The last story I saw said these reports are denied by Malaysia Airlines, not by the manufacturers. The story quotes Rolls Royce, the engine maker who presumably would have received the in-flight data, as refusing to comment. There is no mention of any attempt to get a confirmation or denial from Boeing.
Well, to be more precised, these reports are denied by the manufacturers as reported by Malaysia Airlines.
To be even more accurate, Malasia Airlines claims Boeing and Rolls Royce have communicated with Malaysia Airlines and denied that any such transmissions were received. The two manufacturers have not confirmed or denied the data transmission to anyone else, AKAIK.
Malaysia Airlines also appears to be the least reliable airline reporter of fact ever in my experience. While I don’t really think the manufacturers have received these transmissions, I have no confidence they’ve told Malaysia Airlines any such thing.
Has anyone checked the used airplane listings on Craigslist?
For sale used B777 cheap.
Reuters, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that “pings” from a troubleshooting subsystem on MH370 were picked up by satellites.
Summation so far:
The last known location of the plane was 6°55’15.0"N 103°34’43.0"E. This was about 185 miles (297 km) from Kuala Terengganu Mahmood Airport (TGG) 5°22’54.91"N103° 6’11.91"E. The normal range for commercial radar is 200 miles so it’s on the long end of returning a good signal and would normally drop off at this point. Not sure what a transponder range is but from my experience it’s much shorter than this. Commercial pilots can weigh in on a good number.
NZ oil rig worker Michael Jerome McKay reported seeing a burning plane while on oil rig “Songa Mercur” located at 8°21’30.25"N108°42’22.26"E . a recap of what he said shortened retyped from here: I observed (the plane?) burning at high altitude and on a compass bearing of 265° to 275° from our surface location. It is very difficult ot judge the distance but I’d say 50-70 km along the compass bearing 260° -270°. While I observed the burning (plane) it appeared to be in ONE piece. From when I first saw the burning (plane) until the flames went out (still at high altitude) was 10-15 seconds. There was no lateral movement, so it was either coming toward our location, stationary (falling) or going away from our location. The general position of the observation was perpendicular / south-west of the normal flight paths (we see the con-trails every day) and at a lower altitude than the normal flight paths. Or on the compass bearing 265°-275° intersecting the normal flight paths and at normal altitude but further away.
A rumor exists that the military radar saw a turn to the Southwest and another rumor exists saying the engines ran for 4 hrs after it left Malaysian airspace. Both rumors denied. If the military radar saw a turn back over the peninsula then the corresponding civilian radars would have picked up the plane with or without the transponder code.
The possible visual siting of a burning plane from the oil rig puts it close to the Vietnam shore line. Again, it would have been picked up by various radars there.
The US Navy is moving the USS Kidd destroyer to the Indian Ocean based on “unspecified” information.
In all seriousness, there is some speculation the plane was diverted with the intent to use it later. Is there any possibility that this thing didn’t crash at all? Can a plane like this actually land in some remote place without anyone knowing about it?
I guessthis answers my question.
Yes.
Well, the people at the landing site will know about it…
It’s improbable but not impossible that the B777 landed somewhere as opposed to crashing. It won’t be in a farm field somewhere (the landing gear would sink into soft soil resulting in Bad Things occurring immediately after that point) but an abandoned airfield might work, some types of roads…
Possible, but not likely.
I wish you would not use technical terms that those of us who are not pilots cannot understand.
=)
A. I haven’t read the whole thread.
- I have not read the quoted link.
Since the aircraft turned around, I wonder if someone was trying to take it to Africa (whether or not it made it). Did it have the range to cross the Indian Ocean? Are there places where it could have landed? (Not necessarily without being damaged beyond repair.) Since there have been no demands, I’m guessing that it was not a successful hijacking. Since there has been no ELT signal, I’m guessing it’s in the water somewhere.
Conspiracy theory alert!
Malaysia are being so cagey with information because the aeroplane has landed, the passengers are being held hostage, and Malaysia is negotiating with the hijackers.
“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice, when she’s ten feet tall.
And the plot thickens. I am on the edge of my seat!
That would only be true if the civilian radars had the same coverage area as the military ones, there’s no reason why this should be the case. Also in the case of civilian radars a primary radar paint might not show on the screen at all if the operator doesn’t want the clutter. I’ve sat at an en-route controller’s station and the screen didn’t show any primary paints.
Slight correction: Lord Lucan killed his children’s nanny, not his wife. He attacked his wife, but she survived and is still alive.
Hmmm…I wonder if the participants behind a hijacking, if any, are sophisticated and knowledgeable enough to know some of the critical elements being discussed here? Did they know what reporting the plane might or might not have been doing, what radar coverages there were, the limits thereof, not to mention the potential range of the aircraft? While not impossible, we’re asking for an incredible array of diverse knowledge of diverse elements by a small group of people. While 9/11 comes to mind, we’re in pretty fantastical territory here.
As long as we’re allowed to guess, I’m betting on an electrical fire (problem) followed by sudden decompression which lead to loss of control and a near vertical crash into the ocean. That would explain the lack of flight data (IFF) and absence of recoverable evidence.
My new theory is that it was a hijack and the target was the Petrona Towers. They hijacked the plane shortly after leaving Malaysian airspace, turned the plane around and headed for Kuala Lumpur. However, being in the middle of the night, they got lost and thought they were heading south when indeed they were headed west. Then they ran out of fuel over the Indian Ocean and ditched the plane there.