Missing Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 triggers Southeast Asia search

[F430murci]

Why all this hype and focus on blame instead of feeling compassion for those family's impacted. Why the eagerness to blame a pilot whose wife is now a widow and children are without a father. You guys are messed up.

The couple were split up but still living in the same place.

The following is from the Yahoo article

The hard drive of his flight simulator seized from his home was being examined. It emerged that programmes on it were deleted and that he used it to practise extreme landings, including on remote Indian Ocean islands, such as the US air base in Diego Garcia.

Another development, reported in the Mail on Sunday, was that investigators were examining reports of a two-minute call from a mystery woman Shah received before the plane took off.

The mobile phone number was allegedly obtained under a false identity. The Sim card was said to have been trace to a number in Kuala Lumpur.

The timing of the call intensified scrutiny on Shah to establish whether missing MH370 flight was involved in a hijacking attempt or a catastrophic accident.

Malaysian police denied the claims saying the paper has not been privy to details of the investigation.

A police spokesman said: "The Inspector-General of Police has never issued any public statement that categorically place the MH370 investigation under an act of terrorism.

Malaysian authorities are very reluctant to reveal any info which may implicate one of their own in a possible terrorist scenario - particularly any info which might show the pilot was planning a suicide/mass murder. It's identical to Egyptian authorities refusing to acknowledge that one of their brethren, the pilot of an Egypt Air flight - was shown to be a suicide/mass murder - from evidence of investigations.

All significant data (in the Malaysian Air disaster) which points to possible pilot suicide/murder will come from farang investigations, not from Malaysian authorities.

Okay, he did it. Move on. No need to change plane tracking and data recording. Just pre-screen nut bags subject to divorce better and bar them from flying planes. WTH do you want?

[boomerangutang]

Okay, he did it. Move on. No need to change plane tracking and data recording. Just pre-screen nut bags subject to divorce better and bar them from flying planes. WTH do you want?

What do I want? I want what I think what a lot of concerned people want; a thorough investigation, with no restrictions. Malaysian authorities appear to project some subjectivity on the investigation. In other words, they appear to not want anything bad to come forth which might tarnish the pilot's character. Two reasons: it might create insurance/compensation headaches for Malaysian Airlines, and it might reflect badly, from a religious perspective. Nearly all significant clues, as to the scenario and whereabouts of the plane, will come from farang investigations.

Edited March 26, 2014 by boomerangutang

[F430murci]

They must be using some pretty old tech to have that kind of time limitation. I can't imagine why they couldn't have the last several flights saved up as mp3 files in a bank of flash drives.

You could with the new tech as you mentioned, but normally at accidents, only the last period before a crash is interesting.

''Normally'' an accident doesn't take 7-9 hours, so you don't really need to have the last 4-5 flights recorded, but they might change the rules after this one.

RE: Flight recorded

Are flash drives or other storage devices capable of withstanding the Gs and heat generated by a crash?

RE: Black Box or data recorders and uplink suggestions

While the technology may exist, there may be satellite upload bandwidth issues and security issues. I believe one proposal would be to limit uploading to only when an aircraft is encountering difficulties or pilots have concerns. Starting the upload may be last thing on a pilot's mind if a catastrophic event happens without warning. Then the NTSB would have zero hope of recovering any data ever. What if the plane loses connection or sending device goes out at the wrong time?

Another issue is costs. Assuming $ 100,000 per aircraft just for installation, airlines won't do this unless all airlines are required to do it. Does not sound like much, but airlines are very sensitive to operational costs and have to be to remain competitive. If there is to be a change, one would need to look to the NTSB, FAA or Federal Government to require that all carriers utilize the technology.

Streaming technology sounds good in principle. Perhaps this incident will force government agencies to work out the details or bugs and force all airlines to implement

Currently the data is being recorded on a tape deck. Do you really think it has an advantage in a crash scenario over a tiny piece of solid state tech that could be shielded from impact, fire, water, and G-force much more easily. and could have multiple redundant backups. A 32 GB thumb-drive is about 10 bucks these days.

As far as uplink goes, they already have ACARS, which sends text messages I believe. The bandwidth it uses is insignificant. I am just talking about beefing it up a little. No need for the pilot to think about it, He doesn't need to worry about ACARS does he?

And in addition to the black box upgrades, they need to have an indestructible beacon that jettisons in any impact, like an airbag. This device should float, and have the capability to send text messages to the airline head office (or whoever) by Sat phone (Including GPS coordinates, and ID) They only need to get one text and the Sat company will have everything in record. This is instead of trying to find a sonar ping at the bottom of the ocean.

Seriously, the 777 is high tech but the black boxes and recovery system appear to be circa 1965.

A tape deck that can withstand certain Gs and extreme temperatures. This is not an 8 track.

Do you know bandwidth required by ACARS? Do you know bandwidth required by black box type of information? I get this stuff. I will sound a bit pompous now because I just downed some nice vodka, but my family owned and run several airlines. What I said was true about technology and why not implemented. What you say is just more bs that nit wits educated by the Internet believes and spreads. Gotta love the net! Decreasing IQs by the day.

Edited March 26, 2014 by F430murci

[Scott]

Inflammatory post removed. Please keep it civil.

It's best not to drink and post at the same time. It's like drinking and driving; not quite as dangerous, but there are consequences.

[Asiantravel]

They said that about Air France and it cost $100 million. And now this. A simple change wouldn't break the bank.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

They found Air France immediately after. They ultimately found the boxes. Good enough. Takes time to solve all air disasters and some are still questionable when they crash next to the air port ala Concorde.

I am not sure why people on here with no dog in the fight get so worked up and feel in a position to make demands about some that does not necessary concern them. If you don't like the way airlines do things or think its unsafe, don't fly. Very simple.

If they raised tickets to address ever single demand if the few, those unrelenting few would no doubt complain about the high cost of travel.

Good grief And which member of your family came up with this priceless hypothesis?

I wonder if you would have the same sentiments if it was one of your family members that had been on board this missing flight ?

Why would anyone in their right mind cheerlead the continued reliance of an antiquated system of searching for a piece of equipment to determine what caused a crash when a live monitoring system can be installed inexpensively ?

If a family member was on board that flight, then I would be one of those that "had a dog in the fight." I would be upset if my family member was lost in a plane crash regardless as to whether the found the plane immediately or not.

There is nothing antiquated about the aviation industry. A 777 is high tech. This is an anomaly. I am not convinced there is an inexpensive, easy solution for any of this monitoring stuff. It is certainly not fact just because you say so or others on here that have nothing better to do with their time than listen to Alex Jones and constantly complain about the sad state of the world and oppressive government say so.

Okay, screw pilots. Lets go high tech and have robots fly planes as they do not get upset about wives, political strife or want to commit suicide. Where does it stop?

When is the last time boxes were not located and the cause of a commercial crash not discovered? NTSB does a good job. Airlines provide safe travel. Boeing builds safe jets. Accidents happen. The aviation industry is not slow to react to remedial measures that are logical and costs effective.

I am not cheerleading anything. I view this logically and objectively. I do not have some innate desire to blame pilots who may have acted heroically, blame a country who may be doing everything within their power to locate the jet or blame Boeing who may be using the latest and most reliable technology.

Why all this hype and focus on blame instead of feeling compassion for those family's impacted. Why the eagerness to blame a pilot whose wife is now a widow and children are without a father. You guys are messed up.

Hey I think you're the one that has the problems. No one here mentioned the likes of Alex Jones ?

You only have to tune in to any mainstream news media program at the moment and you hear many former military service personnel reminding us that this is only a theory because there is no hard evidence. Even the Australian Prime Minister addressed the House of Representatives and reminded everyone not to get too carried away.

I remember reading you are a lawyer so please answer how they can possibly arrive at “ beyond reasonable doubt “based on the definition?

“The term connotes that evidence establishes a particular point to a moral certainty and that it is beyond dispute that any reasonable alternative is possible. ”

The fact is there are so many alternatives available because there is no hard evidence that it's hard to keep up with them all

[Asiantravel]

You could with the new tech as you mentioned, but normally at accidents, only the last period before a crash is interesting.

''Normally'' an accident doesn't take 7-9 hours, so you don't really need to have the last 4-5 flights recorded, but they might change the rules after this one.

RE: Flight recorded

Are flash drives or other storage devices capable of withstanding the Gs and heat generated by a crash?

RE: Black Box or data recorders and uplink suggestions

While the technology may exist, there may be satellite upload bandwidth issues and security issues. I believe one proposal would be to limit uploading to only when an aircraft is encountering difficulties or pilots have concerns. Starting the upload may be last thing on a pilot's mind if a catastrophic event happens without warning. Then the NTSB would have zero hope of recovering any data ever. What if the plane loses connection or sending device goes out at the wrong time?

Another issue is costs. Assuming $ 100,000 per aircraft just for installation, airlines won't do this unless all airlines are required to do it. Does not sound like much, but airlines are very sensitive to operational costs and have to be to remain competitive. If there is to be a change, one would need to look to the NTSB, FAA or Federal Government to require that all carriers utilize the technology.

Streaming technology sounds good in principle. Perhaps this incident will force government agencies to work out the details or bugs and force all airlines to implement

Currently the data is being recorded on a tape deck. Do you really think it has an advantage in a crash scenario over a tiny piece of solid state tech that could be shielded from impact, fire, water, and G-force much more easily. and could have multiple redundant backups. A 32 GB thumb-drive is about 10 bucks these days.

As far as uplink goes, they already have ACARS, which sends text messages I believe. The bandwidth it uses is insignificant. I am just talking about beefing it up a little. No need for the pilot to think about it, He doesn't need to worry about ACARS does he?

And in addition to the black box upgrades, they need to have an indestructible beacon that jettisons in any impact, like an airbag. This device should float, and have the capability to send text messages to the airline head office (or whoever) by Sat phone (Including GPS coordinates, and ID) They only need to get one text and the Sat company will have everything in record. This is instead of trying to find a sonar ping at the bottom of the ocean.

Seriously, the 777 is high tech but the black boxes and recovery system appear to be circa 1965.

A tape deck that can withstand certain Gs and extreme temperatures. This is not an 8 track.

Do you know bandwidth required by ACARS? Do you know bandwidth required by black box type of information? I get this stuff. I will sound a bit pompous now because I just downed some nice vodka, but my family owned and run several airlines. What I said was true about technology and why not implemented. What you say is just more bs that nit wits educated by the Internet believes and spreads. Gotta love the net! Decreasing IQs by the day.

" but my family owned and run several airlines."

So this is why you are against spending money on implementing safety measures on aircraft?

To protect the family money. Not very nice

[sunshine51]

Here's some info on what the families have to deal with...and it's not good...

from todays Sydney Morning Herald...

"Mr Abbott said many relatives of the 239 passengers and crew on board

the plane would likely want to come to Australia in the coming days.

''I want them all to know … that they will be in the arms of a decent country.

The government has decided to waive visa fees for any relatives wishing to

come to Australia.''

But in Malaysia, airline executives said relatives of the passengers and crew

aboard MH370 will not be granted visas to fly to Australia until any debris found

in the Indian Ocean is confirmed to be from the plane. Despite sightings of

suspicious objects on satellite images, so far nothing has been recovered.

However, a government spokesman said families of passengers and crew on

flight MH370 would be eligible for a visa free of charge from midnight on Tuesday."

Presumably the last sentence came from an Australian government spokesman.

Here's the SMH link...

http://www.smh.com.au/national/grieving-families-of-illfated-mh370-clamour-for-exodus-to-australia-20140325-35gio.html#ixzz2wz3eAPhL

So in short : We found the plane and every one died, but 24 hours later we still can not confirm that we knew what we were talking about.

In a nutshell that pretty much sums it up. The Mal PM was supposed to give another presser last

night but never showed up. The Mal MOT gave an afternoon presser explaining how the Inmarsat

investigation led to the supposed current area using the Doppler effect...which left all of us in the

FPC (foreign press corps) yawning. Yesterday, Tuesday, the airborne search was halted due to

crap weather in the southern IO which is not unusual any tme of the year...however the airborne

search is back on today. Hope they find something plausible...soon.

[sunshine51]

Okay, he did it. Move on. No need to change plane tracking and data recording. Just pre-screen nut bags subject to divorce better and bar them from flying planes. WTH do you want?

What do I want? I want what I think what a lot of concerned people want; a thorough investigation, with no restrictions. Malaysian authorities appear to project some subjectivity on the investigation. In other words, they appear to not want anything bad to come forth which might tarnish the pilot's character. Two reasons: it might create insurance/compensation headaches for Malaysian Airlines, and it might reflect badly, from a religious perspective. Nearly all significant clues, as to the scenario and whereabouts of the plane, will come from farang investigations.

"In other words, they appear to not want anything bad to come forth which might tarnish the pilot's character."...

Or their (Malaysian authorities) own I would like to add.

NB...edit to add a descriptive.

Edited March 26, 2014 by sunshine51

[Asiantravel]

I mean if this doesn't constitute “ reasonable doubt “ then I would like to know what does?

Sources close to the investigation in Kuala Lumpur have told Fairfax Media that while pilot suicide had not been ruled out, the focus has now veered away from a hijacking or terrorist attack to the possibility of a mechanical failure, explosion or fire on board.

versus

Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported on its front page on Tuesday that investigators believed that no malfunction or fire was capable of causing the Boeing 777's unusual flight path after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, or the disabling of its communications systems.

Rather, they believed it must have been a deliberate - and therefore suicidal - act, the newspaper reported.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/missing-malaysia-airlines-pilot-terribly-upset-by-marriage-breakup-20140326-zqn4p.html

[GentlemanJim]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The captain of flight MH370 was facing serious family problems, including separation from his wife and problems with another woman he was seeing, according to a long-time associate who believes he may have taken the Boeing 777 for a "last joyride" before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/03/26/07/28/mh370-pilot-captain-zaharie-ahmad-shah-no-state-of-mind-to-fly-friend alt=coffee1.gif>

I have had serious family problems, including separation from my wife and children and problems with another woman I was seeing all resulting in financial problems, a divorce etc etc, and you know what at no time ever, did I even contemplate killing 300 people or even the possibility of taking my own life.

I picked myself up, dusted myself down and took it on the chin and life is once again fantastic. Why do you guys think it acceptable to publicly besmirch someone, who until this incident had an unblemished record as a pilot and a Captain. 30% of people in the UK get divorced, much more here in Thailand. That would equate to about 1 flight in 3 being flown into the ground if 'troubled' pilots decided to take their own lives, and what about the train drivers and truck drivers and people working in offices in high rise blocks. The streets would be full of corpses. Why pick this incident to say 'it must have been his troubled life'? It does not make sense. Just because we do not know what happened should not give people carte blanche to simply make something up as a way of explaining what they don't know.

Yes we need to investigate, but if the Captain is innocent then neither you nor I have the right to know the contents of any interview or discussion with his probably distraught ex wife, nor do we have the right to know anything about his private life if it had no bearing on this incident. The problem is we are being told everything now before any investigation or conclusion is complete and people are now just making it up.

"ooooh he had a simulator" - loads of people do, especially pilots, if I had room , I would have one - I have no tendencies towards mass murder (apart from towards some members on the Thai Visa local news forum ).

"oooh he deleted files on his simulator computer" - the amount of processing required is huge, if you don't empty the cache and memory frequently the flight sim would run about as fast as a bicycle sim. I have a high performance game on my computer and if I have more than 15 'saved games' in its memory the game crashes and wont work, so I have to frequently delete the old saved games.

Whilst I kind of understand the need for people to brainstorm and gossip, all of this is conjecture and this is a real man everybody is discussing, who so far in his life had done nothing out of the ordinary, he had been the consummate professional, but had had self inflicted problems with his wife, how many men have fallen into that category at least once in their lives. The public scathing of this man is totally out of order. By the way I am not having a rant at you. Your post is simply the catalyst for me wanting to reply to everyone that is falling in to the witch hunt / find a scape goat mentality. If concluding that a personal issue with his wife and a tendency to delete files from his own private computer system is justification for calling a man a mass murderer then there is nothing anyone can do to stop you, does it make you all feel better? I hope so. The fact is at this moment in time it is not the truth and until we find out otherwise ALL the victims of this tragedy and their families deserve compassion.

[Asiantravel]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The captain of flight MH370 was facing serious family problems, including separation from his wife and problems with another woman he was seeing, according to a long-time associate who believes he may have taken the Boeing 777 for a "last joyride" before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/03/26/07/28/mh370-pilot-captain-zaharie-ahmad-shah-no-state-of-mind-to-fly-friend alt=coffee1.gif>

I have had serious family problems, including separation from my wife and children and problems with another woman I was seeing all resulting in financial problems, a divorce etc etc, and you know what at no time ever, did I even contemplate killing 300 people or even the possibility of taking my own life.

I picked myself up, dusted myself down and took it on the chin and life is once again fantastic. Why do you guys think it acceptable to publicly besmirch someone, who until this incident had an unblemished record as a pilot and a Captain. 30% of people in the UK get divorced, much more here in Thailand. That would equate to about 1 flight in 3 being flown into the ground if 'troubled' pilots decided to take their own lives, and what about the train drivers and truck drivers and people working in offices in high rise blocks. The streets would be full of corpses. Why pick this incident to say 'it must have been his troubled life'? It does not make sense. Just because we do not know what happened should not give people carte blanche to simply make something up as a way of explaining what they don't know.

Yes we need to investigate, but if the Captain is innocent then neither you nor I have the right to know the contents of any interview or discussion with his probably distraught ex wife, nor do we have the right to know anything about his private life if it had no bearing on this incident. The problem is we are being told everything now before any investigation or conclusion is complete and people are now just making it up.

"ooooh he had a simulator" - loads of people do, especially pilots, if I had room , I would have one - I have no tendencies towards mass murder (apart from towards some members on the Thai Visa local news forum ).

"oooh he deleted files on his simulator computer" - the amount of processing required is huge, if you don't empty the cache and memory frequently the flight sim would run about as fast as a bicycle sim. I have a high performance game on my computer and if I have more than 15 'saved games' in its memory the game crashes and wont work, so I have to frequently delete the old saved games.

Whilst I kind of understand the need for people to brainstorm and gossip, all of this is conjecture and this is a real man everybody is discussing, who so far in his life had done nothing out of the ordinary, he had been the consummate professional, but had had self inflicted problems with his wife, how many men have fallen into that category at least once in their lives. The public scathing of this man is totally out of order. By the way I am not having a rant at you. Your post is simply the catalyst for me wanting to reply to everyone that is falling in to the witch hunt / find a scape goat mentality. If concluding that a personal issue with his wife and a tendency to delete files from his own private computer system is justification for calling a man a mass murderer then there is nothing anyone can do to stop you, does it make you all feel better? I hope so. The fact is at this moment in time it is not the truth and until we find out otherwise ALL the victims of this tragedy and their families deserve compassion.

Gentleman Jim with all due respect, in this post it seems that you are implying pilots are somehow immune from reaching a state of mind where suicide is possible.

It's only March and do you know that 12 bankers have committed suicide so far this year?

Surely this state of mind can effect absolutely anyone, no matter what their profession or position in life?

And once again until there is hard evidence to prove to the contrary, every avenue must be explored and when TV members are simply posting links and excerpts from newspaper articles engaging in this speculation, I don't think you can fairly accuse them of gossiping.

When you harshly criticise and say “people are now just making it up “ one could equally accuse the authorities of the same thing and until we can prove otherwise, no matter how unpalatable you might consider it to be every aspect needs to be explored and discussed.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Asiantravel

[GentlemanJim]

RE: Flight recorded

Are flash drives or other storage devices capable of withstanding the Gs and heat generated by a crash?

RE: Black Box or data recorders and uplink suggestions

While the technology may exist, there may be satellite upload bandwidth issues and security issues. I believe one proposal would be to limit uploading to only when an aircraft is encountering difficulties or pilots have concerns. Starting the upload may be last thing on a pilot's mind if a catastrophic event happens without warning. Then the NTSB would have zero hope of recovering any data ever. What if the plane loses connection or sending device goes out at the wrong time?

Another issue is costs. Assuming $ 100,000 per aircraft just for installation, airlines won't do this unless all airlines are required to do it. Does not sound like much, but airlines are very sensitive to operational costs and have to be to remain competitive. If there is to be a change, one would need to look to the NTSB, FAA or Federal Government to require that all carriers utilize the technology.

Streaming technology sounds good in principle. Perhaps this incident will force government agencies to work out the details or bugs and force all airlines to implement

Currently the data is being recorded on a tape deck. Do you really think it has an advantage in a crash scenario over a tiny piece of solid state tech that could be shielded from impact, fire, water, and G-force much more easily. and could have multiple redundant backups. A 32 GB thumb-drive is about 10 bucks these days.

As far as uplink goes, they already have ACARS, which sends text messages I believe. The bandwidth it uses is insignificant. I am just talking about beefing it up a little. No need for the pilot to think about it, He doesn't need to worry about ACARS does he?

And in addition to the black box upgrades, they need to have an indestructible beacon that jettisons in any impact, like an airbag. This device should float, and have the capability to send text messages to the airline head office (or whoever) by Sat phone (Including GPS coordinates, and ID) They only need to get one text and the Sat company will have everything in record. This is instead of trying to find a sonar ping at the bottom of the ocean.

Seriously, the 777 is high tech but the black boxes and recovery system appear to be circa 1965.

A tape deck that can withstand certain Gs and extreme temperatures. This is not an 8 track.

Do you know bandwidth required by ACARS? Do you know bandwidth required by black box type of information? I get this stuff. I will sound a bit pompous now because I just downed some nice vodka, but my family owned and run several airlines. What I said was true about technology and why not implemented. What you say is just more bs that nit wits educated by the Internet believes and spreads. Gotta love the net! Decreasing IQs by the day.

" but my family owned and run several airlines."

So this is why you are against spending money on implementing safety measures on aircraft?

To protect the family money. Not very nice

Your comments are out of order. You seem to have no idea how any business works. The aviation industry is very safe, very responsible and in some ways over regulated. Making modifications to any high tech piece of equipment like an aircraft is a VERY expensive business. This is not a case of going down to Radio Shack, getting a few components and making a new CVR or data recorder with a flash drive as the memory. All companies have to make risk management decisions and when there is no need for expenditure then they do not do it.

After the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster in which 165+ men died, people started doing risk analysis on the requirement for blast proof fire proof walls near the accommodation areas. I know one company that did this on some of their platforms and calculated that it would cost $12 Million to build these 'walls', but over a 20 year period the likely hood was that they would suffer accidents or injury resulting in personal claims against them for $7M as a result of fire or blast injury, so did they build the fire proof blast proof walls...NO. The bean counters save $5M by not building them. That is the way industry works.

Aviation is well regulated and after this incident then maybe EASA/FAA etc will recommend the development of solid state memory devices, but for you to slag off F430murci because his family did not spend money on something that is not a requirement is out of order. Why don't you mortgage yourself to the hilt and risk house, home, car, kids education etc and when all your money is on the line start spending money on your business that you do not need to, that the regulatory authority says you don't have to. But from your comments you are not the type of person that will take the burden of risk or know how to make risk orientated decisions so you will never be in that position so will never reap the rewards it brings to those bold enough to risk all to provide a service (in accordance with regulations) that you and everyone else wants to use.

Aviation is always improving and designing aircraft is no easy task. The technical design of the A380 or B787 will have commenced 20 years ago. It is not something done a few years back. Technical specs will have been drawn up using the best available technology....20 years ago and changing that stuff for the super dupa computers we have today will be a slow old process, and the owners of aircraft will do it when the regulatory authorities say that they have to.

[webfact]

Malaysia stays focused on finding MH370



BANGKOK: -- Malaysia is unmoving from its focus and is consistent with its stand to find the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, regardless of whatever accusation or speculation that may arise.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the operation to search for flight MH360 would be continued even if the other nations withdrew.

“Full speed ahead and we will continue based on the expertise provided by the French team. In this matter, we meet them on how to find the black box and the challenges within two years required to look for it,” he told the daily media conference on the MH370incident in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Hishamuddin said the information obtained from the French experts was also shared with other nations which also participated in the operation to search for MH370involving the aspect of families other than technologies to search in deep ocean and the assets used.

The French Aviation Safety Agency which was involved in the investigation on the Air France 447 aircraft air disaster in 2009 also extended its expertise and experience to the Malaysian authorities to find MH370.

When announcing the tragedy befalling the aircraft last night, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said based on new analysis by the United Kingdom Air Disaster Investigation Branch and Inmarsat, the UK company providing the satelite data, the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/malaysia-stays-focused-finding-mh370/


-- Thai PBS 2014-03-26

[GentlemanJim]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I have had serious family problems, including separation from my wife and children and problems with another woman I was seeing all resulting in financial problems, a divorce etc etc, and you know what at no time ever, did I even contemplate killing 300 people or even the possibility of taking my own life.

I picked myself up, dusted myself down and took it on the chin and life is once again fantastic. Why do you guys think it acceptable to publicly besmirch someone, who until this incident had an unblemished record as a pilot and a Captain. 30% of people in the UK get divorced, much more here in Thailand. That would equate to about 1 flight in 3 being flown into the ground if 'troubled' pilots decided to take their own lives, and what about the train drivers and truck drivers and people working in offices in high rise blocks. The streets would be full of corpses. Why pick this incident to say 'it must have been his troubled life'? It does not make sense. Just because we do not know what happened should not give people carte blanche to simply make something up as a way of explaining what they don't know.

Yes we need to investigate, but if the Captain is innocent then neither you nor I have the right to know the contents of any interview or discussion with his probably distraught ex wife, nor do we have the right to know anything about his private life if it had no bearing on this incident. The problem is we are being told everything now before any investigation or conclusion is complete and people are now just making it up.

"ooooh he had a simulator" - loads of people do, especially pilots, if I had room , I would have one - I have no tendencies towards mass murder (apart from towards some members on the Thai Visa local news forum ).

"oooh he deleted files on his simulator computer" - the amount of processing required is huge, if you don't empty the cache and memory frequently the flight sim would run about as fast as a bicycle sim. I have a high performance game on my computer and if I have more than 15 'saved games' in its memory the game crashes and wont work, so I have to frequently delete the old saved games.

Whilst I kind of understand the need for people to brainstorm and gossip, all of this is conjecture and this is a real man everybody is discussing, who so far in his life had done nothing out of the ordinary, he had been the consummate professional, but had had self inflicted problems with his wife, how many men have fallen into that category at least once in their lives. The public scathing of this man is totally out of order. By the way I am not having a rant at you. Your post is simply the catalyst for me wanting to reply to everyone that is falling in to the witch hunt / find a scape goat mentality. If concluding that a personal issue with his wife and a tendency to delete files from his own private computer system is justification for calling a man a mass murderer then there is nothing anyone can do to stop you, does it make you all feel better? I hope so. The fact is at this moment in time it is not the truth and until we find out otherwise ALL the victims of this tragedy and their families deserve compassion.

Gentleman Jim with all due respect, in this post it seems that you are implying pilots are somehow immune from reaching a state of mind where suicide is possible.

It's only March and do you know that 12 bankers have committed suicide so far this year?

Surely this state of mind can effect absolutely anyone, no matter what their profession or position in life?

And once again until there is hard evidence to prove to the contrary, every avenue must be explored and when TV members are simply posting links and excerpts from newspaper articles engaging in this speculation, I don't think you can fairly accuse them of gossiping.

When you harshly criticise and say “people are now just making it up “ one could equally accuse the authorities of the same thing and until we can prove otherwise, no matter how unpalatable you might consider it to be every aspect needs to be explored and discussed.

Sorry but when people are using phrases like "the Captain is as guilty as sin', then yes, people are making it up. And with all due respect, I am not implying that pilots are immune from reaching a state of mind where suicide is impossible, I am saying that until evidence is presented to the contrary you have no right implying the man killed nearly 300 other people because he could not cope with issues in his personal life. The bankers leapt of a tall building on their own, they did not crash a vehicle full of people or cause a major pile up on a motorway, they went away and did it on their own. Whay would a pilot not be any different. Do you think because a pilot wants to take his own life he is also capable of wanting to kill 300 innocent men women children and infants.

You are quite judgemental in saying

When you harshly criticise and say “people are now just making it up “

yet in a recent post on this page you say to F430murci

" but my family owned and run several airlines."

So this is why you are against spending money on implementing safety measures on aircraft?

To protect the family money. Not very nice

What breath taking arrogance.

[Asiantravel]

A tape deck that can withstand certain Gs and extreme temperatures. This is not an 8 track.

Do you know bandwidth required by ACARS? Do you know bandwidth required by black box type of information? I get this stuff. I will sound a bit pompous now because I just downed some nice vodka, but my family owned and run several airlines. What I said was true about technology and why not implemented. What you say is just more bs that nit wits educated by the Internet believes and spreads. Gotta love the net! Decreasing IQs by the day.

" but my family owned and run several airlines."

So this is why you are against spending money on implementing safety measures on aircraft?

To protect the family money. Not very nice

Your comments are out of order. You seem to have no idea how any business works. The aviation industry is very safe, very responsible and in some ways over regulated. Making modifications to any high tech piece of equipment like an aircraft is a VERY expensive business. This is not a case of going down to Radio Shack, getting a few components and making a new CVR or data recorder with a flash drive as the memory. All companies have to make risk management decisions and when there is no need for expenditure then they do not do it.

After the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster in which 165+ men died, people started doing risk analysis on the requirement for blast proof fire proof walls near the accommodation areas. I know one company that did this on some of their platforms and calculated that it would cost $12 Million to build these 'walls', but over a 20 year period the likely hood was that they would suffer accidents or injury resulting in personal claims against them for $7M as a result of fire or blast injury, so did they build the fire proof blast proof walls...NO. The bean counters save $5M by not building them. That is the way industry works.

Aviation is well regulated and after this incident then maybe EASA/FAA etc will recommend the development of solid state memory devices, but for you to slag off F430murci because his family did not spend money on something that is not a requirement is out of order. Why don't you mortgage yourself to the hilt and risk house, home, car, kids education etc and when all your money is on the line start spending money on your business that you do not need to, that the regulatory authority says you don't have to. But from your comments you are not the type of person that will take the burden of risk or know how to make risk orientated decisions so you will never be in that position so will never reap the rewards it brings to those bold enough to risk all to provide a service (in accordance with regulations) that you and everyone else wants to use.

Aviation is always improving and designing aircraft is no easy task. The technical design of the A380 or B787 will have commenced 20 years ago. It is not something done a few years back. Technical specs will have been drawn up using the best available technology....20 years ago and changing that stuff for the super dupa computers we have today will be a slow old process, and the owners of aircraft will do it when the regulatory authorities say that they have to.

Well we have to agree to disagree because I read what you say versus having listened to a number of experts being interviewed on a variety of TV channels during the last two weeks who have been showing off their systems and consistently maintaining that the costs involved to convert represent no more than a small number of dollars per hour.

And this guy flies his own Citation so I don't think it's unreasonable for me to believe what he says

.

My own Citation, a private jet, has a GPS tracker so we always know where it is. It cost less than $1000. We also have a satellite phone that allows the pilots to call for help anywhere in the world on concrete problems they may face that the radio operator may not be able to solve. Those also cost around $1000. And there is now Internet available to planes around in the world. But commercial planes, even when they have it for passengers, do not have it for pilots .

http://english.martinvarsavsky.net/general/aviation-is-stuck-in-the-60s-a-reflection-on-mh-370.html

[coma]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

The captain of flight MH370 was facing serious family problems, including separation from his wife and problems with another woman he was seeing, according to a long-time associate who believes he may have taken the Boeing 777 for a "last joyride" before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/03/26/07/28/mh370-pilot-captain-zaharie-ahmad-shah-no-state-of-mind-to-fly-friend alt=coffee1.gif>

I have had serious family problems, including separation from my wife and children and problems with another woman I was seeing all resulting in financial problems, a divorce etc etc, and you know what at no time ever, did I even contemplate killing 300 people or even the possibility of taking my own life.

I picked myself up, dusted myself down and took it on the chin and life is once again fantastic. Why do you guys think it acceptable to publicly besmirch someone, who until this incident had an unblemished record as a pilot and a Captain. 30% of people in the UK get divorced, much more here in Thailand. That would equate to about 1 flight in 3 being flown into the ground if 'troubled' pilots decided to take their own lives, and what about the train drivers and truck drivers and people working in offices in high rise blocks. The streets would be full of corpses. Why pick this incident to say 'it must have been his troubled life'? It does not make sense. Just because we do not know what happened should not give people carte blanche to simply make something up as a way of explaining what they don't know.

Yes we need to investigate, but if the Captain is innocent then neither you nor I have the right to know the contents of any interview or discussion with his probably distraught ex wife, nor do we have the right to know anything about his private life if it had no bearing on this incident. The problem is we are being told everything now before any investigation or conclusion is complete and people are now just making it up.

"ooooh he had a simulator" - loads of people do, especially pilots, if I had room , I would have one - I have no tendencies towards mass murder (apart from towards some members on the Thai Visa local news forum ).

"oooh he deleted files on his simulator computer" - the amount of processing required is huge, if you don't empty the cache and memory frequently the flight sim would run about as fast as a bicycle sim. I have a high performance game on my computer and if I have more than 15 'saved games' in its memory the game crashes and wont work, so I have to frequently delete the old saved games.

Whilst I kind of understand the need for people to brainstorm and gossip, all of this is conjecture and this is a real man everybody is discussing, who so far in his life had done nothing out of the ordinary, he had been the consummate professional, but had had self inflicted problems with his wife, how many men have fallen into that category at least once in their lives. The public scathing of this man is totally out of order. By the way I am not having a rant at you. Your post is simply the catalyst for me wanting to reply to everyone that is falling in to the witch hunt / find a scape goat mentality. If concluding that a personal issue with his wife and a tendency to delete files from his own private computer system is justification for calling a man a mass murderer then there is nothing anyone can do to stop you, does it make you all feel better? I hope so. The fact is at this moment in time it is not the truth and until we find out otherwise ALL the victims of this tragedy and their families deserve compassion.

Gentleman Jim with all due respect, in this post it seems that you are implying pilots are somehow immune from reaching a state of mind where suicide is possible.

It's only March and do you know that 12 bankers have committed suicide so far this year?

Surely this state of mind can effect absolutely anyone, no matter what their profession or position in life?

And once again until there is hard evidence to prove to the contrary, every avenue must be explored and when TV members are simply posting links and excerpts from newspaper articles engaging in this speculation, I don't think you can fairly accuse them of gossiping.

When you harshly criticise and say “people are now just making it up “ one could equally accuse the authorities of the same thing and until we can prove otherwise, no matter how unpalatable you might consider it to be every aspect needs to be explored and discussed.

Well put !

[Rimmer]

One inflammatory post removed:

In using Thai Visa I agree:

7) Respect fellow members by posting in a civil manner: do not launch personal attacks, or be hateful or insulting towards other members, ie No flaming

[laolover88]

In other words: We do not know what happened.

Brit $$$firm found the math/technology to sort it as far as is so far possible....maybe!

Hope no more planes/ships on similar trajectories bill

It is unbelievable that if the technology exists airlines won't buy into 24/24/ tracking..no? If I understood the

news right....guy from Inmarsat said the cost was 1$ a minute, possibly less!!!! Look at your flight bill!!!! Airport

taxes etc.

In other

words. too...as far as Inmarsat clients are concerned....cargo on ships more valuable than passengers on aircraft.............

Edited March 26, 2014 by laolover88

[Rimmer]

A post with messed up quotes has been removed, sorry about that. Two replies discussing the messed up quotes has also been removed

[RubbaJohnny]

All very ssad for the relatives of passengers and crew who are being suspected without proof so far.

Has any international media actually chacked the Nicobar,Maldives ,Dago Garcia locations live.

Any links,e.g.Youtube would be interesting.

Even more odd if there are none.

I imagine if 250 Israelis or Americans or soccer stars were missing no stone would be left unturned.

While I expect Malaysian,Boeing and others, gagged by their lawyers to be wary of law suits and would spin info for political,dimplomatic or economic reasons why would islanders invent the sighting or the Malay pilgrim lady on flight from Saudi?

They could be mistaken,but like the conflicting dribble of revelations and changing official statements it proves that if you are manufacturing an alibi you need to be consistent and have a good memory.

Regardless of outcome the Malay regimes handling of the crisis reveals how good others are at managing and massaging events.The Comical Ali like performances and relatives being dragged away on screen is a PR disaster,like BA leaving the Oz Dr outside LHR during the strike.

Hard to imagine many non-freebie malay hi-sos buying seats or shares in MH and if negligence,suicide are proven should sink it.

I suppose it will limp on so the Seri Datuks and wives can jaunt freely like Sly International.

Air Asia Berhad and Inmarsat and Thai fake doc.org may be the sole beneficiaries of this tragedy

Edited March 26, 2014 by RubbaJohnny

[3NUMBAS]

all this hassle over a $20 GPS unit that would have solved it in a few hours ,seems unbelievably stingy in ths iday and age .

but the last ping was only half a ping so thats where it went down if they can figure that out

[ExpatOilWorker]

AF cost 25 million to find the boxes,MH will cost 250 million and they may not be able to find them without a clue where to start

Talking about cost, who are actually picking up the tap for the international search operation?

[coma]

New satellite images taken three days ago have revealed 122 potential pieces of debris from the missing Malaysian Airline flight MH370, Malaysia's Transport Minister says.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/03/26/21/01/new-debris-found-in-hunt-for-mh360

[3NUMBAS]

the law suits are about to fly though

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-malaysianairlines-boeing-lawsuit-idUSBREA2P0IZ20140326

quote

U.S. law firm plans to bring suit against Boeing, Malaysia Airlines

By Rujun Shen

NEW YORK/KUALA LUMPUR Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:00am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based law firm said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing Co, alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared more than two weeks ago, and was announced to have crashed into the remote southern Indian ocean with all 239 on board presumed to have died.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

[GentlemanJim]

the law suits are about to fly though

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-malaysianairlines-boeing-lawsuit-idUSBREA2P0IZ20140326

quote

U.S. law firm plans to bring suit against Boeing, Malaysia Airlines

By Rujun Shen

NEW YORK/KUALA LUMPUR Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:00am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based law firm said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing Co, alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared more than two weeks ago, and was announced to have crashed into the remote southern Indian ocean with all 239 on board presumed to have died.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

Clever move. You can always trust a lawyer (is that an oxymoron?).............to exploit a situation. If MAS and Boeing deny it was mechanical (and Boeing will) then MAS will have to provide alternative explanations. It seems that here MAS will be guilty until they prove an alternative reason. IF it then comes down to Human Error or suicide as everyone keeps predicting then MAS are still open to a barrage of law suits. In Malaysia, courts would be dealing with class actions of a very modest value, with the American Lawyers this will be hundreds of millions, if not more. So MAS would probably like to sit with mechanical, but Boeing won't allow that, so MAS will have to open another large can (or two) of worms.

[boomerangutang]

It is not a 'witch hunt' (as G.Jim asserts) to put forth theories about what may have happened. We're all armchair investigators here. When I 1st heard about the MA flight, on the 1st day the story broke, I suggested pilot suicide/mass murder, and I'm still of that opinion, when viewing the bits of evidence we (the general public) have been fed.

Interesting that Australia is offering to take care of relatives. I wouldn't be surprised if the US does the same. It may sound crass to say this, but relatives are going to come in to decent amounts of money from settlements, and when people have money, they tend to spend it. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the Asian relatives choose to move to Australia or the US.

[SeaVisionBurma]

<snip>

Interesting that Australia is offering to take care of relatives. I wouldn't be surprised if the US does the same. It may sound crass to say this, but relatives are going to come in to decent amounts of money from settlements, and when people have money, they tend to spend it. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the Asian relatives choose to move to Australia or the US.

That is actually quite an interesting observation...

[speedtripler]

the law suits are about to fly though

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-malaysianairlines-boeing-lawsuit-idUSBREA2P0IZ20140326

quote

U.S. law firm plans to bring suit against Boeing, Malaysia Airlines

By Rujun Shen

NEW YORK/KUALA LUMPUR Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:00am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based law firm said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing Co, alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared more than two weeks ago, and was announced to have crashed into the remote southern Indian ocean with all 239 on board presumed to have died.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

there is absolutely no evidence that this is the fault of boeing .................yet

i think the lawyers are jumping the gun here beforre any evidence has been found

[phuketrichard]

now this might sound far fetched ( and a real far left conspiracy theory) but than so do all other scenarios

.

Hijacking the Truth

There is no point in further disparagement of the pilot and co-pilot of the ill-fated flight, given their political connections with a compromised opposition beholden to the colonial past. The practicing with landing at Diego Garcia on the pilot’s flight simulator indicates a deep background with the Western intelligence services and probably Israeli espionage operating out of Singapore.

Whatever the role of the plane crew, the NSA and US Air Force Space Command do not need manned piloting, except to maintain the appearance of normality at takeoff from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As discussed in my earlier article, voice communication and navigational signals would have been disabled by a burst of powerful narrow-aperture radar used for electromagnetic warfare. The cockpit computer would then be reprogrammed, using Boeing’s own emergency piloting system, expanded with Pentagon and Israeli software.

From the South China Sea to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the jetliner would be remote-controlled by a drone operator. Its unscheduled flight path would be tracked and subsequently remoted from data records by the NSA listening posts in Sri Lanka and the Jindalee eavesdropping facility in northwest Australia. Radar stations in the Maldives, installed under a US maritime accord, served to guide the jetliner to the southernmost atoll of the archipelago toward Diego Garcia, immediately to the south.

The airliner’s descent over the Maldives, according to witnesses, went smoothly, for a safe landing on the long tarmac at the US Air Force Base on Diego Garcia Island, a CIA rendition center with underground hangars and prison used during the Iraq and Afghan wars.

the rest here, http://www.pakalertpress.com/2014/03/26/a-tiny-microchip-was-the-likely-motive-for-pentagon-hijack-of-mh370/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pakalert+%28Pak+Alert+Press%29

[NeverSure]

the law suits are about to fly though

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-malaysianairlines-boeing-lawsuit-idUSBREA2P0IZ20140326

quote

U.S. law firm plans to bring suit against Boeing, Malaysia Airlines

By Rujun Shen

NEW YORK/KUALA LUMPUR Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:00am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S.-based law firm said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing Co, alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared more than two weeks ago, and was announced to have crashed into the remote southern Indian ocean with all 239 on board presumed to have died.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

Leave it to the lawyers to jump in before they know what happened. Get a lawsuit filed and it can be amended as facts if any come forward. Note that this gives them a right to discovery which they've already filed.

The law firm only gets 20 - 30% of any award or settlement. Has to be peanuts.

Edited March 26, 2014 by NeverSure