Where is Flight 370?

[tmcalavy]

The Malaysian govt. is officially announcing it is lost at sea, probably courtesy of Australia or the U.S. or Chinese intel, to save face over catching criticism from the world at large. Whoever confirms the debris may even go so far as to let them announce debris confirmation, too. Those folks are big on face/honor and Malay Air or whatever it is (name) is a major airline in that area. Still no video of the debris however.

 

[Mac]

Latest I heard is that just after the turn, military radar shows it dropping from 35000 to 12000 ft that fits with Rons theory.
Dave
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/23/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/

 

[adsm08]

I think I like the on-board fire theory the best so far. It fits most of the details that we do have, and has the best explanation I have seen so far for killing the on-board comms equipment.

 

[JohnnyO]

I think I like the on-board fire theory the best so far. It fits most of the details that we do have, and has the best explanation I have seen so far for killing the on-board comms equipment.

Saw one pilot interviewed on TV, he said that one thing pilots keep in the back of their mind is other airports to land along the route in case there is ever a problem. If there was a fire they would have pulled the busses (fuses) to all the comm equipment and were possibly turned around to head to the closest airport. Then if there really was a fire the crew could have been incapacitated and the plane simply flew until it ran out of fuel.

JohnnyO's theory is still that the Muslim pilot spent too much time on extremist websites, got Sudden Jihadi Syndrome, and decided it was his day to kill the infidels on his plane and meet the 72 virgins. The guy from Australia did say that it is about the most inaccessible spot of any ocean in the world which fits with the idea of a suicidal pilot who wants to minimize the chance of being found or rescued.

 

[1994Ranger$$$pit]

This....

 

[tmcalavy]

Not THAT Dude...he's a Nancy Pelosi special...pass it then worry about it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Saw one pilot interviewed on TV, he said that one thing pilots keep in the back of their mind is other airports to land along the route in case there is ever a problem. If there was a fire they would have pulled the busses (fuses) to all the comm equipment and were possibly turned around to head to the closest airport. Then if there really was a fire the crew could have been incapacitated and the plane simply flew until it ran out of fuel.

If the fire was severe enough to incapacitate the crew I don't think the plane would have flown as far as it did.

 

[tmcalavy]

You wouldn't think so, but apparently the autopilots on those rigs are quite sophisticated and operate on backup systems...so the fire and crew/passenger incapacitation thing is possible. Plausible?? Don't know yet...insufficient data.

 

[JohnnyO]

My only thinking about the autopilot, and I am not a pilot nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but if the autopilot kicked on for whatever reason would the plane not continue on its original course? For the plane to make an almost 180* turn (even if the autopilot came on later) I think someone would have had to tell the plane to do that.

 

[RonD]

If the fire was severe enough to incapacitate the crew I don't think the plane would have flown as far as it did.

Fire was put out, if there was one, or as you say plane would have crashed much earlier if airframe was compromised by fire.
Fire in a sealed container, like a pressurized aircraft, uses up available oxygen pretty fast, so can be self-extinguishing, and if it was a fire, then oxygen masks can't be deployed for the obvious reason of not giving the fire more "fuel".

Oxygen depletion also extinguishes people

While dealing with whatever crisis was happening on this flight the Autopilot would have been engaged once a new heading was set, so all hands could deal with crisis.
And without the option of using oxygen masks the lack of oxygen or high carbon monoxide levels incapacitated the flight crew..........autopilot still engaged.


Whatever happened was first noticed and assessed, just before the change in heading, new heading was to closest long runway airport , autopilot was then re-engaged for this new heading, so pilot and co-pilot could deal with problem.


The only two facts that seem to be indisputable are the course change and that the "pings" continued until on-board fuel was exhausted.
Fact one fits with closest airport
Fact two fits with autopilot engaged and no one on-board conscious or alive

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was just thinking along the lines that if it burned bad enough to kill the radios and the crew... how did the electronic and hydraulic controls stay intact enough to fly for another 7 hours? To me, if that stuff survived the fire wasn't that bad.

And then there was the fact that all comms went down and the plane initiated a sharp banking turn and dive three minutes after the last all clear was radioed in.

I see now another aircraft tried to raise them and just got mumbling and static.

 

[RonD]

Well the last report from the on-board data transponder says plane was still on-route to Beijing.
The turn was done after the on-board data transmissions and radios stopped working.

The direction of the turn seems to fit with closest airport, and lower altitude from possible pressure/lack of oxygen issue.
So most likely done by a person, a pilot familiar with secondary airports on route.

If there was a pressure leak or smoldering fire then it may have only been noticed after 45min into the flight.
Generally the passenger section uses recycled air and cockpit is kept at a higher pressure, if door is closed, this would keep smoke from a fire out of the cockpit, and perhaps people in the passenger area, flight crew as well, were all "asleep" from lack of oxygen by the time smoke was visible.

With no answer calling the flight crew the pilot opens the cabin door and gets a flash fire, since smoldering fire had used up most of the oxygen.
Co-pilot loses most of his oxygen as well but manages to turn aircraft and descend, then discovers no radio, sets autopilot and then tries to do what he can, but passes out.
Fire burns out from lack of oxygen.
Plane flies on.


Boeing 777 is a fly-by-wire aircraft, so there are backups for each control surface and these wires are in there own conduits, backups separate from primary, so not likey to be affected by fire prior to major airframe failure.

 

[Jim Oaks]

They made the hard left and dropped to 12,000 feet suggesting the cabin depressurized. If it flew until it ran out of fuel, it was probably on autopilot. How it got switched to autopilot is an unknown.

Have to love the way the Malaysians authorities have handled it. Texting the families that it crashed in the ocean and all were lost was a poor move.

3rd week, and still no plane. Satellites keep finding images, but they have yet to be 'on scene' to start any recovery.

 

[Mark_88]

Yes, I thought the text message was rather crass...if you take the time to compile all those contacts you could at least them them an e-mail...but I guess the media was so hot to disclose the minute by minute coverage first so they probably wanted to try to be the ones to break the news to the families.

Tragedy and finesse are hard to mix sometimes...especially with digital information age.

 

[tmcalavy]

Yep, big clash of basic East and West cultures...I'm surprised none of the Western media has been thrown in jail over there, maybe that's the next big story...like the CNN turds who tried to make their own WTC story this week and got arrested.