Malaysian Flight 370

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 21:48:54 -0400

What is everyone's opinions on this issue? What does it say about the technology we use in aviation? Do you think that the Malaysian Government Officials are withholding information that we could use to help find this airplane?

I believe that there is WAY more to this story than what we the people, and what our (the U.S.) Government is being told.

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Mar 13 at 2014 11:27 PM

SGM Matthew Quick — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 23:27:33 -0400

Obviously, planes CAN disappear without a trace.

Response by SFC William Swartz Jr made Mar 13 at 2014 11:49 PM

SFC William Swartz Jr — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 23:49:36 -0400

Aliens, just sayin.......

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 14 at 2014 10:27 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 10:27:36 -0400

Here is my theory...

Response by SPC Christopher Smith made Mar 14 at 2014 10:30 AM

SPC Christopher Smith — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 10:30:00 -0400

I think this is a nice attempt for nations to say they are looking, but I believe a defense missile was launched after several attempts to make contact with the flight. Since the communication systems were down nothing could be established, so escalation of force is necessary. No one wants to start an international war because of an accident, so we all play happy and we all search together for the good PR.

Response by SPC Christopher Smith made Mar 14 at 2014 10:54 AM

SPC Christopher Smith — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 10:54:10 -0400

They found the plane, with a hole blown out the side of it.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 14 at 2014 8:12 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:12:21 -0400

*** UPDATED *** Saturday 3/15 @ 3:30 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/

Malaysian Prime Minister says jet's disappearance a 'deliberate' action.

Absence of radar sightings to north of last track suggest long delayed crash, landing, or yet another turn to a more southern path.

Investigators looking for the plane have run out of clues except for a type of satellite data that has never been used before to find a missing plane, and is very inexact.

The data consists of attempts by an Inmarsat satellite to identify a broad area where the plane might be in case a messaging system aboard the plane should need to connect with the satellite, said the official. The official compared the location attempts, called a "handshake," to someone driving around with their cellphone not in use. As the phone from passes from the range of one cellphone tower to another, the towers note that the phone is in range in case messages need to be sent.

In the case of the Malaysian plane, there were successful attempts by the satellite to roughly locate the Boeing 777 about once an hour over four to five hours, the official said. "This is all brand new to us," the official said. "We've never had to use satellite handshaking as the best possible source of information."

The handshake does not transmit any data on the plane's altitude, airspeed or other information that might help in locating it, the official said. Instead, searchers are trying to use the handshakes to triangulate the general area of where the plane last was known to have been at the last satellite check, the official said.

"It is telling us the airplane was continuing to operate," the official said, plus enough information on location so that the satellite will know how many degrees to turn to adjust its antenna to pick up any messages from the plane.

*** UPDATED *** Friday 3/14 @ 9:00 PM Eastern.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting persistent INMARSAT circuit "keep alive" ping signals that may potentially narrow search area based on signal strength, distance, and direction from the satellite but they did not disclose duration of transmissions. (reliable source)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-370.html

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB [login to see] [login to see] [login to see] [login to see] -lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwNDExNDQyWj

Isolated sources - reliability may vary (n.b. Malaysian authorities equivocating) -

A U.S. official added that the disappearance may have been “an act of piracy” and that the plane may have landed somewhere. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, said the fact that the plane’s transponder stopped about a dozen minutes before a messaging system quit pointed to “human intervention.”

The last sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. Malaysian time last Saturday (1730 GMT Friday), less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur, as the plane flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand. That put the plane on Malaysia’s east coast.

Malaysia’s air force chief said on Wednesday an aircraft that could have been the missing plane was plotted on military radar at 2:15 a.m., at 29,500 ft, 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia’s west coast.

This position marks the limit of Malaysia’s military radar in that part of the country, a fourth source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

They also gave new details on the direction in which the unidentified aircraft was heading – following aviation corridors identified on maps used by pilots as N571 and P628. These routes are taken by commercial planes flying from Southeast Asia to the Middle East or Europe and can be found in public documents issued by regional aviation authorities.

In a far more detailed description of the military radar plotting than has been publicly revealed, the first two sources said the last confirmed position of MH370 was at 35,000 feet about 90 miles (144 km) off the east coast of Malaysia, heading towards Vietnam, near a navigational waypoint called “Igari”. The time was 1:21 a.m..

The military track suggests it then turned sharply westwards, heading towards a waypoint called “Vampi”, northeast of Indonesia’s Aceh province and a navigational point used for planes following route N571 to the Middle East.

From there, the plot indicates the plane flew towards a waypoint called “Gival”, south of the Thai island of Phuket, and was last plotted heading northwest towards another waypoint called “Igrex”, on route P628 that would take it over the Andaman Islands and which carriers use to fly towards Europe.

The time was then 2:15 a.m. That is the same time given by the air force chief on Wednesday, who gave no information on that plane’s possible direction.

Vietnamese officials added some detail to the plane’s mystery today by telling ABC News that when flight MH370 left Malaysian airspace and failed to make contact with Vietnamese air traffic controllers, the Vietnamese asked another plane in the area that was heading to Japan to contact MH370.

The Japan-bound plane reported back to the Vietnamese controllers that when it reached MH370 only a “buzz signal” came back, but no voices. And then the signal went dead. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not say what time that contact was made.

12:41 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia heading for Beijing, China. The plane shows up on radar two minutes after taking off.

1:07 a.m.: The last automated data transmission is sent from the plane. U.S officials told ABC News they believe that sometime after this transmission the data reporting system was shut down. Sometime after this transmission Kuala Lumpur's air traffic control tells the plane's pilot they are handing off to air traffic control based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The pilot responds, "All right. Good night."

1:21 a.m.: The plane's transponder, which transmits location and altitude, shuts down. Sources told ABC News that U.S. officials are “convinced that there was a manual intervention.”

1:22 a.m.: MH370 should have come to the navigational way-point called Igari point. Before it reached this point, Vietnamese air traffic control noticed they had lost contact with MH370, according to the Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority.

1:30 a.m.: The last moment that the plane was seen by Malaysian radar.

1:38 a.m.: Air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City informs Kuala Lumpur air traffic control about the signal loss. Ho Chi Minh City asks two other planes to contact MH370. Neither plane is able to raise the pilot of MH370. At least of the planes report getting a “buzz signal” and no voices, then losing the signal.

2:15 a.m.: A Malaysian military defense radar pick up a plane that is hundreds of miles west of MH370’s last contact point. It’s unclear if that is the missing plane.

Following hours: In the hours after contact was lost MH370 "pings" a satellite several times. It's not clear if those pings include data that could reveal the plane's location.

The Boeing 777-200 wasn't transmitting data to the satellite, but was instead sending out a signal to establish contact, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the situation by name.

Boeing offers a satellite service that can receive a stream of data during flight on how the aircraft is functioning and relay the information to the plane's home base. The idea is to provide information on whether maintenance work or repairs are needed before the plane lands so mechanics and parts can be ready, saving time and money.

Malaysia Airlines didn't subscribe to this service, but the plane still had the capability of sending and receiving keep alive pings about once an hour.

6:32 a.m.: A broadcast call was made from Kuala Lumpur's air traffic control on emergency frequencies asking MH370 to call them.

6:51 a.m.: A broadcast call was made from Ho Chi Minh City's air traffic control on emergency

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Mar 15 at 2014 11:30 AM

SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:30:43 -0400

I think, they are mystified and lost in the sauce, now that the US is involved well get to the bottom of this awful flight. God Bless all of them.

Response by MAJ Bryan Zeski made Mar 15 at 2014 11:33 AM

MAJ Bryan Zeski — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:33:46 -0400

Originally, I thought that maybe it had been hijacked and secretly flown somewhere else... now, I think I have to revise my position based on something that just occurred to me: Terrorists COULD have turned off the plane's beacons and transmitters - too easy. I think the problem with that theory is the prevalence of smart phones - even in third world countries. Yes, a lot of people turn their phones off in flight or put them in airplane mode - but many don't. Those phones that are not off would still be sending out beacons looking for cell towers which should have been picked up somewhere once the plane got close enough to the ground again. Unless the terrorists managed to find all of the phones and turn them off, even dead passenger phones would show up on cell tower records. Now it is possible that no one has really scanned cell tower records for reports that are cross-referenced against the passenger manifest, so that may be information we don't have yet.

Right now, I have to think that the plane crashed - probably as a reaction to an attempted hijacking.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 15 at 2014 9:17 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 21:17:43 -0400

Personally, I believe that if a plane crashed into the ocean, anywhere in on the globe, some satellite would be tracking that debris from space. If there are satellites in space that can map out locations for us on our phones and other electronics, they'd be more than capable of spotting wreckage. We, the people, aren't being told enough about what actually happened. There are numerous countries involved in "finding the wreckage", but not one of them has spotted much of anything at all. I think there's a bigger story that we can't/don't know.

Response by SrA Victor Michael Garcia made Mar 16 at 2014 2:39 PM

SrA Victor Michael Garcia — Sun, 16 Mar 2014 14:39:36 -0400

I for one don't believe it ditched in the ocean. I feel it landed somewhere on land. I may be wrong, but I just don't think it's in the ocean.

Response by MSG Sean Milhauser made Mar 17 at 2014 11:46 PM

MSG Sean Milhauser — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 23:46:38 -0400

When I first saw this, and the stories about stolen passports, etc. came out, I really thought it was a terrorist act. As this unfolds, there's so many incongruent things being reported I have no idea what to think. I don't think it was a terrorist act at this point, but...?

Response by SSG Robert Burns made Apr 28 at 2014 9:44 PM

SSG Robert Burns — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 21:44:16 -0400

This is my theory and I'm so serious. The plane is in space. Does that not explain everything???

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Apr 28 at 2014 10:03 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 22:03:10 -0400

From what little I can garner. It sounds like it had a catastrophic electrical failure. It did a 180 dropped down to better spot land flew back over the island and flew until it ran out of gas since they missed seeing the island due to weather. I was the N2 Operations Watch Chief in Diego Garcia a Long Time Ago. There would be no reason to be heavily monitoring that area. Sounds like just bad luck all the way around. I will say that it will give plenty of exercise and practice for ASW and Sub Rescue folks for those with the money and capability.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 28 at 2014 10:21 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 22:21:29 -0400

I feel there are more important things to worry about in the world.