Malaysia Airlines 777 Missing

[Esox_Lucius]

@Richard_Pearse

Yep. The trigger for feeling like you are not getting enough oxygen is actually a lowering of your blood PH due to increased CO2 levels, it is not directly caused by a lack of oxygen. Typical signs of hypoxia include feelings of euphoria and well being. If you are hypoxic you are probably the last person to realise, if you do. That is why the first response to any cockpit indication of a pressurisation problem is to get the oxygen on. Once you’ve done that you’ve got plenty of time to trouble shoot.

Okay, that leads me to more speculation (because there hasn’t been nearly enough speculation about this;)). If the pilot wanted to kill himself, this sounds like a kinder, gentler way to do it, and he must have known about it. Is it possible that the pilot intended to kill himself as well as the passengers when the plane climbed to 45,000 feet, and then let the plane fly on its own?

[AaronX]

@AaronX

That’s a good point, maybe they should search the area the plane could have reached, based on its last position and fuel. Maybe it was hijacked and landed somewhere? How large a runway does a 777 need?

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Runways in Range | WNYC says there are 634 runways within the plane’s range. Wow, I didn’t expect there to be so many in South East Asia alone. And these are the official ones only. Looks like it’s not practical to search all the possible runways.

[Charlie_Wayne]

WARNING

The following news story expresses some opinions that are IMHO terrifying. If you do not wish to be scared, you should exercise caution before reading this story:

http://www.infowars.com/flight-370-passengers-may-still-be-alive-pirated-boeing-777-may-return-to-skies-as-stealth-nuclear-weapon

Alex Jones claims there is a chance this airline was landed in Iran and will be retro-fitted and used as a nuclear suicide bomb for some middle Eastern city.

Read with caution and be warned! It scared the H out of me!

[Mellivora_capensis]

@Charlie_Wayne

…
Read with caution and be warned! It scared the H out of me!

So you’ll be changing your name to Carlie Wayne now?

[Lord_Feldon]

@Charlie_Wayne

The following news story expresses some opinions that are IMHO terrifying. If you do not wish to be scared, you should exercise caution before reading this story:

http://www.infowars.com/flight-370-passengers-may-still-be-alive-pirated-boeing-777-may-return-to-skies-as-stealth-nuclear-weapon

Yes, anybody who goes to InfoWars should exercise extreme caution.

Alex Jones

Here are a few other Jones predictions that failed to materialize: At least 15 European nations will collapse in the next 16 months (prediction made on Feb. 28, 2010); staged terror attacks will occur April 15 or 19 to coincide with the release of anti-Tea Party documentaries on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, and HBO (March 3, 2010); and the U.S. dollar will be devalued by 50% within two years (May 23, 2010).

[AK84]

@Siam_Sam

Thai Immigration inspects your passport as you leave. I have no idea what they’re looking for, but they do swipe it through their computer and type away in an official-looking manner. I’ve always assumed they’re making sure your name does not come up as being wanted for some offense in-country, but I don’t really know. And I’ve flown out of Kuala Lumpur Airport myself and recall being scrutinized to some extent by Immigration. It’s not like in the US, where the airline just makes sure you have a passport before you can board. Immigration officers over here do have to approve your exit.

A little more on passport fraud over here. Rather interesting.

Well the TSA agent at JFK does look at your passports and types something before screening.

[Lord_Feldon]

Wow, I just read that Alex Jones Link. Why would anyone, or any state, with the means to retrofit a plane into a giant nuclear cruise missile need to steal a plane? If it’s being retrofitted in a hangar in Iran, surely that would require the complicity of the government of Iran, which is perfectly capable of acquiring airliners without attracting this much attention.

[ptr2void]

Interesting analysis making the rounds on Twitter: http://keithledgerwood.tumblr.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using-sia68

[Ken001]

@scr4

No, that only happens on TV. In reality, there is no way to achieve real time coverage and high resolution at the same time.

Of course there are weather satellites with continuous coverage, but they are 22,000 miles up, in geostationary orbit. The resolution is measured in miles. They can see the light from large towns, but that’s about it.

There are also imaging satellites, both civilian and military. Some have high enough resolution to see an airliner. But because of the high resolution, they have small fields of view. The RapidEye satellite, for example, have 5 meter resolution (so a 777 would be 6 pixels long), and takes half a year to photograph the entire planet.

Thanks for that and of course you are right. Too much tv and movies for me. Satellites watch vast ares and it is only when they are tasked that they focus down to number plate level which is useless if the event happened yesterday or last week.

[Richard_Pearse]

@ptr2void

Interesting analysis making the rounds on Twitter: http://keithledgerwood.tumblr.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using-sia68

I give him points for originality and plausibility. I think he’s made a mistake with the TCAS though. All of the TCAS units I’ve used have been integrated with the transponder head. You turn the transponder off and not only do you not show up on another aeroplane’s TCAS, you have also turned your own TCAS off and won’t see other aeroplanes either. This doesn’t kill his theory though, on a nice night you could fly in formation with another aeroplane visually.

[Martini_Enfield]

One thing I don’t believe has been addressed: Why is it possible to turn the transponder off? What “legitimate” (for want of a better term) purpose does that achieve, besides being a useful plot point in a Frederick Forsyth or Tom Clancy novel?

[Boyo_Jim]

@Martini_Enfield

One thing I don’t believe has been addressed: Why is it possible to turn the transponder off? What “legitimate” (for want of a better term) purpose does that achieve, besides being a useful plot point in a Frederick Forsyth or Tom Clancy novel?

It’s been addressed 2 or 3 times in this thread already. There are several good reasons for it.

[Martini_Enfield]

@Boyo_Jim

It’s been addressed 2 or 3 times in this thread already. There are several good reasons for it.

This thread is more than 12 pages long at this point, and despite trying to participate (but finding my posts mostly unacknowledged), I have to say I haven’t immediately noticed an answer to this question.

Perhaps you’d be so kind as to provide an example of a legitimate reason to turn of an aeroplane’s transponder, for the benefit of people coming in late whose eyes have glazed over from trying to read 12 pages of speculation and discussion, whilst missing that nugget of information in the process?

[Mellivora_capensis]

@Martini_Enfield

This thread is more than 12 pages long at this point, and despite trying to participate (but finding my posts mostly unacknowledged), I have to say I haven’t immediately noticed an answer to this question.

Perhaps you’d be so kind as to provide an example of a legitimate reason to turn of an aeroplane’s transponder, for the benefit of people coming in late whose eyes have glazed over from trying to read 12 pages of speculation and discussion, whilst missing that nugget of information in the process?

Screen clutter was one reason, I’ll try and find the post.

[Mellivora_capensis]

@Mellivora_capensis

Screen clutter was one reason, I’ll try and find the post.

See post 259 by Magiver.

[Martini_Enfield]

@Mellivora_capensis

See post 259 by Macgiver.

Thanks for that. I’m still surprised the option isn’t “Don’t display this information on the screen” as opposed to “Turn off this apparently useful, nay, vital piece of technology”, though. I mean, we’re talking about a multi-million dollar aircraft with hundreds of people on it, not an iPhone.

[Musicat]

@Martini_Enfield

Thanks for that. I’m still surprised the option isn’t “Don’t display this information on the screen” as opposed to “Turn off this apparently useful, nay, vital piece of technology”, though. I mean, we’re talking about a multi-million dollar aircraft with hundreds of people on it, not an iPhone.

iPhone? You do realize we’re talking about 1960’s technology?

[Richard_Pearse]

@Martini_Enfield

This thread is more than 12 pages long at this point, and despite trying to participate (but finding my posts mostly unacknowledged), I have to say I haven’t immediately noticed an answer to this question.

Perhaps you’d be so kind as to provide an example of a legitimate reason to turn of an aeroplane’s transponder, for the benefit of people coming in late whose eyes have glazed over from trying to read 12 pages of speculation and discussion, whilst missing that nugget of information in the process?

1. Aircraft are powered on at the gate for at least 30 minutes prior to flight, if they all have their transponders on it causes screen clutter for controllers and TCAS displays. So they are turned on just prior to engine start and off just after shutdown.

2. If the transponder is malfunctioning then ATC may prefer you to turn it off rather than having bad data displayed.

3. If the unit catches fire it’d be nice to turn it off rather than depowering the whole electrical system.

4. When you change the transponder code in flight you should turn the transponder off first so that ATC radar display systems don’t accidentally pick up spurious codes as you cycle through the numbers. If you happen to cycle through a code that is already assigned to another aircraft, the radar data tag can jump from the other aircraft to yours.

As I think I said to someone else, turning it off is not some rare event that has been taken advantage of by hijackers, it is something that needs to be done every flight.

[Richard_Pearse]

@Martini_Enfield

Thanks for that. I’m still surprised the option isn’t “Don’t display this information on the screen” as opposed to “Turn off this apparently useful, nay, vital piece of technology”, though. I mean, we’re talking about a multi-million dollar aircraft with hundreds of people on it, not an iPhone.

I wouldn’t call it vital. We are allowed to dispatch without a transponder if they are broken and we get a waiver from ATC.

[Mellivora_capensis]

@Martini_Enfield

Thanks for that. I’m still surprised the option isn’t “Don’t display this information on the screen” as opposed to “Turn off this apparently useful, nay, vital piece of technology”, though. I mean, we’re talking about a multi-million dollar aircraft with hundreds of people on it, not an iPhone.

No problem. Speaking of iPhone, check out their app called Flightradar24. Really cool.