Now I think about it, pilot suicide / mass murder makes the most sense if you consider that this whole mess we have going on now was completely intentional. If you just send out some screed to news agencies before leaving then fly the plane into the ocean, well, that makes a statement, but most everyone would have stopped talking about it a week ago.
On the hand if you make the plane seem to “disappear”, it becomes a huge event that’s in the news for weeks, while making the government you hate look like a bunch of incompetent fools. That’s a considerably bigger statement.
And link to the ABC news service, which is our government/public organisation and even more reliable/less sensationalist. It has no connection to the US ABC news
My thoughts exactly. Tony Abbot is using a piece of information to gain publicity and profile in the Australian and international media. This mystery is not a political issue and IMHO it is grossly cynical for any politician outside Malaysia to use it.
Do we know any more than before he spoke? No. There have been numerous sightings of possible wreckage over the past ten days but they have not proved out. So why raise hopes once again? - why not wait until the Orions are overhead and actually find something.
Just going back a step, could Richard or anyone enlighten me on data transmissions please? This is a great discussion but I’ve become confused.
Passenger aircraft transmit an identifying radio signal from the transponder. Is that a ground based signal or to a satellite?
Apparently Rolls Royce jet engines independently send engine performance signals to Rolls Royce. Correct? If so, how often and are these aimed at a satellite or ground stations?
The ACARS system is fitted by the manufacturer (Boeing) and sends simple packets of information about the aircraft depending upon what the airline decides to pay for? Ground or satellite?
The ACARS system is able to be switched off/disabled but has an independant power system that allows it to respond to a signal - handshake?
Why is the likely path calculated from the satellite in a curve rather than a circle? I do understand the gap represents over the horizon.
Looks like conditions are not favourable over the southern ocean, plus its night-time. The Orions are long range aircraft capable of 9 hour missions but they are so far from land in these circumstances that 2 hours is the most time they have. Wonder if they could set down at Diego?
