Strange stuff you've seen but can't prove

[Fabricus]

I generally work until the early hours of the morning. Between 1am and 2am I usually go out onto the balcony and have a cup of tea and a cigarette.

Just over two years ago -- while enjoying my early morning "break" -- I saw something very strange. I don't remember the exact time, nor can I recall the date.

Out of nowhere a giant airplane appeared. It came in off the sea (about a mile from where I live) and floated over the center of Pattani. It was huge. All the lights were turned off. I know nothing about airplanes or flight paths, but planes this big never fly over Pattani, and certainly not this low or at this time of the morning.

I remember watching in amazement: the plane only took a few seconds to cross the city (it really did seem to "float", too), and then it was gone. I don't remember hearing any noise; I remember it was enormous.

===

A few days later I realized what I'd seen -- it was the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

There are lots of graphics on the net showing the MH370's flight path over the peninsular. The one below was made by Reuters. The plane flies straight over the center of Pattani.

===

So that's it: I'm one of the last people to have seen the missing MH370. I know this for a fact, but can't prove it.

How about you? Got any cool stories (related to Thailand) that are true but can't be proved?

[Rob13]

That's the right time and place to have seen it. Did you see where it went?

[Fabricus]

That's the right time and place to have seen it. Did you see where it went?

It came from my left (ie, from the sea to the east) as I was facing the city center (from the south). It flew due west.

It was about 1000 meters from me, but seemed so low I could almost touch it. It was massive.

===

When the news broke I said nothing. There were dozens of conspiracy theories explaining how the plane had been commandeered remotely and flown to Diego Garcia. Other theories focused on a group of Chinese passengers who'd invented a new technology capable of bankrupting the US. For a while I figured I'd seen something I wasn't supposed to, and simply kept my mouth shut. In a strange kind of way I was a tad scared.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I recounted the story to my GF (who I live with here in Pattani).

I understand now that all these conspiracy theories were just twaddle.

I've followed news about the MH370 very closely for the last two years. It's a very sad tale. It's clear to me that Captain Shah committed suicide.

[Rob13]

I always thought it odd the guy had a flight simulator in his house.

[Fabricus]

I always thought it odd the guy had a flight simulator in his house.

I think the deal here is that he was a dedicated flight enthusiast, or perhaps you could call him a devoted hobbyist.

Check out some of his other YouTube videos and you'll see he also gave cookery lessons. I think he was an all-round decent guy. Probably very honest, too. A regular Penangite.

And then he snapped. His wife (a beautiful woman whose surname I remember was "Khan") left him and took the kids, and soon after his political "idol" got done for sodomy in a case that was horribly flawed.

I guess the bottom simply dropped out of the guy's world.

===

PS. Just noticed I used the word "bottom" after "sodomy". No pun or smut intended.

[Enoon]

I always thought it odd the guy had a flight simulator in his house.

I think the deal here is that he was a dedicated flight enthusiast, or perhaps you could call him a devoted hobbyist.

Check out some of his other YouTube videos and you'll see he also gave cookery lessons. I think he was an all-round decent guy. Probably very honest, too. A regular Penangite.

And then he snapped. His wife (a beautiful woman whose surname I remember was "Khan") left him and took the kids, and soon after his political "idol" got done for sodomy in a case that was horribly flawed.

I guess the bottom simply dropped out of the guy's world.

===

PS. Just noticed I used the word "bottom" after "sodomy". No pun or smut intended.

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

That'll do for now.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Enoon

[Fabricus]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

[tandor]

I always thought it odd the guy had a flight simulator in his house.

...homework.

[tandor]

That's the right time and place to have seen it. Did you see where it went?

It came from my left (ie, from the sea to the east) as I was facing the city center (from the south). It flew due west.

It was about 1000 meters from me, but seemed so low I could almost touch it. It was massive.

===

When the news broke I said nothing. There were dozens of conspiracy theories explaining how the plane had been commandeered remotely and flown to Diego Garcia. Other theories focused on a group of Chinese passengers who'd invented a new technology capable of bankrupting the US. For a while I figured I'd seen something I wasn't supposed to, and simply kept my mouth shut. In a strange kind of way I was a tad scared.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I recounted the story to my GF (who I live with here in Pattani).

I understand now that all these conspiracy theories were just twaddle.

I've followed news about the MH370 very closely for the last two years. It's a very sad tale. It's clear to me that Captain Shah committed suicide.

your UFO sighting could have been very important at the time.

IMO you should have reported your sighting at the earliest opportunity...forget being scared of repercussions...focus on the facts.

[Boycie]

You sure you wasn't smoking any of the funny stuff on that night that you can't remember?

[Coota]

You sure you wasn't smoking any of the funny stuff on that night that you can't remember?

Captain Troll.png

Your comment was unnecessary and not even funny. A frivolous and immature comment.

[Jedsada3]

You sure you wasn't smoking any of the funny stuff on that night that you can't remember?

... smoking the tea bag and the cig in the cup?

[Roota]

Just for the record, ground effect doesn't kick in until just above ground. I think the textbooks say 1.5x the wingspan at most, and the effect is only really significant in the last 10 or 20 meters. Nobody would or could fly over a city at that kind of altitude. If it was quiet it was because the engines were throttled back to just above stall speed.

[Fabricus]

You sure you wasn't smoking any of the funny stuff on that night that you can't remember?

Captain Troll.png

I personally think few things are sadder than middle-aged men who smoke dope.

I had the odd joint or two at uni, but that was almost thirty years ago.

[Rob13]

Just for the record, ground effect doesn't kick in until just above ground. I think the textbooks say 1.5x the wingspan at most, and the effect is only really significant in the last 10 or 20 meters. Nobody would or could fly over a city at that kind of altitude. If it was quiet it was because the engines were throttled back to just above stall speed.

If the engines were throttled back does that mean somebody was operating the plane or could autopilot have done it?

Edited June 11, 2016 by Rob13

[Boycie]

You sure you wasn't smoking any of the funny stuff on that night that you can't remember?

Captain Troll.png

Your comment was unnecessary and not even funny. A frivolous and immature comment.

Ok, so you didn't like my comment.

What's your thoughts on the OP?

I say troll and this topic will be closed.

[Old Croc]

You had some vital information on a missing airliner, but you stayed mute because you thought all the weird conspiracy theories might be true!

Those theories didn't really eventuate until it became something other than a probable crashed plane!

[Fabricus]

You had some vital information on a missing airliner, but you stayed mute because you thought all the weird conspiracy theories might be true!

Those theories didn't really eventuate until it became something other than a probable crashed plane!

No, those conspiracy theories started doing the rounds very soon after the plane disappeared. They were prompted by the manner in which the plane vanished from radar and Captain Shah calmly ceased communicating.

For the first 2 or 3 days there was reports coming in from a guy on an oil rig who claimed to have seen the plane go down south of Vietnam. I think that episode later turned out to be hoax.

Then it emerged that fishermen off the coast of Kota Bharu had seen it, and then people worked out what had happened.

The plane took a zig-zagging path across the southern peninsular: it entered and exited Thai and Malaysian airspace (as evidenced by heading to Kota Bharu and then banking north to Pattani), but the exact path was never determined (apparently because these two countries disengage military radar at this time of morning). I'm pretty sure that to this day no one knows where the MH370 left the peninsular and traversed the northern end of the Malacca Straits.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Fabricus

[hoffy66]

That's the right time and place to have seen it. Did you see where it went?

It came from my left (ie, from the sea to the east) as I was facing the city center (from the south). It flew due west.

It was about 1000 meters from me, but seemed so low I could almost touch it. It was massive.

===

When the news broke I said nothing. There were dozens of conspiracy theories explaining how the plane had been commandeered remotely and flown to Diego Garcia. Other theories focused on a group of Chinese passengers who'd invented a new technology capable of bankrupting the US. For a while I figured I'd seen something I wasn't supposed to, and simply kept my mouth shut. In a strange kind of way I was a tad scared.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I recounted the story to my GF (who I live with here in Pattani).

I understand now that all these conspiracy theories were just twaddle.

I've followed news about the MH370 very closely for the last two years. It's a very sad tale. It's clear to me that Captain Shah committed suicide.

Well i think you are just having a lend of us, if you really did see what you claim you would have reported it, scared my butt....just another troll...

[cyberfarang]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

Sorry, but I cannot give your sighting any credibility, there is nothing strange about this whatsoever. Where I live in Chiang Mai I often see planes flying over at night, at most times below cloud levels and can only see them as dark grey silhouettes with a red or green light flashing beneath the plane, low engine noise at a slow cruising speed, that`s because they are either just taken off or coming in to land at Chiang Mai airport.

Pattani is also on a flight path for many airlines and it has it`s own airport so your plane could have also either just taken off or coming in to land at the airport. To identify this plane as being a Boeing 727 in the dead of night it would have literally had to have been just a few hundred feet at altitude and then the engine noise would have been substantial.

There is no way you could had distinguished this plane from all the rest as being missing flight MH370. Are you from Texas by any chance? You know, tall stories and all that.

[fxe1200]

What about the 21 witnesses on one of theses Maldives islands? According to the press, they were all liars. The only thing a know about the MH 370 is, that we all are being lied to. The satellite assisted surveillance system of D.G. has seen the plane from the beginning, especially due to the fact that it was off course. But the U.S. never revealed their findings.

[D3030]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

Military planes are painted grey...

[Fabricus]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

Sorry, but I cannot give your sighting any credibility, there is nothing strange about this whatsoever. Where I live in Chiang Mai I often see planes flying over at night, at most times below cloud levels and can only see them as dark grey silhouettes with a red or green light flashing beneath the plane, low engine noise at a slow cruising speed, that`s because they are either just taken off or coming in to land at Chiang Mai airport.

Pattani is also on a flight path for many airlines and it has it`s own airport so your plane could have also either just taken off or coming in to land at the airport. To identify this plane as being a Boeing 727 in the dead of night it would have literally had to have been just a few hundred feet at altitude and then the engine noise would have been substantial.

There is no way you could had distinguished this plane from all the rest as being missing flight MH370. Are you from Texas by any chance? You know, tall stories and all that.

Thank you for posting this. You've just made me laugh!

1. Contrary to your claim, a plane that has just taken off will not be flying at a "slow cruising speed". It will be accelerating and climbing rapidly. Everyone knows this.

2. The MH370 was a 777, not a 727. Did you really not know this?

3. Pattani's airport doesn't cater to commercial flights. It is not on any airline's flight path, and hasn't been for several years. It's a military airport. Drive past it and see. It's opposite the giant Inkayuth Army Base, and several km from the city center.

4. Anyone can distinguish between a military plane and an enormous 777. It's really not hard.

5. The plane I saw was indeed flying extremely low. This is consistent with what military sources later confirmed.

===

Whether you guys like it or not, the MH370 flew low across the peninsular, following a course close to the Thailand-Malaysia border.

Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of people must have seen it, and yet no one reported it.

[kai ham yai]

I always thought it odd the guy had a flight simulator in his house.

I think the deal here is that he was a dedicated flight enthusiast, or perhaps you could call him a devoted hobbyist.

Check out some of his other YouTube videos and you'll see he also gave cookery lessons. I think he was an all-round decent guy. Probably very honest, too. A regular Penangite.

And then he snapped. His wife (a beautiful woman whose surname I remember was "Khan") left him and took the kids, and soon after his political "idol" got done for sodomy in a case that was horribly flawed.

I guess the bottom simply dropped out of the guy's world.

===

PS. Just noticed I used the word "bottom" after "sodomy". No pun or smut intended.

Snapped,,He murdered over two hundred people the selfish tw@t. Why didn't he just do himself in, the shithouse.

[Fabricus]

What about the 21 witnesses on one of theses Maldives islands? According to the press, they were all liars. The only thing a know about the MH 370 is, that we all are being lied to. The satellite assisted surveillance system of D.G. has seen the plane from the beginning, especially due to the fact that it was off course. But the U.S. never revealed their findings.

I only remember reading a story from ONE witness, but the woman (I'm sure the witness was a "she") was convinced she'd seen something.

[Rob13]

I bet alot of people saw the plane and didn't report it. Why would they, most people would probably assume the authorities already knew about it.

[ChrisKC]

At that time in the morning I would have expected that quite a few people would have seen it and might even had a chance to video it on their smartphone. I can't say I have followed this case closely but this kind of incident should have sparked something in the media that I might have missed

Edited June 11, 2016 by ChrisKC

[cyberfarang]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

Sorry, but I cannot give your sighting any credibility, there is nothing strange about this whatsoever. Where I live in Chiang Mai I often see planes flying over at night, at most times below cloud levels and can only see them as dark grey silhouettes with a red or green light flashing beneath the plane, low engine noise at a slow cruising speed, that`s because they are either just taken off or coming in to land at Chiang Mai airport.

Pattani is also on a flight path for many airlines and it has it`s own airport so your plane could have also either just taken off or coming in to land at the airport. To identify this plane as being a Boeing 727 in the dead of night it would have literally had to have been just a few hundred feet at altitude and then the engine noise would have been substantial.

There is no way you could had distinguished this plane from all the rest as being missing flight MH370. Are you from Texas by any chance? You know, tall stories and all that.

Thank you for posting this. You've just made me laugh!

1. Contrary to your claim, a plane that has just taken off will not be flying at a "slow cruising speed". It will be accelerating and climbing rapidly. Everyone knows this.

2. The MH370 was a 777, not a 727. Did you really not know this?

3. Pattani's airport doesn't cater to commercial flights. It is not on any airline's flight path, and hasn't been for several years. It's a military airport. Drive past it and see. It's opposite the giant Inkayuth Army Base, and several km from the city center.

4. Anyone can distinguish between a military plane and an enormous 777. It's really not hard.

5. The plane I saw was indeed flying extremely low. This is consistent with what military sources later confirmed.

===

Whether you guys like it or not, the MH370 flew low across the peninsular, following a course close to the Thailand-Malaysia border.

Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of people must have seen it, and yet no one reported it.

I couldn`t care less if it was a 727, a 777 or a Heinz 57 varieties type, and would not know the difference unless being an aircraft spotter, an aircraft enthusiast or working in the aircraft industry.

So you saw a plane flying low and that confirms it was the ill fated flight MH370 does it? I have no doubts that thousands of people saw that plane but they would not have been aware it was MH370. I see loads of planes flying over my house but wouldn`t have a clue what flight numbers they are, where they come from or where they`re going or even what types of planes they are in the dark. Many people have claimed to have seen UFOs but that`s all they are unidentified flying objects, confirms nothing. You saw a plane, one of thousands that are flying around the world at any given time. There are no ways you could have been 100% sure the plane you saw was the aircraft in question, only a remote possibility not even a probability.

[Boycie]

It would have been flying very low in order to benefit from "Ground Effect".

As such it would have been throttled back, which explains why it was so quiet.

Thanks. I've just been reading about "ground effect" and the associated low noise levels.

Here's something else that may be of interest.

Go to any airport and you'll notice all the planes are white. The giant plane that flew over Pattani was a kind of grey.

This puzzled me. And then I remembered that an object's color is determined by the light reflecting from it. The plane was grey because there was insufficient light at that time of the morning (1am - 2am) for it to be anything else.

Sorry, but I cannot give your sighting any credibility, there is nothing strange about this whatsoever. Where I live in Chiang Mai I often see planes flying over at night, at most times below cloud levels and can only see them as dark grey silhouettes with a red or green light flashing beneath the plane, low engine noise at a slow cruising speed, that`s because they are either just taken off or coming in to land at Chiang Mai airport.

Pattani is also on a flight path for many airlines and it has it`s own airport so your plane could have also either just taken off or coming in to land at the airport. To identify this plane as being a Boeing 727 in the dead of night it would have literally had to have been just a few hundred feet at altitude and then the engine noise would have been substantial.

There is no way you could had distinguished this plane from all the rest as being missing flight MH370. Are you from Texas by any chance? You know, tall stories and all that.

Thank you for posting this. You've just made me laugh!

1. Contrary to your claim, a plane that has just taken off will not be flying at a "slow cruising speed". It will be accelerating and climbing rapidly. Everyone knows this.

2. The MH370 was a 777, not a 727. Did you really not know this?

3. Pattani's airport doesn't cater to commercial flights. It is not on any airline's flight path, and hasn't been for several years. It's a military airport. Drive past it and see. It's opposite the giant Inkayuth Army Base, and several km from the city center.

4. Anyone can distinguish between a military plane and an enormous 777. It's really not hard.

5. The plane I saw was indeed flying extremely low. This is consistent with what military sources later confirmed.

===

Whether you guys like it or not, the MH370 flew low across the peninsular, following a course close to the Thailand-Malaysia border.

Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of people must have seen it, and yet no one reported it.

Did you report it at the time? Have you written about this event on TV before? If not, why wait for over 2 years and then now, report it?

[Fabricus]

I couldn`t care less if it was a 727, a 777 or a Heinz 57 varieties type, and would not know the difference unless being an aircraft spotter, an aircraft enthusiast or working in the aircraft industry.

So you saw a plane flying low and that confirms it was the ill fated flight MH370 does it? I have no doubts that thousands of people saw that plane but they would not have been aware it was MH370. I see loads of planes flying over my house but wouldn`t have a clue what flight numbers they are, where they come from or where they`re going or even what types of planes they are in the dark. Many people have claimed to have seen UFOs but that`s all they are unidentified flying objects, confirms nothing. You saw a plane, one of thousands that are flying around the world at any given time. There are no ways you could have been 100% sure the plane you saw was the aircraft in question, only a remote possibility not even a probability.

The situation is simple: you've made a fool of yourself.

You know nothing about Pattani, its infrastructure or geography. You claimed "Pattani is on a flight path for many airlines", when everyone knows it isn't. People generally know the reasons for this, too.

You described the MH370 as a 727 when everyone knows it was a 777; you can't distinguish between military and commercial planes; you can't even distinguish between planes that are landing and taking off.

Take my advice: move on; creep round someone else. Good bye.