MH 777 missing - MH370 media statement

[rechoboam]

Is it still possible after the Silk Air disaster for someone in the coughpit to switch off the flight data and voice recorders in flight?

 

[legroom]

Wow, this thread, along with a couple of others has really taken up a lot of my time this week.

I've resisted posting and adding to already stated theories and conjecture but I've been a bit irked by the common mention of the word "suicide". It is very, very uncommon for people who commit suicide to even contemplate hurting others, the 2 don't go hand in hand. Suicide attempt survivors often in fact report lucidity and clarity far greater than they've had for some time prior to and during the attempt, this makes some of the picture we now have difficult to reconcile. Murder/suicides (which if we're going to be technical is what we should be saying) are far rarer events and usually involve people known to the perpetrator, and normally again with what the perpetrator sees as "good reason" (jilted lover etc etc). Without evidence of the pilot/FO having a greivance against something (airline, chinese etc etc) it's really hard to reconcile this as an explanation. Consider that as many as a quarter of road deaths in regional areas are likely a result of suicide. These usually involve a single driver planting their car into a tree, not a bus full of random people.

Again, like any explanation of events, it is possible, but I think unlikely, and if we're going to refer to it then lets call it what is is and not simply "suicide".

Good to hear (lying on the [psych] couch)

Worth the consult fee !

 

[Robbi]

Flyertalk has a list of possible airports within range of the last ping.

****The following runways of over 5,000ft are in the vicinity of the last ping:

Jalal-Abad Airport - Concrete runway of 5708ft.
Osh Airport - Runway of 8576ft with a surface of "ASP" (any ideas what that means?)
Andizhan Airport - Concrete runway of 9770ft
Kyzyl-Kiya Airport - Concrete runway of 5249ft
Fergana International Airport - ASP runway of 9383ft
Kerben Airport - ASB(?) runway of 5708ft
Namangan Airport - ASP, 10,698ft
Batken Airport - ASP, 5905ft
Isfara Airport - ASP, 9525ft
Talas Airport - Concrete, 5577ft
Lugovoy Airport - Concrete, 8204ft
Taraz Airport - ASP, 9514
Khudzhand Airport - ASP, 10,450ft
Isfana Airport - ASB, 5577ft
Chirchik Airport - Concrete, 8183ft
Tashkent East Airport - Concrete, 10,630ft
Tashkent International Airport - Concrete, 13,123ft
Shymkent Airport - Concrete, 9186ft
Chardara Airport - PEM(?), 5370ft
Pakhtakor Airport - ASP, 9845ft
Sugraly Airport - ASP, 6098ft
Pitnyak Airport - Concrete, 5576ft
Urgench Airport - ASP, 11,065ft
Nukus Airport - Concrete, 9175ft.
Yangadzha Airport -Concrete, 6600ft
Turkmenbashi Airport - Concrete, 8202ft
Kant Air Base - Concrete, 8859ft
Manas International Airport -Concrete, 13780ft
Naryn Airport - Concrete, 7037ft
Kashgar Airport - Concrete, 10,499ft.
This is assuming that there is about a 210km buffer on either side of the ping signal.
There are also a scattering of airports with runways between 2500 and 5000ft. I have no idea about any of these airports and which ones (if any) it would be possibly to sneak a 777 onto, but there's the list for anyone who knows more.****

ASP = asphalt perhaps?

 

[jb747]

Is it still possible after the Silk Air disaster for someone in the coughpit to switch off the flight data and voice recorders in flight?

You can't switch them off, but there are always circuit breakers that may shut them down, or depending upon how they are wired, you may be able to get rid of one or the other by shutting down an AC bus.

Systems that cannot be shut down at all become fire risks themselves. Take all the generators off line, and it would fall back onto batteries, and no power would be wasted on anything that wasn't immediately needed to fly the aircraft.

 

[amaroo]

I doubt it is suicide. Suicide is simply not this complicated.

Depends if you want to leave a legacy or life insurance payout for the wife and three kids....

 

[kpc]

Just saw a report saying that if the plane crashed into the depths of the Indian Ocean it may never be found....I really hope not for the sake of the friends and relatives!

 

[prozac]

Depends if you want to leave a legacy or life insurance payout for the wife and three kids....

It is still too complex for a suicide.

 

[DaveB]

The French spent 2 years and $100m to recover their plane in the Atlantic and that was when wreckage and bodies were recovered soon after the crash. Not sure anyone has close to the same inclination with this incident.
My feeling is no one was flying the plane soon after it was set on the final course south into Indian Ocean.
Amazing really how few incidents there are involving flying.

 

[tgh]

It is still too complex for a suicide.

Is it really , why ?

Flying into the southern ocean and then soft ditching under control , would minimise if not eliminate debris.
Different culture, big call to assume that typical western psych norms apply here.

The northern option , for credibility , has to assume that they are currently negotiating OR the more amazing spin that it's landed successfully and been netted..

 

[markis10]

Conference on now- on ABC News 24

 

[rechoboam]

You can't switch them off, but there are always circuit breakers that may shut them down, or depending upon how they are wired, you may be able to get rid of one or the other by shutting down an AC bus.

That's what I meant, like the Silk Air pilot who appeared to have removed two circuit breakers when leaving the coughpit.
I was going to ask whether there should be a separate battery supply to make the recorders impossible to turn off but I guess ditching in the middle of an ocean would pretty much achieve the same end, and by the time the recorders are recovered due to sheer luck the insurance payouts would be a distant memory. (not insinuating this has happened here)

 

[JohnK]

MH370 has not crashed, it has been hijacked, it has flown at least 8 hours on limited fuel, it has changed direction 3-4 times before it reached the Andaman islands and all of a sudden they are headed for one of 2 flight corridors. One to Kazakhstan or the other to near Australia and they have not changed direction again?

Why?

 

[mrfreeze]

If the plane headed towards Kazakhstan would the various countries along the way not pick it up on radar?

 

[markis10]

Most significant fact from conference was the fact the ACARs was switched off before verbal contact from the pilot stopped.

 

[amaroo]

Where is the missing Malaysia Airlines jet? What is known so far

 

[maninblack]

Where is the missing Malaysia Airlines jet? What is known so far

... and France?

 

[amaroo]

... and France?

Must be one of the last colonies they still have a hold on? List of colonial governors in 2014 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[prozac]

Not forgetting Georgia and Azerbaijan. Georgia has a few airports capable but is not a Muslim country (I am assuming any would-be terrorists to be Muslim...), but Azerbaijan is predominantly Muslim.

Alternative theory, any of the 'stans would be an easy step-off point to Ukraine.

 

[amaroo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp

This article gives a good explanation of the estimated range from the last ping.

Also....

American investigators have been provided with much of the flight data obtained from radar and satellites, but they say they have far less information about what the Malaysian government has uncovered about the pilots and passengers or the Malaysian inquiry. Soon after the plane disappeared, F.B.I. agents and other American investigators “scrubbed” the names of the pilots and passengers — including two Iranian men who traveled on stolen passports — to determine whether they had any connection to terrorists and found none, according to the officials.

Officials in Washington say they are frustrated because they believe that the F.B.I. could be of substantial assistance.

 

[Robbi]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp

This article gives a good explanation of the estimated range from the last ping.

Also....

American investigators have been provided with much of the flight data obtained from radar and satellites, but they say they have far less information about what the Malaysian government has uncovered about the pilots and passengers or the Malaysian inquiry. Soon after the plane disappeared, F.B.I. agents and other American investigators “scrubbed” the names of the pilots and passengers — including two Iranian men who traveled on stolen passports — to determine whether they had any connection to terrorists and found none, according to the officials.

Officials in Washington say they are frustrated because they believe that the F.B.I. could be of substantial assistance.

I wonder if Malaysian authorities are investigating the military radar operators who missed or failed to investigate the radar trace. If they'd been on the ball at the very least they could have confirmed if the trace was MH370 or not, assuming it is then their failure means there was plenty of time for any perpetrators to get a good head start.