Malaysian airliner missing and feared lost

[EZEtoGRU]

Breaking News:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/index.html?c=homepage-t

[EZEtoGRU]

Now reports the plane may have made an emergency landing somewhere in China. Still unconfirmed.

[bomerrang]

""Yahya, the airline CEO, said the 53-year-old pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has more than 18,000 flying hours and has been flying for Malaysia Airlines since 1981. The first officer, 27-year-old Fariq Hamid, has about 2,800 hours of experience and has flown for the airline since 2007.""

 

A 27 year old co-pilot, flying commercial since 20 years old?? WTF.

[+ ArVaGuy]

One thing I've learned over the years with breaking news situations is to sit back and wait 24to 48 hours for the facts to become more clear. Initial reports are often wrong and much of the media coverage is baseless speculation.

[+ Charlie]

It's now being reported that two of the Europeans listed as passengers were not on the flight--both had reported their passports stolen in Thailand. Certainly suspicious.

[+ deej]

One thing I've learned over the years with breaking news situations is to sit back and wait 24to 48 hours for the facts to become more clear. Initial reports are often wrong and much of the media coverage is baseless speculation.

 

Yes, and that goes for everything from missing airliners to Justin Bieber's latest arrest. It's ironic that this is called the information age. It should really be called the MIS-information age because WRONG travels fast and dies hard.

[bigvalboy]

It's now being reported that two of the Europeans listed as passengers were not on the flight--both had reported their passports stolen in Thailand. Certainly suspicious.

Indeed suspicious, but it might be years before we know what brought this plane down. It took years before Air France's flight 447 was found. It is a sad event on every level. Praying for all the family and friends who have missing loved ones.

[+ FreshFluff]

A Vietnamese air force search plane found 2 oil slicks that have come from the missing jetliner. I'm praying for the missing and their families.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/

[Steven_Draker]

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/11900000/LOST-FINAL-SEASON-POSTER-WALLPAPER-lost-11916904-1023-773.jpg

[Samai139]

It has been nearly a week since the Malayasian airliner disappeared. Since then, thousands of people, hundreds, if not thousands of planes, ships, satellites have all been employed to try and locate it. The search for this plane may prove to be the most expensive in airline history. How difficult a decision will it be to either scale back the search or perhaps ultimately call it off entirely?

[bigvalboy]

It has been nearly a week since the Malayasian airliner disappeared. Since then, thousands of people, hundreds, if not thousands of planes, ships, satellites have all been employed to try and locate it. The search for this plane may prove to be the most expensive in airline history. How difficult a decision will it be to either scale back the search or perhaps ultimately call it off entirely?

 

I can't imagine that happening at this point. I think all leads must be completely exhausted first, and now that the Malaysians have officially asked for the US and the Brits to get involved, and do a more thorough analysis of the information they had. Some solid information is beginning to roll in about flight data via Roll Royce/Boeing/radar/ etc. Air France's flight 447 took two years to find, despite knowing where it went down. I don't think cost should ever be a factor in a case like this. I say they just need to write this check.

 

By all accounts, this might turn out to be one of the biggest tragedies/mysteries in aviation history. They're going to find this plane, but it will take time. At a minimum, we owe that to the families who have missing loved ones.

[+ azdr0710]

How difficult a decision will it be to either scale back the search or perhaps ultimately call it off entirely?

 

 

the story has only just begun......

[Guest]

This all happened in good weather, and from what I heard, all of the communications were turned off before the plane was lost. The most rational explanation I can think of is a mass-murder-suicide on the pilot's part.

[+ Charlie]

This all happened in good weather, and from what I heard, all of the communications were turned off before the plane was lost. The most rational explanation I can think of is a mass-murder-suicide on the pilot's part.

 

But if that were the rational explanation, why not just ditch the plane into the water immediately? Why--as several sources are now suggesting--change the route to the west and fly for several more hours? So far there don't seem to be any logical explanations for the whole thing.

[EZEtoGRU]

There seem to be four active theories on what happened:

 

1. Mechanical/Electrical malfunction or on-board fire causing the plane to crash.

As more information comes out that the plane may have continued flying for 4-5 hours after "disappearing", the likelihood of this theory being accurate is diminished.

 

2. Suicidal pilot(s).

Its happened before. An EgyptAir plane was flown into the Atlantic once by one of the pilots killing all. However, as someone mentioned above, why in the Malaysian case would a suicidal pilot keep flying in a secretive fashion for 4-5 hours if his goal was simply a mass murder/suicide. He could just crash the plane immediately after disabling the other pilot. Why keep flying for so long?

 

3. A high-jacking gone wrong.

Some evil person(s) gain access to the cockpit and take control of the plane for some other purpose but then crash it into the ocean.

 

4. A much bigger plan at play here that involves using a stolen aircraft for some future terrorist action.

For instance, filling it with nukes or biological weapons and crashing it in (pick a target). Seems very Dr Evil-ish but there have been suggestions that the plane might have landed somewhere, refueled, and departed again to another location to be fitted out for its intended purpose.

 

At this point, I suspect Theory 2 is what happened and they just haven't found the plane yet. At this point, it is anyone's guess.

[BgMstr4u]

Or perhaps...

 

5. Piracy. Taking the plane to some little-known island with a big enough airstrip with the intention to hold it and the people to ransom.

[MontrealSucks]

IF it was terrorist related, don't you think some group would have come forward by now to claim responsibility?

[BSR]

If it was terrorist-related, the hijackers might have taken the plane to be used at a future date in a terrorist act. Imagine the destruction a 777 with full fuel tanks is capable of. The fuel tanks of even the smallest 777 model hold significantly more than the 767s flown into the World Trade Center - 31,000 gallons for a 777-200 vs. 24,000 gallons for a 767-200 according to the Boeing site.

 

Regarding Air France Flight 447, while true that the black boxes were not recovered from the ocean floor for almost 2 years, major wreckage from plane was found just 5 days after the crash. But, as bvb points out, search teams knew approximately where AF447 went down. In contrast, search teams have no idea where Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went after its communications systems were deliberately disabled. With the fuel remaining, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 might have gone as far as Kazakhstan or ended up in the Indian Ocean. That is a massive amount of territory to cover, even for spare-no-expense search teams from China, Malaysia, and the U.S.

 

If the plane went down, I doubt there could be many, if any, survivors a week after the crash. But if the plane was hijacked, then I pray for their safety. From the beginning, the disappearance of MH370 didn't sound like an "ordinary" plane crash. This baffling mystery must be torture for the family and loved ones of those on board.

[bomerrang]

http://vietnam.craigslist.org/for/4372477162.html

[bomerrang]

CL >vietnam >all for sale / wanted >general for sale - by owner

reply x prohibited[?] Posted: 4 days ago

http://images.craigslist.org/00e0e_4JPElb0GYIS_600x450.jpg

Boeing 777-300 - ₫1500000

 

Slightly used Boeing 777-300 for sale.

 

Asking for $15,000,000 USD, or best offer (this includes all the snacks in the plane).

 

Not much fuel in the plane at the moment, but it's in great flying condition. ABSOLUTELY NO JOY RIDES!

 

SOLD AS--IS. NO TRADES OR RETURNS. ALL DEALS ARE FINAL.

 

Ask for Fariq when calling and setting up appointments to see the plane.

do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

[+ deej]

I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but...

 

4. A much bigger plan at play here that involves using a stolen aircraft for some future terrorist action.

 

That could still be in play, even if the currently missing plane isn't involved. What better way to find out how missing planes are tracked than by disappearing one? Want to know what authorities can and can't do? Make a plane go missing under mysterious circumstances. Watch the world chase its own tail. Learn.

 

Did YOU know that planes send a "ping" to satellites every hour? Everyone knows now. I wonder if rogue pings could cause mischief?

 

The only thing we know for sure is that we don't know much.

[bigvalboy]

The only thing we know for sure is that we don't know much.

 

+1...and most likely it will be years, if ever, that we find out what really happened, or before any concrete information emerges. You are however correct, we do know now that it is entirely possible to fly a commercial airliner into a black hole, and make it disappear, while the world, with all it's experts stare at each other, like deer in headlights.

 

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist either, so I won't even try and guess if this plane is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, spread across some remote landscape somewhere, or safely on the ground, but what I have learned in the last few days, is most disturbing, and I can't even imagine what the loved ones of those on the plane are going through....

 

If nothing else, this has been a real eye opener, and hopefully a game changer in how we decide to track aircraft...though when all is said and done, I doubt much will change, because it's always about the money.

[+ FreshFluff]

But if that were the rational explanation, why not just ditch the plane into the water immediately? Why--as several sources are now suggesting--change the route to the west and fly for several more hours? So far there don't seem to be any logical explanations for the whole thing.

 

Desire to disguise the fact that it was a murder/suicide in order to allow his family to collect insurance money. Or maybe the pilot liked the idea of a mysterious death which would go down as a footnote in history.

[+ Charlie]

The first time I heard, a week ago, that the last words from the plane to ground control were "All right, good night," I thought it sounded odd. Now the officials are admitting that this was not a normal sign-off, and some of the plane's communication devices had already been deliberately turned off before then. The question now is: who was speaking?

[Steven_Draker]

The question now is: who was speaking?

 

Malaysian authorities say that the 27-year-old co-pilot spoke the final words "All right, good night" from the cockpit:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10700892/Malaysian-Airlines-MH370-live.html