Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[noddy77]

If it was flying low under radar coverage then the range will not include Pakistan

[draftvader]

Does anybody know if the engine reporting system can be switched off internally or whether it needs maintenance access on the engines themselves? From the new data I would suggest they needed to land to cut that data stream off. Once that was done they could have been refueled and now have a new 14,000km range and NO tracking.

I know that we all think that every country has insane radar coverage but you need to remember that countries will only spend money protecting money. The furthest reaches of Western China and Tibet are so empty that there is little need for any effective radar monitoring. Passing up the Bay of Bengal you could, as has been suggested on pprune, land on one of the lesser Nicobar islands that has a strip, meet a refueling vessel and then head off over Bangladesh (mostly unpopulated and incredibly poor) over Sikkim (same) and slip over the Himalayas into Western China.

Let's pretend that there is a valuable cargo we have a very enviable set of assets:

Cargo (gold or cash or whatever)

Passengers (middle and upper class Chinese Nationals from Beijing...mostly)

Plane

hmmm....that looks like enough reason

[angeldevil69]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

I posted before about those 20 employees from Freescale Semiconductor company about having some kind of weaponry hi-tech device (UWB) ultra wide band. Whatever it is, someone wants something from this plane.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[draftvader]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Why no ransom? I don't have a clear answer for this one in my theory but I have 2 plausible versions.

1) This is the most amazing story of the year (if not quite a few years). We have a whole planet talking about it. This type of exposure hasn't happened since 9/11 (not getting into who did that). The people that organised this are either distributing all the assets before making demands (imagine the difficulty in rescuing the people if they are distributed across many different regions...easy to do with 14,000km of fuel) or planning another identical attack. Imagine the psychological effect of that on the world's population....you want to fly?

2) Your version. There is negotiation and nobody is telling us.

[coma]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

[draftvader]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

Though a possibility please remember that there are more geopolitical problems than just the Middle East. Western China has just committed (reputedly, not confirmed by the relevant group) a major "terrorist" attack at Kunming railway station of the type never seen before. A stabbing frenzy? That is cold and completely off-the-wall. Definitely a new chapter in the terrorist hand-book if not a new edition!

[wprime]

If there was some kind of problem with the electrical system that managed to take out all their transponders, navigation and communication equipment and the plane had continued to fly for hours afterwards, it wouldn't have affected the (probably) hundreds of smart phones/iPads/Tablets that people would have been using.

People on that hijacked flight in during 9/11 managed to make calls before they crashed. I'm sure that unless it was an instantaneous, catastrophic event, plenty of people on that plane would have been making calls and sending text messages, if for no other reason than to let people at the other end know they was a problem or delay.

(And you know that despite all the pre-flight announcements, plenty of people keep their phones/tablets active in flight. I've been trying to find a map showing mobile coverage to see where the a/c would have to be before it was out of areas covered by any mobile networks.)

I also recall the one article in which the pilot of an a/c approx. 30 minutes ahead of MH370 was asked by Vietnamese ATC to contact the other plane. That would indicate that their ATC knew the flight was in their airspace but normal contact hadn't been made.

An unidentified aircraft, not responding to ATC, heading into Vietnamese airspace.........

The aircraft was supposed to have been out over the sea... far from any cell / mobile phone transmitting / receiving / relay tower. Even if the aircraft was offered in flight WiFi - the same electrical problem that happened to the flight communications would have taken out any WiFi / Internet ability - if any even existed. Cell Phones on the 9-11 flights worked because they were flying over cell towers. Unless someone had a satellite phone - which somehow would work on a crippled flight ... then cell / mobile phone communications - out over the sea seems not to be possible. I will stand corrected if anyone can post a plausible explanation as to how cell service works far from land under the conditions I describe.

The plane had a satellite GSM service provided by AeroMobile. As long as there was power and they didn't fly through any tunnels people on-board could be reached by phone. Before jumping to the assumption that the plane could be tracked by this, no it can't be - the service is on a completely separate system through AeroMobile, tracking it would involve contacting Aeromobile and having them check their logs which at the moment seems beyond the capabilities of the Malaysian government. Also (assuming they kept logs), it would only be able to identify which satellite was used and the distance from the satellite though if the plane flew for hours and maintained an approximately steady altitude, a course could be extrapolated from this data.

[coma]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

I posted before about those 20 employees from Freescale Semiconductor company about having some kind of weaponry hi-tech device (UWB) ultra wide band. Whatever it is, someone wants something from this plane.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

This thing, if it is what I think it is. Would have taken a hell of a lot of planning. And it would have taken plenty of time. I mean it is bordering on Hollywood stuff. How would they have projected so far ahead that these scientist were going to be on this particular aircraft at this particular time ?

[EyesWideOpen]

Hmm in the air for four more hours....

So now some theories out the window....

1. Mid-air explosion

2. Malaysian Air Force shooting it down

3. Systems failure

Apparently the police have already searched the home of the chief pilot. Hopefully

they had someone with them that could look at some of the scenarios that were on

the 777 simulator in his house....

If the search area is a radius from KL of four hours of flight time, it will be impossible

to find. Instead of looking at the ocean, think time would be better spent looking for

abandoned airports that could land a 777 within that radius area...

[balo]

Hi,

There is a directive which has been introduced due to cracks having been discovered on the top of the fuselage where the satellite communication is located. The location is basically on the roof in line with the leading edge or trailing edge of the wing.

If the aircraft suffered catastrophic structural damage there would obviously be an immediate depressurisation. If it then remained intact it's imperative the crew get the oxygen masks on immediately to ensure survival. The time of useful consciousness at that sort of height is mere seconds without a supply of oxygen.

Like the authorities I have no idea what has happened to the aircraft. I take a very keen interest in all ideas and thoughts on what may have happened tho and will try to offer some accurate information if possible.

I think it's a plausible theory, as you mentioned a sudden structural damage will cause an immediate depressurisation, only few seconds for fhe pilots to get the oxygen masks on, and combine that with the freezing temperatures at 35000 feet, there's no chance to survive for a long time.

That would explain why it continued for another 4 hours, until the plane run out of gas.

Sent from my SM-P601 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[y2k]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

[coma]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

Though a possibility please remember that there are more geopolitical problems than just the Middle East. Western China has just committed (reputedly, not confirmed by the relevant group) a major "terrorist" attack at Kunming railway station of the type never seen before. A stabbing frenzy? That is cold and completely off-the-wall. Definitely a new chapter in the terrorist hand-book if not a new edition!

You're not wrong.

[slipperylobster]

Ok, many stories of flying this a way and that a way, then lots of debris spotted here and there, and then some low tech images from a China satellite showing something big and vague floating around... Everything is a dead end. The thing is, why do these people always rush out to have these ridiculous stories published? China and Malaysia are feeding us a continuous troth of slop, that never pans out. Now somebody finally...(after 3 days?) says the plane was in flight for 5 hours. Yet ships were only deployed for areas 2 hours. Seems like all these people publishing information are in cahoots. Delay tactics. Just enough to make it look like something is being accomplished. Sounds like the media is being manipulated to divert attention away from what China, Malaysia and the U.S.A., might already be all privy to.

Not that this would be wrong, if the plane and passengers could be recovered.

[noddy77]

Ok, many stories of flying this a way and that a way, then lots of debris spotted here and there, and then some low tech images from a China satellite showing something big and vague floating around... Everything is a dead end. The thing is, why do these people always rush out to have these ridiculous stories published? China and Malaysia are feeding us a continuous troth of slop, that never pans out. Now somebody finally...(after 3 days?) says the plane was in flight for 5 hours. Yet ships were only deployed for areas 2 hours. Seems like all these people publishing information are in cahoots. Delay tactics. Just enough to make it look like something is being accomplished. Sounds like the media is being manipulated to divert attention away from what China, Malaysia and the U.S.A., might already be all privy to.

Not that this would be wrong, if the plane and passengers could be recovered.

I couldn't agree more.

I am sure someone other than those on that flight know exactly whats happened.

[draftvader]

Ok, many stories of flying this a way and that a way, then lots of debris spotted here and there, and then some low tech images from a China satellite showing something big and vague floating around... Everything is a dead end. The thing is, why do these people always rush out to have these ridiculous stories published? China and Malaysia are feeding us a continuous troth of slop, that never pans out. Now somebody finally...(after 3 days?) says the plane was in flight for 5 hours. Yet ships were only deployed for areas 2 hours. Seems like all these people publishing information are in cahoots. Delay tactics. Just enough to make it look like something is being accomplished. Sounds like the media is being manipulated to divert attention away from what China, Malaysia and the U.S.A., might already be all privy to.

Not that this would be wrong, if the plane and passengers could be recovered.

Totally. Sometimes....just sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction!

[laolover88]

What data, exactly, do the RR engines transmit? To whom? Where? Would they transmit altitude? It is nice to discover that Chinese satellites took pictures which they took days to publicise. (Another photoshop job?)

and I suppose the Trent engine data would have been arriving in the UK late Saturday early Sunday, at which hours, ofcourse an army of keen data recorders analysts and sleuths would have been on the job. Still 4 days ago!! One does

detect a certain lack of urgency in spite of the posturing. Now why would that be?

[slipperylobster]

Do not sell yourself short that, if the plane was taken, that it is quite possible there was communication between the pilot (or hijackers) and somebody on the ground. Perhaps information that cannot be released in order not to jeopardize the passengers.

[draftvader]

What data, exactly, do the RR engines transmit? To whom? Where? Would they transmit altitude? It is nice to discover that Chinese satellites took pictures which they took days to publicise. (Another photoshop job?)

and I suppose the Trent engine data would have been arriving in the UK late Saturday early Sunday, at which hours, ofcourse an army of keen data recorders analysts and sleuths would have been on the job. Still 4 days ago!! One does

detect a certain lack of urgency in spite of the posturing. Now why would that be?

Event the court jester has been wheeled out to keep us entertained!

[Hulkster]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

Hasn't the past week demonstrated how slow and clueless certain countries are to dealing with a plane that has merely had its transponder turned off?

[ABCer]

Over 1500 posts speculating about what might have happened!

Some are ranging from massive decompression to hijacking to Alien forces involved.

Given that nobody knows what had actually happened, for the third time I am posting inexplicable questions.

- deviation from course was noticed but never acted on. Why? Very unusual and suspect.

- lost contact with flight was noticed but never acted on. Why? Very unusual and suspect.

- after deviation and lost contact the plane must have been watched closely by Malaysians, Americans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russians, etc. No information on this. Why?

- confused contradictory statements made by Malaysians. Why?

- no information on location of plane whether crashed or not. Why?

All the above questions do not add mystery to what happened to the plane, but to what is happening on the ground. This is a real mystery.

And it looks like all the countries potentially capable of having the answers do not disclose anything. Why? Very unusual and suspect.

The real mystery isn't with the plane, but on the ground.

[slipperylobster]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

Hasn't the past week demonstrated how slow and clueless certain countries are to dealing with a plane that has merely had its transponder turned off?

hmmm....so thats all that happened? Everyone back to work.

[kotsak]

Spock: If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

[napawan28]

MH370: PDRM and Interpol investigates passenger of Uyghur ethnicity Astro Awani | Updated: March 13, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police and the international police, Interpol is currently investigating the background of a man of Uyghur ethnicity who boarded the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane MH370.

A local daily, Harian Metro reported, that this was confirmed by Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department Director, Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah.

“We are still investigating the matter,” he said without further comments.

It was reported that the 35-year-old man of Uyghur ethnicity is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at a university in Turkey and holds a Ph D.

He had also previously done research on flight simulations.

The attention is focused on this man because of the skills he possessed.

The investigation is also done as the government is not ruling out terrorism as a cause for the missing Boeing 777-MH370, last Saturday.

Uyghur is a group from the Turkish ethnicity who lives in China.

Cr: http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/mh370-pdrm-and-interpol-investigates-passenger-of-uyghur-ethnicity-31765

[kelly404]

This is getting murkier by the minute almost.

My suspicious half is getting a little more confident that this was a terrorist attack.

In which case, stolen passports DO get cancelled off the international border control system, so looks like there may have been a little 'assistance' to get through immigration.

All theory at the moment, but there are a lot of niggling doubts and questions related to this disappearance.

It may have been a hijacking attempt that went horribly wrong.

Don't burn me, I am just relating the feelings I am having from all the news bites so far... Not alluding to anything in particular.

May they all rest in peace. If in fact this was terrorism, then may those people responsible burn in hell!

But newsbites are just propaganda to direct people towards conclusions favorable to this or that agenda... I thought everyone knew that.

Regarding the theory that 'terrorists' were involved, it's worth noting that all recent 'terrorist' events that are actually scrutinized, beyond what the msm says, turn out to be exercises with paid actors and made up identities, reported on the news as a real event with real people, or simply state sponsored terrorism to further the states own agendas.

But who am I to say, just one of those 'lunatic conspiracy theorists' of course people in power never conspire behind closed doors and the msm wouldn't dream of perverting the truth.

I'm not saying that this particular event is one thing or the other, the next few days hopefully will clarify.

[davehowden]

The RR engine data which has just surfaced (after 5 days!!) may show if the engines were shut down normally; as in landing; or the data stream just ceased, as in explosion.

[khaosai]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

Changing the onboard flight number is very simple. It's only used to provide datalink information which can be switched off easily too.

[Hulkster]

MH370: PDRM and Interpol investigates passenger of Uyghur ethnicity Astro Awani | Updated: March 13, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police and the international police, Interpol is currently investigating the background of a man of Uyghur ethnicity who boarded the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane MH370.

A local daily, Harian Metro reported, that this was confirmed by Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department Director, Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah.

“We are still investigating the matter,” he said without further comments.

It was reported that the 35-year-old man of Uyghur ethnicity is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at a university in Turkey and holds a Ph D.

He had also previously done research on flight simulations.

The attention is focused on this man because of the skills he possessed.

The investigation is also done as the government is not ruling out terrorism as a cause for the missing Boeing 777-MH370, last Saturday.

Uyghur is a group from the Turkish ethnicity who lives in China.

Cr: http://english.astroawani.com/news/show/mh370-pdrm-and-interpol-investigates-passenger-of-uyghur-ethnicity-31765

So we have two young Iranians with fake passports and a Uyghur who has flying knowledge.

That's three potential hijackers. There were five hijackers on each of the 9/11 flights, so we need two more.

Malaysia might want to look at some of the locals on board the plane. Maybe those who hail from the regions of Malaysia under Sharia law...

[y2k]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

Changing the onboard flight number is very simple. It's only used to provide datalink information which can be switched off easily too.

But if an aircraft has no identification it gets challenged by ground control right?

[khaosai]

A military airbase....for refueling? And then on to where? Incredible story..... But wait.... why no ransom...why no warbling old ladies dancing around in the goat field? How could this be a hostage situation if no ransom notes/demands are made? Or are these being kept quiet? Perhaps for a surprise rescue?

Did you give thought to the possibility that if it is a hijacking, the people behind it may want to use the aircraft as a weapon. Or as a weapon delivery platform.

Scary isn't it ? Hope none of Syria's confiscated chemical weapons fell into the wrong hands.

But someone would have to change the on-board flight number identification.

Changing the onboard flight number is very simple. It's only used to provide datalink information which can be switched off easily too.

But if an aircraft has no identification it gets challenged by ground control right?

Hi,

Indeed it will if detected on primary radar which has a very limited range. Communication with unknown traffic will normally be broadcast on the VHF distress and emergency frequency to establish the aircraft identity.

[Jaggg88]

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Engines transmitting data ,that ones new to me , could not be so lucky it included gps signals ?

This was news to me too but there was an ex Rolls Royce employee on BBC radio yesterday claiming this info is collected automatically from all RR Trent engines independently of the aircraft's own communication system. However they only receive info about the engines performance and faults, they are not tracked.