MH 777 missing - MH370 media statement

[Aussie_flyer]

Now reporting that they have widened the search area to the Straits of Malacca-the opposite direction to flight path.can only mean they suspect hijacking.
Malaysia Widens Search of Missing Jet

that information has been around for a while, in fact i think since yesterday

 

[Rox]

http://my.news.yahoo.com/b777-pilot-contacted-mh370-vanished-says-radio-interference-041445964.html
Would anyone care to comment on this, or is that routine?

 

[Pushka]

I would imagine thats quite common these days with adoption being very popular ex Asia into western countries for some time. He obviously does not watch modern family!

Hasn't seen my family either. .

 

[moa999]

Saw that report more than 24hrs ago, but it hasn't been seemingly corroberated.
Presumably would not be hard to pull the tapes from that plane and compare voices etc.

 

[Vernon]

Would anyone care to comment on this, or is that routine?

When an aircraft doesn't communicate with air traffic control, any and every means of trying to communicate with it are undertaken, the plane's emergency frequency is first that comes to mind...

like if we both had walkie talkies and mobiles, but you lose cellular coverage, my first instinct is to try and contact you via an alternate source (walkie talkies), similarly first obvious instinct is to see if any planes close by can get in touch with their emergency frequency, then relay any message back to the tower...

 

[williamsf1]

I started this thread over 50 hours ago and it appears the only factual information so far is

1. 2 Passengers travelled on Stolen passports
2. All reported sightings of wreckage have been disproved( latest press conference from MH)
3. No one has claimed responsibility from a terrorist organisation

The Mystery deepens …

 

[SeatBackForward]

And to add to the mystery, Freescale, is a company that mid 2013 put out this statement:

Freescale’s RF Business Makes Long-Term Commitment to U.S.-Based Aerospace and Defense Market RF power pioneer creates A&D-focused unit; multi-technology approach to leverage the advantages of LDMOS, GaAs and GaN product lines
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 4, 2013-- Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL), the global leader in radio frequency (RF) power transistors, today announced a major initiative focused on demonstrating how its new and existing commercial RF power and microwave RF devices can meet the requirements of the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) market.

Long stretch, but a possible explanation for no radio contact?

 

[moa999]

Few more facts.

4. Four passengers checked-in luggage and failed to board. However the luggage was deboarded and a subsequent search found nothing untoward... Presumably they are extremely fortunate that they spent too long in duty-free

5. Some radar signals appear to suggest that the plane might have begun to turn back, although this doesn't appear to be overly conclusive.

6. The two passengers traveling on stolen passports booked their tickets in coughet, Thailand, at the same time via the same agent on China Southern for codeshares via Beijing and Amsteram to two different European destinations.

 

[JohnPhelan]

I feel some maniac opened the air lock doors and due to the high altitude and age of the aircraft there was an explosive decompression that tore the plane apart, a bomb makes little sense..., But what makes no sense is why communication was severed so early/instantly... ?

1. The design of the doors makes it impossible for them to be opened inflight.
2. "the age of the aircraft" - it's only 12 years old! Besides which, it's the number of cycles, not the number of years, that is relevant.
3. A mid-air explosion would result in debris field spread over a sizeable area.

 

[DrA]

All this speculation about terrorism and nobody claiming responsibility...Maybe it was a couple of disorganised terrorists? Something similar to the Boston marathon bombers? Or the Unabomber? Not many would deny they were terrorists in their own way, but weren't part of any larger organised group who could claim responsibility.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Well its been mentioned before that nobody initially claimed responsibility for lockerbie or sep 11

 

[Rox]

When an aircraft doesn't communicate with air traffic control, any and every means of trying to communicate with it are undertaken, the plane's emergency frequency is first that comes to mind...

like if we both had walkie talkies and mobiles, but you lose cellular coverage, my first instinct is to try and contact you via an alternate source (walkie talkies), similarly first obvious instinct is to see if any planes close by can get in touch with their emergency frequency, then relay any message back to the tower...

I should have clarified that my question was more about: is this an unusual request,
And the point that they had some sort of voice contact after ATC radio contact was lost.

 

[Vernon]

1. The design of the doors makes it impossible for them to be opened inflight.
2. "the age of the aircraft" - it's only 12 years old! Besides which, it's the number of cycles, not the number of years, that is relevant.
3. A mid-air explosion would result in debris field spread over a sizeable area.

1. Or the doors dislodged as I don't believe this was terrorists, nothing makes sense...
2. The 787 is 3 yrs old and well..., each plane undergoes different stress levels and service levels in its cycle, you generalize such a thing but its a variant, no one knows if 12 years, 20,243 hours and 3,023 cycles was enough to structurally tear apart the aircraft at 35,000 ft if there was some extreme level of decompression...
3. Edit: Not sure, but since sunday they've announced expansions to the "search area"...

 

[browski]

This just reported sounds promising and entirely plausible:

MISSING MH370: Man claims possible sighting of airliner - Latest - New Straits Times

 

[prozac]

All this speculation about terrorism and nobody claiming responsibility...Maybe it was a couple of disorganised terrorists? Something similar to the Boston marathon bombers? Or the Unabomber? Not many would deny they were terrorists in their own way, but weren't part of any larger organised group who could claim responsibility.

If terrorists were planning on secreting the bomb/s and pre-arming them for an onward flight after they disembarked, then they would not be in a position to claim responsibility as the bomb activated prematurely whilst they were still on board. A bit like the suicide bomb teacher who in showing his 23 eager students the intricacies of activating the vest accidentally set it off killing them all.

 

[defurax]

A bit like the suicide bomb teacher who in showing his 23 eager students the intricacies of activating the vest accidentally set it off killing them all.

Natural selection...

 

[Jack_OC]

3. That's exactly what happened debris is spread over a huge area, since sunday they've announced expansions to the "search area"...

As far as I understand it, they've widened the search area because so far they've found nothing, not because they've found debris spread over a large area

 

[Sprucegoose]

I started this thread over 50 hours ago and it appears the only factual information so far is

1. 2 Passengers travelled on Stolen passports
2. All reported sightings of wreckage have been disproved( latest press conference from MH)
3. No one has claimed responsibility from a terrorist organisation

The Mystery deepens …

it took 8 days to find a piece of AF.

 

[Vernon]

As far as I understand it, they've widened the search area because so far they've found nothing, not because they've found debris spread over a large area

Yes my bad I should have corrected that..., I was thinking about the area searched... apologies

 

[mannej]

1. Or the doors dislodged as I don't believe this was terrorists, nothing makes sense...
2. The 787 is 3 yrs old and well..., each plane undergoes different stress levels and service levels in its cycle, you generalize such a thing but its a variant, no one knows if 12 years, 20,243 hours and 3,023 cycles was enough to structurally tear apart the aircraft at 35,000 ft if there was some extreme level of decompression...
3. That's exactly what happened debris is spread over a huge area, since sunday they've announced expansions to the "search area"...

1. A decompression isn't necessarily a catastrophic event, look at QF30.

2. What does the 787 have to do with this? Maintenance checks are meant to ensure that any metal flaws do not turn into a catastrophic event. 3,000 odd cycles and 20,000 hours isn't that particularly old.
3. What debris? They haven't found any yet...