What happened to (where is) the missing Malaysian Airline?

[robnplunder]

It's hard for me to believe, with all the modern tech, we can't locate the missing plane for days. There's all kind of rumors but I am hoping it crash landed somewhere safe.

 

[TimSF]

Me too. I don't often follow evolving news stories, but this one has me riveted. It seems that despite all the technology/information available in this Age, mysterious things - sometime horrific - still happen. I had thought for sure that this was terrorism, but the more recent reports are throwing doubt on that hypothesis. What happened to this plane!? It seems eerily like a setup for the popular tv series "Lost."

 

[braumeister]

It took months to find the Air France plane that went down in the Atlantic a few years ago. Oceans are really big!

 

[Bikerdude]

It took months to find the Air France plane that went down in the Atlantic a few years ago. Oceans are really big!

Actually, it took 2 years to find and recover the black box.

As Air France crash showed, recovery can be long, daunting

 

[imoldernu]

Check CNN... they're full time on the turn around, the five hour fuel supply, and the circle of 1000 + mile radius of the last radar contact near Pulau Perak.
My calcualtions 785,000 square mile area to search.

Curious to note that the starting point, the turn around point, and the last radar contact form a triangle.

 

[Bikerdude]

This report says they turned off their transponder then flew West. Possible hijack attempt?

Yahoo!

 

[braumeister]

Curious to note that the starting point, the turn around point, and the last radar contact form a triangle.

So that's why we don't hear about the Bermuda Triangle much anymore. It migrated to the other side of the planet.

 

[robnplunder]

Rumors and new stories are coming in fast and furious. Most rumors are turning out to be just that, rumors. The latest one of interest is an official report from Taiwan that they warned China of possible terrorist attack.

 

[veremchuka]

It blatantly obvious that

 

[ls99]

There are a cople of system on commercial airliners which squawk information all the time. ACARS and TCAS. I notice that no info is being disseminated. As usual the insider's know a lot more than is published.

 

[gcgang]

It must be in the Twilight Zone.

 

[Bikerdude]

It must be in the Twilight Zone.

Or maybe on an Island with a big guy who just won the lottery with a number combination of: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 .

 

[MRG]

Just saw 'Nonstop' yesterday, maybe they dropped to 8000'.

Joking aside a terrible situation. My Sister was terribly impacted by TWA 800. She knew many of the 16 children in that French club. Told me she could only make it to 5 services, she wanted to pay respects to at least 2 more families, but just couldn't do it.
MRG

 

[Lcountz]

OK how about this....

They experienced a violent mechanical event that caused loss of hydraulic and some electrical components, including the radios, and maybe even fuel leakage...making control of the aircraft difficult if not impossible....or, allowing only for difficultly executed turns...

Managed to turn the flight around but could not effect any more turns or mainatain altitude control..plane continued the westerly trajectory, dropping slowly in altitude, losing more electrical systems and fuel, the transponders failed, until it ultimately crashed in the water or perhaps on land in Indonesia.....

These are elements of several crashes ( United out west that lost hydraulics and they managed to land it but many were killed; jets that ran out of fuel, fire or smoke damage to components like the Mother's Day crash in Florida, the Korean 747 that lost it's tail and remained airborne for such a relative long time afterwards.... etc...)

But, I heard on the news that the body of water between Malaysia and Indonesia is a very busy shipping channel so if it DID go down there, you would think wreckage would have been spotted by now...

My amateur theory-please be kind in your comments... I watch a LOT of Air Disaster shows and it's amazing what they reconstruct of these catastrophes.....

 

[robnplunder]

OK how about this....

They experienced a violent mechanical event that caused loss of hydraulic and some electrical components, including the radios, and maybe even fuel leakage...making control of the aircraft difficult if not impossible....or, allowing only for difficultly executed turns...

Managed to turn the flight around but could not effect any more turns or mainatain altitude control..plane continued the westerly trajectory, dropping slowly in altitude, losing more electrical systems and fuel, the transponders failed, until it ultimately crashed in the water or perhaps on land in Indonesia.....

That's the most plausible scenario I've heard so far. Lack of debris is puzzling but I think it will have to show up sometime, somewhere.

 

[Bikerdude]

If I recall the Air France crash correctly, several things happened in succession to cause the fatal outcome. First, they attempted to avoid a storm in their path only to run into a rare phenomenon called liquid ice that clogged their airspeed indicator. This sent incorrect information to the pilots who adjusted speed (based on faulty information) causing a stall that sent the plane into a spin. The pilots were unable to control the spin and crashed into the Ocean at full speed.

I suspect more than one thing is responsible for the Malaysia flight disappearance.

 

[Gumby]

Looking at the map locations where they lost civilian contact and where the military radar last saw them, they may have been heading for Banda Aceh, where there is a large airport. There was a long-running insurgency in that area that only recently ended. Could have had something to do with that.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Total flight hours over 53,000 , and 7,500 cycles ( take-off - pressurize, landing) on that airplane.

Only 12 years old, but that airplane has a lot of use.

Sudden de-pressurization at 35,000 ft , or a sudden major mechanical situation over the ocean, in the dark, a very taxing situation even for the best flight crew .

 

[sheehs1]

Am watching and following too. The lack of any signal from the plane is more than baffling. Also the fact that not one of the passengers has used any of their own electronics.

 

[springnr]

P3 takeoff from Kadena to join search

I was scheduled to be deployed, standing on the tarmac in Kadena (P3 contractor) right now, but retired 1 Jan
Interesting to see one of my work sites from afar. Noticed yesterday, and it struck me as interesting, when looking at the news info showing who/what was searching this or that area, the P3 was searching an area on the wrong side of Malaysia away from where everyone else was....

 

[check6]

If I recall the Air France crash correctly, several things happened in succession to cause the fatal outcome. First, they attempted to avoid a storm in their path only to run into a rare phenomenon called liquid ice that clogged their airspeed indicator. This sent incorrect information to the pilots who adjusted speed (based on faulty information) causing a stall that sent the plane into a spin. The pilots were unable to control the spin and crashed into the Ocean at full speed.

Pretty accurate description except the aircraft was kept in a stalled state, not spinning, due to the First Officer keeping the stick (no yoke on an Airbus) full aft. Simply releasing the stick would have recovered the aircraft.

 

[braumeister]

Interesting piece in the WSJ today. Behind the paywall, but some snippets:

In the past 65 years, 80 planes have taken off and vanished, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

Eleven years ago, a shiny silver Boeing 727 airliner took off from Luanda, Angola, and became one of the few commercial jetliners to vanish and never be found.

Massive jet airplanes disappear more often in fiction than in real life, but it does happen. In 1979, a Boeing 707 with six people aboard was lost in the Pacific Ocean after leaving Tokyo. And dozens of smaller planes have gone missing and never been located.

The so-far fruitless search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared early Saturday with 239 people aboard, is unprecedented because of the plane's size and because the widebody Boeing 777 had been in radio and satellite contact with multiple locations on the ground. It was also flying when it lost contact over the sea in one of the world's most densely populated regions, Southeast Asia, not over remote jungle or open ocean.

The Aviation Safety Network, a database tracking accidents, lists 80 planes as "missing" since 1948. No trace of the planes or their occupants was ever found, according to ASN President Harro Ranter.

 

[Koogie]

But, I heard on the news that the body of water between Malaysia and Indonesia is a very busy shipping channel so if it DID go down there, you would think wreckage would have been spotted by now...

I've sailed through that area twice on cruises (the Malacca Straits) and I can confirm that you are never out of sight of other vessels. It's actually astounding at night because it is almost like you are on a highway across the plains and can see the lights from the other vehicles in the distance. There are everything from little fishing vessels to coasters to container ships to LNG vessels.

If that plane had of come down in that body of water I find it hard to believe no one saw anything.

 

[Bikerdude]

New information just adds to the mystery.

Missing Malaysia jet may have flown on for hours - The Wall Street Journal - MarketWatch

 

[Bestwifeever]

New information just adds to the mystery.

Missing Malaysia jet may have flown on for hours - The Wall Street Journal - MarketWatch

This is SIL's theory from the beginning, that the jet was commandeered and flown to a secret location to be used later.