But someone on this end would need to trigger the sending of that location information and paying attention to it when it comes back. There are a billion phone sending pings, but it is no help unless we zero in on those specific 200 phones and determine if they are sending from their location.
I’m saying that somebody should have monitored the phone of the passengers to see if there is one that is operating in tower range, and I have not heard about anyone trying to do this. It would surprise me if not a single passenger had left his phone on, or turned it on in flight.
BBC is reporting this now. Or at least part of it. I turned on the set toward the end of the report. But the reporter was saying it is now definite the plane crossed southern Thailand. (Geez, is there anything shady that we’re not involved in somehow?) The reporter went on to say that if Thailand had analyzed its radar data earlier, it would have saved a lot of time and effort wasted searching the South China Sea. And he said all the militaries of the region, not just Thailand’s, are coming under fire for their lack of professionalism.
So if it is the northern arc, then probably it crashed or landed on land. Could a friendly local government be helping? More and more I’m thinking of the scenario of someone using the plane to deliver a nuke somewhere. This is starting to get more chilling.
Why would anyone go to so much trouble to hijack a plane only to use it to deliver a nuke to some country?
Why wouldn’t they just buy or rent a plane? Even easier, why not just put one inside an 18 wheeler and drive it into the country?
If people smuggle tons and tons of drugs using 18 wheelers, how much more difficult would it be to smuggle a nuke into a country that way instead of hijacking a plane and flying it into the target country?
Much easier. Much less risk of getting caught. Much less risk of getting executed for killing all the passengers.
If they successfully explode a nuke, they will likely be executed anyway. But if they get caught before doing that, the penalties are a lot less if they rented a plane instead of hijacking one.
Because they don’t want it traced back to them, goes the theory. Driving a nuke all the way to Washington or New York might be doable, but easier to just load it on the plane and fly it toward the target.
I guess there wouldn’t be enough wreckage left to identify after the nuke exploded. But would any electronic details be left hanging out there?
Was there anyone “of interest” to power structures in one of the nearby countries on the plane? Politician, activist, military personnel, writer, preacher, artist, musician, rebel spy, oppressed minority, separatist, opposition member, something I can’t imagine?
And even on smooth water it was a near miracle that an engine didn’t catch the water and cartwheel the plane. Sully must have had it dead level. In the ocean it’s pretty much a guarantee that a wave will catch one engine first regardless of how level the pilot keeps the plane.
here’s a question nobody seems to have asked. WHERE’S THE CAPTAIN’S FAMILY that left the house the day before? Hello. When the pilot leaves a political rally 2 hrs prior to the flight and his family disappears it’s a solid 8 on the curious meter.
The best timeline and raw data I could find shows:[ul][li]00:41 local time (16:41 UTC, 7 March) - flight departs Kuala Lumpur[/li][li]01:07 - The final engine transmission (ACARS) was received, prior to the flight’s disappearance from secondary radar[/li][li]01:19 - The last words that Malaysian air traffic controllers heard were “All right, good night”.[/li][li]01:21 - The plane’s transponder stopped transmitting and ground control lost contact with the aircraft.[/li][li]01:22 - Subang Air Traffic Control had lost contact with the aircraft at 01:22 and notified Malaysia Airlines at 02:40. The airplane’s last known position was 6°55′15″N 103°34′43″E / 6.92083°N 103.57861°E / 6.92083; 103.57861, corresponding to the navigational waypoint IGARI, at which the aircraft was due to alter its course slightly eastward. When the last contact was made, it had fuel that could fly 8 more hours.[/li][li]01:37 - ACARS had been switched off sometime before next scheduled ACARS contact, which was due at 01:37 at did not occur (thus ACARS could have shut down any time between 01:07 and 01:37)[/li][li]02:14 - Malaysian military radar identified the plane in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca. [/li][li]“Pings” continue periodically[/li][li]08:11 - last ping received - this was the one they used to calculate the two arcs/corridors that the plane could have been located in at that time[/ul][/li]
Cites: Wikipedia article, CBC article
8 hrs might get them to Somalia but not if they’re buzzing small islands en-route. Given the trickle of information from Malaysia it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve been negotiating a ransom the whole time.
Extending the possibility that the Captain was doing this for political reasons and he flew all over Hell’s half acre with the plane it seems logical that he intended to land somewhere and ask for political asylum. If the plane was indeed over the Maldives islands at low altitude it would suggest this was his destination. This was one of the locations on his flight simulator.
So where’s the plane? The airport wasn’t in his database so he had to manually input the coordinates and he screwed it up. He runs out of fuel and ditches it in open water.
i mean, it’s not as if they fled the country or were unable to be located. they didn’t bug-out or anything, they just moved…
They seem cooperative and handed over the simulator (which wasn’t wiped nor destroyed, and given the complexity and seeming aforethought of the rest of this debacle you would think if there was something incriminating they’d be sure no one ever found the simulator ever).
Quick summary. After turning west the aircraft made subsequent turns that tracked them along an airways route via published waypoints. This is not consistent with emergency tracking which would be direct to an airport.
Me neither. I mean the whole thing is surprising, but whatever the final answer is I won’t be overly surprised. What would surprise me the most is if it turns out to be in the water at the original search location.
At this point I’m wondering which is more plausible: A complex theory that explains everything, or a simple theory that only explains some things, and what it doesn’t was just more misinformation.
Yeah. If you run on the assumption that the Malaysians aren’t being truthful then you’re free to come up with anything really. Of course if they aren’t being truthful then that, in and of itself, is an indicator that it is not just a normal air accident.
I’ve never heard of QQ before and don’t know the details of how it works, but this post in the comments section of the article might have an explanation:
I’m not talking some major cover-up or anything. It’s just that for the first several days, every new bit of information would, by the next day, either turn out be a false lead, or would be denied by someone else.
More recently it seems like the leads have had a bit more staying power, but I still wouldn’t be that surprised check the news tomorrow and find out some major “fact” about the case has turned out to be false or misinterpreted.
I’m still leaning towards a hijack by one or more members of the crew. But simpler explanation, where some of the more bizarre details were just red herrings seems nearly as plausible.