Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 missing
- Thread starter quagmire
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think that's one of the theories they're starting to work with. The plane could have changed course (with brief pilot interaction before something catastrophic happened, incapacitating the pilots) and continued to fly for 6+ hours on that (unknown) course, based on the estimated remaining fuel.
I know not every square mile of the globe is covered with radar but unless they turned East I don't see how the plane could have undetected for that long, unless it crashed in the water (in an area they're not searching) before getting in range again.
Correct. This is why they are expanding their area to search to now include the Strait of Malacca, as the military didn't think about their radar when they were joining the search.
http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler...ysia-airlines-jet-moves-to-strait-of-malacca/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140311
Question now becomes: if this is true, the military missed not seeing their Mode C for this flight for nearly an hour, leading them to be searching in the wrong place to begin with. Granted, they only had to go off of what ATC had at first, but other sources were also not checked.
BL.
Have a link for that? It matches the Malacca Strait story, but if they are concentrating in a specific area, I'd like to update the nearly 900-comment long Squawk over at FlightAware.
BL.
Really? CNN? Continuous Negative News? Where Wolf Blitzer couldn't pull a fact out of his beard even if it flew in and built a nest? that CNN?
Seriously, thanks for the link. that helps a lot, because while everyone mentioned the Strait, they hadn't singled out land there. So this may reset everything, including the possibility of survivors.
This sounds a hell of a lot more like Lost as this keeps going.
BL.
My theory, based on nothing more than speculation and seeing a **** load of movies, is the cabin was compromised and the hijackers had the pilot alter course. Maybe heading to try and accomplish a 9/11 like terrorist act. Pilot realizes or discovers their plan and ditches the plane in the ocean in order to save thousands of lives on the ground.
Realize its speculation on your part but I was under the impression after 911 they made the cabins secure. Also I assume they have a secret switch which alerts to a hi-jacking. My theory is that the pilot committed suicide and took everyone with him.
Seems like the co-pilot may have made the cockpit insecure at least once in the past.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-friend-ride-cockpit-entire-flight-2011.html
Some of the story doesn't make sense to me. Regardless where the "crash" took place, the boxes should have transmitted something. Hundreds of miles off course seems a bit strange. It would have to have been on course at the last station, then radically shifted direction and speed for it's next radar station. Okay fine, let's say the pilot or terrorist gained control of the aircraft and plotted to do that, when it crashes there would have to be debris. The area of the ocean it went down in, although large is also heavily trafficked, at least to the point where I would think ships would have come across something.
For all the factors to come together: no debris, no black box transmitter signal, hundreds of miles off course.... it's a lot to digest.
For all the factors to come together: no debris, no black box transmitter signal, hundreds of miles off course.... it's a lot to digest.
setting your transponder to squawk code 7500 would indicate hijack on the mode C readout ATC would see on their scopes. That would be their secret switch, especially if those trying to take over don't realize what is happening. If that were the case (as it was with 9/11), the hijackers knew that and turned off the transponder.
No real indication of the pilots suiciding either, like ESR990. They had already gone through that, plus the fact that it would have been more severe if they went straight down into the water, which they hadn't; military ATC had seen their target flying low across the peninsula, but with no Mode-C readout, couldn't tell if it was them.
Seeing that they now have a new place to look (around Pulau Perak), and the fact that they've deployed a P-3 Orion (which could cover roughly 1000nm in an hour), they may be able to find something now. And if they were able to make land, there may be survivors.
BL.
----------
They don't really transmit until there is a problem; they record, which is why they are a Flight Data Recorder, and Cockpit Voice Recorder. quagmire could verify more on the transmission part, but to my knowledge, they really don't transmit.
BL.
That's right. The black boxes (really orange) are recorders, not transmitters. People seem surprised that airplanes aren't in constant communication with someone. They aren't. Neither are cars. Pilots and drivers are responsible for the safe operation of their machines.
If the plane had made such an huge diversion from the planed route, then either a hijack or a weird action of the pilot(s) seems most obvious.
Problem with the hijack theory is that there must have been someway the pilots could have sent a signal. Otherwise this has to be the perfect hijack...
A perfectly "silent" hijack, all transponders simply switched off, an invisible course alteration, and maybe (hopefully) a successful landing on some kind a small (maybe even deserted) airfield...?
Seems too perfect even to be "Hollywood"...
Yeah. Black boxes only record. Only during a crash do they turn on a beacon to help searchers find their location for retrieval.
AF447 transmitted data via ACARS as stated earlier, but it did not include what was in the CVR.
ADS-B might help determine what happened as well in the future. But right now ADS-B is dependent on having a ground station in the area and only transmits info like speed, altitude, GPS position, etc. There is a proposal called ADS-B Link Augmentation System( ALAS) that will send information to satellites and then back down to the ground meaning they could be in the middle of the ocean out of radar contact, etc, but still be on ATC's scope. The company behind ALAS says it could also transmit pertinent flight information making us less dependent on finding the FDR at least.
The more time goes by it makes me think this could very well have been pilot suicide.
That would explain a lot.
Not why it went hundred's of miles off course. If it was pilot suicide, they would have just nose dived it into the water.
Is it possible that the pilot and co-pilot passed out, perhaps they both ate the same thing before the flight which caused them to pass out or die. How much contact does the flight staff have with the pilots during the flight? like if they havent heard from them in a few hours would they call in to the cockpit or check in?
Not quite sure. If the pilots became incapacitated, the plane would have flown for quite a bit longer than Palau Perka until it ran out of fuel.
This isn't Airplane/Flying High, either.
Right now, because of the turn from 020 to 330, plus the turn further west to Malacca and Perak, those would have to be controlled turns to head in that direction. The abrupt from 020 to 330 could have been indicative of a mechanical or instrument problem, but not the rest of the turn and flying that way and possibly at a lower altitude. Someone would had to have initiated the turn and more importantly, the descent, let alone squawk standby/turn the transponder off.
As far as calling in to check, that is what ACARS is for. Yes, staff could call either over satcom or CPDLC, but it all depends on the situation, and if they want to micromanage every oceanic flight, or let the pilots do their job and pilot the aircraft. Most opt for the latter.
Last edited by a moderator:
"Who had the fish??"
Dark, yes, but then so is the pilot committing suicide and selfishly taking others with him.
