Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[slipperylobster]

Diego Garcia anyone?

Ha Ha.... A bit far, but hey why not? Our ships are searching in the wrong place, they should return to the base where the airplane conveniently awaits them.

looking at the map it's just about on the edge, I'm not blaming Americans, I like them. Summats going on and I no longer think it crashed.

Protective Custody? Just doing our jobs, policing up the world and then out for coffee and donuts.

[Credo]

I doubt it was shot down, either accidentally or on purpose, the reason being there should still be a debris field if it was over water. If it was over land, then it would be the military of the country and probably seen by radar. Again, no known debris field.

It could have been downed, but it's not likely.

[slipperylobster]

Could have been shot down over China territory, if it was not identified. And the might be with-holding that info. It would explain the misinformation give, the bad satellite photo, and some bogus reporting. Also no debris field in the water, if they made it to the mainland.

[RandomSand]

I have a good theory...

There was some diplomatic & military confusion between nation-states. One nation-state, after seeing something on its radar, and then there being some confusion, went on the offence and took-down the passenger aircraft thinking it was defending itself against a hostile-attack.

Of course it's very embarrassing for the nations involved and to save face they're keeping hush and now fabricating a story to explain it all.

note: I'm not pointing a finger at any particular nation-state.

[Credo]

So, how did the country get the transponders turned off? How would you get other countries to keep their collective mouths shut?

I am pretty sure that if Malaysia could point the finger at anyone, they would be pointing.

I also have a feeling that satellites would be tracking any missile launch.

[Ulysses G.]

Thoughts on this are starting to turn back to the more sinister possibilities. Authorities are now considering the potential that the plane was hijacked

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/here-are-the-latest-developments-on-the-missing-malaysian-plane/

[MB1]

Thoughts on this are starting to turn back to the more sinister possibilities. Authorities are now considering the potential that the plane was hijacked

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/here-are-the-latest-developments-on-the-missing-malaysian-plane/

My thought on this is that whatever has happned to the plane, certain posters seem to think they know more than the authorities do and conspiracies are alive and well, aaah well time to don the tin hat in foil again...

[3NUMBAS]

all options are on the table inc captured by aliens ,now .

whoever hijacked managed to overcome all safety features leaving them to clutch at straws .

[Carmine6]

snip

This should mean, that RR and/or Air Malaysia should also have the data, which includes airspeed and altitude?

No, that's not true, directly. The satellite company would have this info, but these are just pings with no data being sent. Like a cell phone contacts cell towers just to acknowledge it is still available even if no calls, or messages are sent or received.

[Arma]

Now they seem to be looking at Lithium batteries which were being stowed in the cargo. Because of their combustibility, they are examining the possibility if they could of started a fatal fire/explosion. Does not seem to explain why the plane would take a different course, and continue to fly for hours. Seems like a stretch to me.

[Chicog]

Now they seem to be looking at Lithium batteries which were being stowed in the cargo. Because of their combustibility, they are examining the possibility if they could of started a fatal fire/explosion. Does not seem to explain why the plane would take a different course, and continue to fly for hours. Seems like a stretch to me.

Pilots try and turn back and are forced out of the cockpit by or disabled by toxic fumes, but fire not enough to bring down the aircraft immediately?

There are thousands of possibly theories and answers to them.

No-one will know until they get the wreckage and the recorders.

[Carmine6]

No, that's not true, directly. The satellite company would have this info, but these are just pings with no data being sent. Like a cell phone contacts cell towers just to acknowledge it is still available even if no calls, or messages are sent or received.

Ah, Thanks for the correction.

If the 5 hour extra flight time is really true, then the oil-rig visual and Chinese seabed event are not true or related to the flight (unless there was a bolide along with small meteors of which one punched the cockpit and caused series of events. But that's quite too much of a longshot.)

Who knows. That seems to have been roughly in the area but then there always seem to be accounts of things nearby which are said to be completely unrelated afterwards. TWA 800 had a lot of eye witness reports, which by the official story are completely unrelated or erroneous.

But say something weird happened, like your meteor strike, leading them to try to turn back which they didn't quite pull off due to the resulting problems, it could be part of this. Some burning cargo or whatever is seen by this guy, but the plane makes a turn back and they can't quite stay conscious due to the damage and it flies on for hours. Even with oxygen, cold also impacts mental faculties. Last flight I was on, the outside temperature that I remember was -54 degrees. Of course it is warmer at lower altitudes if they managed that, but the crew doesn't exactly have time to go get jackets or blankets if they're trying to fly the plane.

I should note the flight I was on was Taipei to Los Angeles, so goes near the arctic and would be much colder at 35,000 ft than this flight.

[Jingthing]

I'm feeling even more now this will remain a mystery.

...

“The facts are all over the place,” a U.S. official told The Washington Post. “It’s looking less and less like an accident. It’s looking more like a criminal event.” The official asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly.

...

“We are looking for little pieces that can float, pieces of human body, life jackets, seat cushions in that vast stretch. It is very difficult,” he said. And there is a limit on how much manpower and money the Indian government will be able to expend, he said.

“All we have from Malaysia is ‘we think we saw the aircraft heading in that general direction.’ This by itself may not be worth searching for too long,” Prakash said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/missing-malaysian-plane-may-have-flown-up-to-four-hours-us-officials-say/2014/03/14/62c9f05c-ab64-11e3-af5f-4c56b834c4bf_story.html

[lucifer666]

Why bash the Chinese?? at least their satellite has found has found something. Which is infinitely more than our western counterparts have been able to do.

[Tywais]

Why bash the Chinese?? at least their satellite has found has found something. Which is infinitely more than our western counterparts have been able to do.

Which proved to be false.

[Arma]

They are saying that plane went thru very erratic changes in altitude during flight ... fight in the cockpit?

[I Like Thai]

Who are "They"

[noddy77]

Do we know exactly what was being carried on the flight cargo wise?

[Arma]

Who are "They"

report in the New York Times

[Thai at Heart]

Who are "They"

British news has it recorded d that the plane went to 45000 ft. Above the maximum safe flying height but that it took controlled turns so was being piloted.

[Maestro]

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have been deliberately diverted to Andaman Islands

March 15, 2014 - 9:57AM

Military radar data suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown hundreds of kilometres off course, heightening suspicions of foul play among investigators, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-may-have-been-deliberately-diverted-to-andaman-islands-20140314-34sp1.html

-- The Sydney Morning Herald 2014-03-15

[Maestro]

Presumed flight path of MH370 along navigational waypoints

Source: https://twitter.com/AirInfoAviation/status/444431850102988800/photo/1

[Shot]

CNN now reporting

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/14/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[slipperylobster]

International news from various sources reporting that the plane went up to 45,000 feet after dropping in a steep dive, then might have went back down again, leveling off and flying under radar. At 45,000 (which is illegal) this could mean the pilot was giving a signal ("I just been hijacked and cannot talk to you, but look at this crazy flight plane, I am a good pilot and I do not normally fly this crazy"). Second scenario, ....get up to 45,000, cut off the oxygen to the cabin, turn on my emergency oxygen for the pilot alone (exist?) and fly this crazy bird somewhere interesting.

A series of switches and maneuvers no autopilot could simulate.

[wprime]

International news from various sources reporting that the plane went up to 45,000 feet after dropping in a steep dive, then might have went back down again, leveling off and flying under radar. At 45,000 (which is illegal) this could mean the pilot was giving a signal ("I just been hijacked and cannot talk to you, but look at this crazy flight plane, I am a good pilot and I do not normally fly this crazy"). Second scenario, ....get up to 45,000, cut off the oxygen to the cabin, turn on my emergency oxygen for the pilot alone (exist?) and fly this crazy bird somewhere interesting.

A series of switches and maneuvers no autopilot could simulate.

The second one seems like an easy way to kill off the passengers.

[Mosha]

Aviation expert on BBC said you have to go out of the way to turn of both transponders. It's not just a flick of a switch, but a complicated procedure.

[Arma]

International news from various sources reporting that the plane went up to 45,000 feet after dropping in a steep dive, then might have went back down again, leveling off and flying under radar. At 45,000 (which is illegal) this could mean the pilot was giving a signal ("I just been hijacked and cannot talk to you, but look at this crazy flight plane, I am a good pilot and I do not normally fly this crazy"). Second scenario, ....get up to 45,000, cut off the oxygen to the cabin, turn on my emergency oxygen for the pilot alone (exist?) and fly this crazy bird somewhere interesting.

A series of switches and maneuvers no autopilot could simulate.

The second one seems like an easy way to kill off the passengers.

An easy way to kill the passengers, or put them into a state of unconciousness and use other methods (e.g., drugs) that will incapacitate them for a period of time.

[wprime]

International news from various sources reporting that the plane went up to 45,000 feet after dropping in a steep dive, then might have went back down again, leveling off and flying under radar. At 45,000 (which is illegal) this could mean the pilot was giving a signal ("I just been hijacked and cannot talk to you, but look at this crazy flight plane, I am a good pilot and I do not normally fly this crazy"). Second scenario, ....get up to 45,000, cut off the oxygen to the cabin, turn on my emergency oxygen for the pilot alone (exist?) and fly this crazy bird somewhere interesting.

A series of switches and maneuvers no autopilot could simulate.

The second one seems like an easy way to kill off the passengers.

An easy way to kill the passengers, or put them into a state of unconciousness and use other methods (e.g., drugs) that will incapacitate them for a period of time.

Why incapacitate them? Using them as hostages is dangerous, nearly impossible to get away with - safer to kill them all - they already got the plane.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

International news from various sources reporting that the plane went up to 45,000 feet after dropping in a steep dive, then might have went back down again, leveling off and flying under radar. At 45,000 (which is illegal) this could mean the pilot was giving a signal ("I just been hijacked and cannot talk to you, but look at this crazy flight plane, I am a good pilot and I do not normally fly this crazy"). Second scenario, ....get up to 45,000, cut off the oxygen to the cabin, turn on my emergency oxygen for the pilot alone (exist?) and fly this crazy bird somewhere interesting.

A series of switches and maneuvers no autopilot could simulate.

From CNN:

The theory builds on earlier revelations by U.S. officials that an automated reporting system on the airliner was pinging satellites for up to five hours after its last reported contact with air traffic controllers. Inmarsat, a satellite communications company, confirmed to CNN that automated signals were registered on its network.

Taken together, the data point toward speculation of a dark scenario in which someone took control of the plane for some unknown purpose, perhaps terrorism.

That theory is buoyed by word from a senior U.S. official familiar with the investigation that the Malaysia Airlines plane made several significant altitude changes and altered its course more than once after losing contact with flight towers.

The jetliner was flying "a strange path," the official said on condition of anonymity. The details of the radar readings were first reported by The New York Times on Friday.

Malaysian military radar showed the plane climbing to 45,000 feet soon after disappearing from civilian radar screens and then dropping to 23,000 feet before climbing again, the official said.

The sabotage theory got a boost Friday from The Wall Street Journal, which reported investigators increasingly suspect the plane's communications systems were manually switched off.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the satellite communications system that pinged for hours stopped functioning because "something catastrophic happened or someone switched off" the system, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the jet's last known position.

The pings stopped at a point over the Indian Ocean, while the jetliner was flying at a normal cruising altitude, according to the newspaper.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/14/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's the flight track graphic from Friday's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?hp&_r=0

American officials were concerned in the first few days after the plane disappeared that terrorists had brought it down. But as investigators have examined the flight manifest and looked into the two Iranian men who were on the plane traveling with stolen passports, they have become convinced that there is no clear connection to terrorism.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed family members of the Iranian men and used computer programs to determine whether they had ties to terrorists. Those efforts showed no such connections, leading the investigators to believe the men were smugglers.

The investigators considered but dismissed the possibility that hijackers landed the plane somewhere for later use in a terrorist attack, according to a senior American official briefed on the investigation.

The data, the official said, “leads them to believe that it either ran out of fuel or crashed right before it ran out of fuel.”