and fear of) Anwar's dynamism as a person and as a political player. Dirty politics, and a reflection of Malaysians' archaic policies toward gays.

[boomerangutang]

Conspiracy theory #264

Pilot was distraught by his witnessing his friend being convicted unfairly - the day before. He made a call to high-up official, or maybe head of airport, and said something like, "get a pardon for Anwar, or I crash this plane."

Response: "I can't get a pardon. That's beyond my powers. He was convicted by a court of law.

Pilot: "I'm serious."

Response: "Don't talk such crap about crashing your plane. You're an experienced pilot. Are you drunk? Don't be an ass. I should report you for saying such a stupid thing, but I won't."

[coma]

Conspiracy theory #264

Pilot was distraught by his witnessing his friend being convicted unfairly - the day before. He made a call to high-up official, or maybe head of airport, and said something like, "get a pardon for Anwar, or I crash this plane."

Response: "I can't get a pardon. That's beyond my powers. He was convicted by a court of law.

Pilot: "I'm serious."

Response: "Don't talk such crap about crashing your plane. You're an experienced pilot. Are you drunk? Don't be an ass. I should report you for saying such a stupid thing, but I won't."

One of the most plausible 'conspiracy theories' I have read.

[coma]

Does anybody know why this guy is the " acting" transport minister since 16 May 2013 ? Who is the real minister for this portfolio ?? Is this guy's apparent imminent rise to political stardom about to blow up in his face due to the fallout of this mystery ??? Seems to be a motive for an ar$e covering exercise like that of the one going on right now.

Datuk Seri Panglima Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein (born 5 August 1961) is a Malaysian politician and member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He is currently the Minister of Defence and acting Minister of Transport since 16 May 2013. He served in the government of Malaysia as Minister of Home Affairs from 2009 to 2013 and Minister of Education from 2004 to 2009. He has been mentioned as a likely successor to his cousin, Prime Minister Najib Razak.^[1] He is the son of Malaysia's third prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn, and the nephew of Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hishammuddin_Hussein

[Chicog]

Though it seems like it has to be a different data mechanism as ACARS was shut down early in this flight.

Why a different "data mechanism" (whatever that is)?

I said "... making it RAT powered when the electrical supply is interrupted".

I.e. if the power supply is interrupted (e.g. by manual intervention), the RAT triggers irreversibly and powers ACARS from that point onwards.

[F4UCorsair]

wprime said,

"The ailerons would need to be perfectly straight to maintain a straight course (not likely), if they were even slightly offset the course of the plane would be curved. This would perfectly account for its course after it flew back across the Malay peninsula, specifically why it flew west of Sumatra then back towards the west coast of Australia."

Not so. The autopilot will fly an aircraft that is way out of trim before it drops out due to lack of authority, 5+ degrees of aileron asymmetry, at least.

The track depicted on the maps in the press show a curved flight path, but it's actually straight, and appears curved due to the curvature of the earth (simple explanation). Drawn on a globe, it would appear straight. Google 'rhumb line' and 'great circle track' to make some sense of it.

The curved flight path depicted is definitely not because of asymmetric aileron trim.

Edited April 13, 2014 by F4UCorsair

[F4UCorsair]

Though it seems like it has to be a different data mechanism as ACARS was shut down early in this flight.

Why a different "data mechanism" (whatever that is)?

I said "... making it RAT powered when the electrical supply is interrupted".

I.e. if the power supply is interrupted (e.g. by manual intervention), the RAT triggers irreversibly and powers ACARS from that point onwards.

I believe that some airlines already have circuits for CVR/ACARS, etc., that can't be interrupted by the crew, i.e., circuit breakers pulled. It's part of the myriad variations on the standard design that airlines can mandate in their orders.

They have thermal circuitry so that if there is an electrical fire, the power is interrupted without pilot intervention.