MH 777 missing - MH370 media statement

[lovestotravel]

Surely the US know where this plane was/is etc etc

But as said above it's probably best they don't let the Chinese know how good/bad their satellites really are

I guess they *USA) are "laughing" now that the Chinese "crash site" was not really the site

 

[moa999]

All of this in my mind proves one thing.
Finding the right 'information' whether that be random pings, a radar ghost or a tiny thing in a massive ocean is still not easy in today's day and age because there is so much information created and it is very difficult to analyse all of it.

 

[maninblack]

I would be surprised if an active Air Force and Naval base that also has a deep space tracking station and was the home of a former satellite tracking facility would not have radar, especially with the unhappiness the Indians have shown in the past over its presence.

B1's ran a huge number of missions day and night out of there into Afghanistan and elsewhere. Was also a TAL for the Space Shuttle. Yes of course it has radar!

 

[drron]

If the latest info is correct this is looking like a hijack-

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.
Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.
This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said.

Exclusive: Radar data suggests missing Malaysia plane deliberately flown way off course - sources | Reuters

 

[markis10]

If this is the true scenario, does this still indicate a fatal result?

Not necessarily, although hiding a 777 thats intact would take some doing, and 235 passengers would need a bit of food after a week if they are being held alive.
I suspect if its true, it will possibly reflect badly on MH, more so than had it been malfunction etc.

 

[amaroo]

Surely the US know where this plane was/is etc etc

But as said above it's probably best they don't let the Chinese know how good/bad their satellites really are

I guess they *USA) are "laughing" now that the Chinese "crash site" was not really the site

Cruel - probably very true

 

[prozac]

Not necessarily, although hiding a 777 thats intact would take some doing, and 235 passengers would need a bit of food after a week if they are being held alive.
I suspect if its true, it will possibly reflect badly on MH, more so than had it been malfunction etc.

Not really, after a week they will eat anything.

 

[Archphoto]

Is it unusual that no debris has washed up anywhere in the region or would it take longer than the current timeframe to do so? Just something that was discussed with Thai friends here in BKK today.

They also mentioned that if it went down in a jungle area (rather than into the water) it could explain why no debris has been sighted yet - pretty dense and in a lightly populated area, not a lot of chance it would have been seen or heard.

 

[amaroo]

I suspect if its true, it will possibly reflect badly on MH, more so than had it been malfunction etc.

Sad to say - it looks like MH/Malaysian Gov would be very pleased if they could pin it on anyone other than themselves.

 

[markis10]

As uncertainty reigns over the fate of a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, India's defence forces have stepped in to commit extensive assets to the search for the missing flight.


In a statement, New Delhi says it will contribute two Lockheed Martin C-130J aircraft, a single MiL Mi-17 V5 helicopter, and an unspecified number of Dornier 225 and Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft.


Interestingly, it will commit the assets to the west of Great Nicobar Island, which sits far to the west of the current search area centered on the South China Sea and Malacca Strait. The statement gives no specific reason for searching in this area, but media reports quote Indian officials as saying that the search area was specifically request by Malaysian authorities.


"The area indicated by Malaysia lies in the South Andaman Sea and is West of Great Nicobar Island."


The C-130Js and P-8s are among the newest types in the Indian fleet. India’s Do 228’s, which are produced locally by Hindustan Aeronautics, are the mainstay of its coast guard’s patrol capability.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/indian-mh370-effort-pushes-search-far-to-the-west-397012/

 

[ermen]

If MH370 was really flown back across the Malaysian peninsula, it is most shocking that military radar did not detect it and scramble jets towards the plane.
One could fly a B52 bomber and noone will know!

 

[middlerowed]

Humankind is not looking very 21st century by this tragic episode. Given the US used satellite evidence of the movement of WMDs as the green light to defeat Mr Hussein, last decade, why don't they just use the same technology again? Wait, they did find the WMDs in the end, didn't they? Hello?.....
No news event in my life has occupied more of my thought process than this dramatic event. Maybe it is because I am flying so much at the moment, that it rates so highly, especially with a young family at home. As a technology guy, I am shaken that the US, Chinese, and nations in the centre of the disappearance, have found no trace, zero physical trace, after so many days, in 2014.

 

[DrA]

Humankind is not looking very 21st century by this tragic episode. Given the US used satellite evidence of the movement of WMDs as the green light to defeat Mr Hussein, last decade, why don't they just use the same technology again? Wait, they did find the WMDs in the end, didn't they? Hello?.....
No news event in my life has occupied more of my thought process than this dramatic event. Maybe it is because I am flying so much at the moment, that it rates so highly, especially with a young family at home. As a technology guy, I am shaken that the US, Chinese, and nations in the centre of the disappearance, have found no trace, zero physical trace, after so many days, in 2014.

It takes time to reposition satellites...And they also knew exactly where to direct it at in Iraq. Here? Not so much.

I was thinking about this myself. NASA and the Japanese satellite agencies both have remote sensing satellites up there, and I know for a fact you can pay to reposition a satellite to capture remote sensing images if need be. I know some researchers who did this a few years back to capture images at a certain time of year over a certain area. Technically there's nothing stopping them doing it again here, but the width of these satellite images is only 40x40km or 100x100km, and the resolution no better than 40mx40m (though I know military satellites would be better than this). If you're trying to analyse an area half the size of the Indian Ocean? That's a lot of images to capture, even after you've repositioned the satellite. And then it's time consuming to make all the atmospheric corrections etc. to the images before you can actually start analysing them. And that's also assuming that there's no cloud cover over the area where the plane went down, because if there is, you're not going to be able to see through it anyway.

 

[lovestotravel]

If MH370 was really flown back across the Malaysian peninsula, it is most shocking that military radar did not detect it and scramble jets towards the plane.
One could fly a B52 bomber and noone will know!

I'd say it's a bit harder to get your hands on a B52 though

 

[Buzzard]

TV's not on in the QP right now. I have a suspicion that they don't want you watching news about the missing MH flight. Could I be right?

 

[Clivem]

TV's not on in the QP right now. I have a suspicion that they don't want you watching news about the missing MH flight. Could I be right?

Or the aborted US Air take off ...... nose down - tail up - slides deployed not a good lounge image ........

 

[Warks]

Funny though it was in the QP about to fly home that I first learnt of MH370. Our flights were delayed out of MEL for weather around CBR but it was almost as though this had something to do with it at the time.

I thought that was why I was so obsessed with this incident but I can see I'm not the only one.

 

[drron]

If MH370 was really flown back across the Malaysian peninsula, it is most shocking that military radar did not detect it and scramble jets towards the plane.
One could fly a B52 bomber and noone will know!

If the data is correct and the plane turned back then to get where Malaysian military radar saw it meant it flew over southern Thailand.So Malaysia would have ignored it.
On the other hand maybe there was action taken and so no one wants to own up.
but as to military capabilities is this post by Olddutchguy on PPRuNe-

Now, as to the military not responding: I would gently mention that, in the height of the Cold War, some youngster flew his four-banger from the Baltic Sea all the way to Moscow and put it down smack in Red Square, and the vaunted USSR military did not react.

Then we have the case of those four deserters from the Cuban Navy that stole a gunboat, sailed it right smack past the US Naval Station Key West (with the Cuban pennant flying), on to the dockside at the Hyatt, tied it up, and strolled ashore past the veranda breakfast crowd carrying their rifles, on into the streets of Key West to go find someone to surrender to. They tapped on the shoulder of a cop writing a parking ticket and asked nicely if they could surrender to him. All blithely right through all the advanced military hardware spying on and guarding from the pesky Cubans manned 24/7 for decades. And nobody reacted.

 

[markis10]

If the data is correct and the plane turned back then to get where Malaysian military radar saw it meant it flew over southern Thailand.So Malaysia would have ignored it.
On the other hand maybe there was action taken and so no one wants to own up.
but as to military capabilities is this post by Olddutchguy on PPRuNe-

It does beg the question why we have not heard from the Thai's re what their radar saw. Given neither Thailand or Malaysia was at war, I would be surprised if they had their radars on, let alone had pilots and planes on alert status.

 

[tgh]

Am I the only one thinking that this event is pointing to a black hole sized weakness in Commercial Aviation safety?
It seems to me that one, perhaps two well organised and well prepared persons , may have perpetrated the whole MH 370 event.
Is really that easy to hijack an airliner ?
A good understanding of the aircraft , a good understanding of flight procedures and a simple threat device (I have a bomb here in this tube of tothpaste. )and you are in command ?
If it is that easy we need some big changes and soon.