Malaysian Airlines plane still missing after three days

[mc]

This is getting to be unbelievable. So sad. After three days no sight of debris. Plane fell of radar Friday night after leaving Kuala Lampur. One hr into the flight, it loses all communications. Falls off radar screen. No distress signal. Not weather related as skies were clear.

Jeez.

What we know:

2 passengers were travelling with stolen passports
5 passengers who were supposed to travel didn't travel.
Plane had enough fuel to fly for 7 hours.
Pilots were very experience veteran pilots.
2 Canadian onboard from Montreal.

[mc]

From a thread I am following on Reddit:

- cannot discount any possibilities, including possibility of turnback

- it is being described as an "unprecedented missing aircraft mystery"

- "we have to find the aircraft. we have to find pieces of the aircraft. this is something we have to do."

- authorities are investigating the case of two passengers on the aircraft with fraudulent passport. authorities going through all CCTV, all records.

- there are issues with 5 passengers who did not fly on the aircraft. malaysian air reiterates

- baggage from these 5 passengers were removed.

- hostage situation remains a possibility, "looking at all angles, considering every possibility"
"we understand you want answers from us, you want details, we are equally eager as you are to find details and parts of the aircraft and we hope you will be patient and our boys in the rescue control centre on the ships now are trying their best to locate whatever they can find in the areas that we have identified and maybe those beyond that. we are every hour, every minute, every second, looking at every inch of the sea"

[mc]

Live updates

http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2014/mar/10/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-search-continues-live-updates

[AvroArrow]

Yeah, I've been watching this story over the weekend.  It's crazy!

[mc]

How It’s Possible to Lose an Airplane in 2014

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/malaysia-air/

Whatever happened, it happened quickly, aviation experts said, and catastrophically. The fact it happened over the ocean–presumably the South China Sea, but possibly the Gulf of Thailand–means it could be months or years before we know exactly what went wrong. The ocean is a very big place, and finding clues will be slow. It took investigators two years to recover the black box data recorder from Air France Flight 447, which went down over the Atlantic on June 1, 2009.

Once a plane is more than 100 or 150 miles from shore, radar no longer works. It simply doesn’t have the range. (The specific distance from shore varies with the type of radar, the weather, and other factors.) At that point, civilian aircraft communicate largely by high-frequency radio

[hockeyfan1]

According to (military) radar data, it seems that the airliner changed it's course of direction, going from as reported "from Malaysia, over the sea, onto the Strait of Malacca".

This may explain why the plane became "undetectable" "hundred of miles" from it's original course or position.

More here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/airline-says-search-area-widened-missing-jet-focusing-062134307.html

[hockeyfan1]

The mystery deepens as the search effort widens.  Questions, clues, suspicion and evidence all point to a deliberate shutdown of the plane's communication system.  By whom, what, why and how?  The pilots themselves?  And furthermore, just where was Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 headed to?

Read more here:
 http://ca.news.yahoo.com/timing-final-words-cockpit-missing-malaysian-jet-reveal-172104513.html

[Corn Flake]

My guess is (yeah I know.. a real world renowned aviation expert I am) it's in the South Indian Ocean, since it could have flown for hours after the transponder was turned off and there is zero sign of anything hitting land and where it would have no chance of even being seen by anyone even going down, let alone crashing.

[hockeyfan1]

My guess is (yeah I know.. a real world renowned aviation expert I am) it's in the South Indian Ocean, since it could have flown for hours after the transponder was turned off and there is zero sign of anything hitting land and where it would have no chance of even being seen by anyone even going down, let alone crashing.

Most likely that it's in the ocean.  Then again, even if it is, the most pertinent thing then would be to find the CVR & FDR, at least to determine some sort of identifiable reasoning for the plane's disappearance or crash wherever it may have.

[mc]

Considering this plane flew undetected for 5 hours, whether it went north corridor or south corridor, I doubt this plane is ever found. It could take years. The vast scope of possibilities of where it could have crashed or landed are unending.

[Potvin29]

If you like a good theory: http://keithledgerwood.tumblr.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using-sia68-sq68

[bustaheims]

If you like a good theory: http://keithledgerwood.tumblr.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using-sia68-sq68

I was actually just coming to post something about that. What he's suggesting would requires some very skilled pilots at the helm, but, other than that, it seems awfully plausible. Granted, I don't really know enough about the various systems in place to say what's being proposed is accurate enough to work, but, if it is . . . so far, this is the best theory out there that covers all the oddities in the plane's recorded flightpath.

[Potvin29]

I can't say I know much about the finer details of what that guy is talking about, so hopefully he knows what he's talking about.  In general terms it seems plausible, but still extremely, extremely difficult to do - especially under the circumstances of this plane.

But I guess the pilot did have a pretty extensive flight simulator at home?

[OldTimeHockey]

Pffft wouldn't the pilots of SIA68 of seen the guy tailgating him in his rearview mirrors?

[LittleHockeyFan]

Pffft wouldn't the pilots of SIA68 of seen the guy tailgating him in his rearview mirrors?

I shouldn't, given the gravity of the situation, but LOFL!!