Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

[D. Strout]

It seems among computer people, aviation is a common side interest. That is certainly the case with me, and I was shocked to hear of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Still am, TBH. It is amazing to me that a modern, well-equipped plane could disappear, but now that hijacking is a possibility, it makes a bit more sense. Curious what other folks here think of this incident, and how y'all think it will end up?

Oh, and in the 10,000,000:1 chance that you haven't heard of it, Wikipedia provides an excellent summary of the events to date.

 

[HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7]

I think that the plane was hijacked, and probably they killed already killed the people inside it. And now they will try to send the plane against something.

But lets hope this doesn't happens.

- Henrique

 

[D. Strout]

I think that the plane was hijacked, and probably they killed already killed the people inside it. And now they will try to send the plane against something.

While this is a possibility, it seems strange that it hasn't happened yet. At this point, the (theoretical) hijackers have had the plane for 8 days. That is way more than enough time to kill/dispose of the passengers, refuel, select a target, and fly it to its destination for the attack. Even if they are just still planning or whatever, they'd have had to land somewhere, and there are very few places a giant plane like a Boeing 777 can land without someone knowing and saying "umm, yo world, we have a plane here".

 

[MannDude]

The best possible scenario is that the plane crashed somewhere and they've just been unable to locate the wreckage. As grim as that sounds, it's a better scenario than it being hijacked. If it was hijacked, landed, and hidden then whatever the intentions would be for the craft in the future would be would likely be much more grim than the loss of lives in a regular crash.

Personally, I think the Malaysian officials are either extremely incompetent or know things that aren't being released to the public yet. Every day it's a new story/scenario theory.

At this point,  I'd believe it entered a wormhole or was abudcted by aliens as much as I believe everything else. It crashed, it landed, it's in Australia, it's in India. Some Chinese terrorist group hijacked it or a pilot was suicidal. Etc, etc.

For what it's worth, in 2003 an American Airlines plane went missing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Boeing_727-223_disappearance). Supposedly it's sitting in the Congo somewhere, as reported by a pilot on a pilot's forum (looking for the source). He says it's just sitting there... in the open. 

If this flight was hijacked and sitting somewhere, we won't see it used for anything malicious for anytime soon. I'd imagine that if it was hijacked, then there won't be a lot of chatter about it. I'd imagine some groups are more capable of keeping lids on things than other groups. Once efforts to locate it die down a bit, and it may be years, then it may very well be used for something very bad.

Time will tell. <shrugs>

 

[ChrisM]

*Random Scenario* 

It could be possible that they hijacked it and landed it on an old WW2/coldwar abandoned airforce base on an island (There are lots of them) and a majority of the passengers are still alive and they are waiting for a perfect time to deliver ransom demands if they haven't already. 

 

[MannDude]

Well, airliners of that size generally need 2,800 - 3,000FT of runway to safely land. Lot less for a crash landing. If hijacked, anyone with the resources to organize and carry that out would also have the resources to create a makeshift landing strip somewhere where people won't be looking at (initially, at leasT). Just need a bulldozer and lot of acreage to make a dirt runway that'd be semi-safe to land something like that on.

Like Miller said, there are a ton of old abandoned bases in the area from past wars. Though I think it'd be more likely to land it somewhere else, only issue would be how they would be able to bypass radar detection if that was the case. They're expanding the search to parts of Australia now, and while there would be vast open land available to bring something like this down I just don't see a scenario would they'd not pick up on a craft that size coming in.

 

[D. Strout]

Well, airliners of that size generally need 2,800 - 3,000FT of runway to safely land. Lot less for a crash landing. If hijacked, anyone with the resources to organize and carry that out would also have the resources to create a makeshift landing strip somewhere where people won't be looking at (initially, at leasT). Just need a bulldozer and lot of acreage to make a dirt runway that'd be semi-safe to land something like that on.

Like Miller said, there are a ton of old abandoned bases in the area from past wars. Though I think it'd be more likely to land it somewhere else, only issue would be how they would be able to bypass radar detection if that was the case. They're expanding the search to parts of Australia now, and while there would be vast open land available to bring something like this down I just don't see a scenario would they'd not pick up on a craft that size coming in.

First of all, you're wrong about landing distance. Maybe 2,800 to 3,000 meters, but a beast like definitely that won't land in 3,000 feet. Furthermore, I doubt many abandoned airbases would have that much runway, not to mention the condition it would be in. It's a big job to restore/build a workable runway, especially since I don't think a 777 would land well on a dirt runway. Most interesting theory I've heard is they landed here, an unfinished airport in Burma. Still dirt though, and enough people around that I doubt its possible.

 

[GIANT_CRAB]

Bermuda Triangle v1.3

 

[tchen]

Bermuda Triangle v1.3

Where's 1.2?

 

[jarland]

I can't imagine the hijacking scenario at this point unless someone is looking to sell a plane on the black market. Cocaine is better sustained income. At this point I'm placing my bet with more than one layer of incompetence and poor timing. Perhaps even a few lies to cover up incompetence.


Either way I think the families deserve some closure on the event. I don't think there's much hope felt by anyone for their safety at this point, but closure starts the long healing process.


Tbh I'm not sure why I even have opinions on the event. Just wishing everyone the best they can get at this point.

 

[sv01]

I still don't get it. How as big as plane just disappear from radar, disappear and everyone lost signal.

 

[hellogoodbye]

It didn't just disappear, though the general public was led to believe that at first:

Civilian and military leaders on Wednesday revealed that they had known for the past four days, but did not publicly disclose, that military radar had picked up signals of what may have been the missing aircraft. It appeared to be flying on a westerly course sharply off its intended flight path to Beijing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/world/asia/missing-jet-exposes-a-dysfunctional-malaysian-elite.html?hpw&rref=world

I found the above article to be a very interesting read that helps shed some light on how/why Malaysia is handling the situation in such a manner.

Somewhat related.... apparently this was one of Malaysia Airlines's previous ads.

 

[D. Strout]

@hellogoodbye That image made me lose it. So many things wrong with it. "Journey of epic proportions"...yeah, that's one way to put it. "Wherever you go, no one will ever know" - that's for sure. To me the funniest part is that the pictured plane isn't actually a Boeing 777 - it's an Airbus A380.

With radar, though, it's somewhat complicated. There are two types of radar - "regular" radar that's been around since WWII that actually picks up "echos" bouncing off of objects (e.g. a plane), and "modern" radar that works together with equipment (i.e. the transponder) on board each aircraft. The aircraft originally disappeared off the newer radar system, so basically the transponder shut off. Military radar could still pick it up since it's of the older type, but the various countries that detected it on that radar didn't want to tell anyone because they didn't want the world to know how good their radar is. Slowly information is coming in from those countries, as well as info from the engines (transmitted via satellite). It all points to hijackers purposefully turning off various communications systems, then flying to points unknown.

In case you're wondering why "regular" radar couldn't track it all the way to wherever it is right now, it's either because the plane just got out of range, or they dropped below the minimum altitude radar can cover. Satellite imagery isn't any good because the area to be covered is too large. Engines aren't pinging any more because by this point the plane has either landed and had those pieces shut off, or the plane has crashed and they were disabled that way. That's how a plane can disappear.

 

[hellogoodbye]

@hellogoodbye That image made me lose it. So many things wrong with it. "Journey of epic proportions"...yeah, that's one way to put it. "Wherever you go, no one will ever know" - that's for sure. To me the funniest part is that the pictured plane isn't actually a Boeing 777 - it's an Airbus A380.

With radar, though, it's somewhat complicated. There are two types of radar - "regular" radar that's been around since WWII that actually picks up "echos" bouncing off of objects (e.g. a plane), and "modern" radar that works together with equipment (i.e. the transponder) on board each aircraft. The aircraft originally disappeared off the newer radar system, so basically the transponder shut off. Military radar could still pick it up since it's of the older type, but the various countries that detected it on that radar didn't want to tell anyone because they didn't want the world to know how good their radar is. Slowly information is coming in from those countries, as well as info from the engines (transmitted via satellite). It all points to hijackers purposefully turning off various communications systems, then flying to points unknown.

In case you're wondering why "regular" radar couldn't track it all the way to wherever it is right now, it's either because the plane just got out of range, or they dropped below the minimum altitude radar can cover. Satellite imagery isn't any good because the area to be covered is too large. Engines aren't pinging any more because by this point the plane has either landed and had those pieces shut off, or the plane has crashed and they were disabled that way. That's how a plane can disappear.

Thank you! I'm not familiar with aviation technology so that was very informative. There are so many rumours and theories abound that it's very hard to tell what is real or fake, let alone the finer details of whys and hows. Doesn't help that the governments keep refuting each other's announcements as well.

(if it helps any, that ad is currently being disputed as a tasteless hoax... which I certainly hope it is, because it would just be too damn creepy and unfortunate if it turned out to be real).

 

[texteditor]

(if it helps any, that ad is currently being disputed as a tasteless hoax... which I certainly hope it is, because it would just be too damn creepy and unfortunate if it turned out to be real).

 

[GIANT_CRAB]

Where's 1.2?

Bermuda Triangle v1.2 is lost in Bermuda triangle v1.0000

 

[wlanboy]

With such events I realize that our planet is big.

Still too big to know each place and to observe each place.

After all the terror events the observation of the skies was rapidly amplified in the US and in EU - but not all around the world.

I think it crashed and they now try to cover their asses.

 

[D. Strout]

I think it crashed and they now try to cover their asses.

I agree. I think there is some group - likely some government - that knows more than they're telling.

 

[peterw]

That makes sense. They have old equidment and they made mistakes and now they cannot loose their face and lie to cover it.

 

[nunim]

That makes sense. They have old equidment and they made mistakes and now they cannot loose their face and lie to cover it.

I disagree, the 777 is quite modern and Malaysia Airlines has a fairly good safety record.  Commercial airline travel is overall extremely safe, however will always be accidents as sometimes shit just happens.  

It'd be extremely hard to land such a large aircraft undetected, and if you did land in some grass strip there's little chance that it'd be taking off again without some major work, which kind of kills the whole "terrorist usage". Not to mention hiding the plane with 200+ PAX while the whole world is looking for it.  Terrorists want planes flying and loaded with fuel, not rusting in some jungle airstrip for future usage.

It took nearly 2 years to recover AF 447 ( the last major 777 crash), which shows that while the Earth is a very big place we will find the plane eventually.  It's quite possible that one of the pilots crashed the plane intentionally however terrorism seems quite unlikely as if someone did bring down the plane they'd be quick to claim responsibility.