Plane with 239 people on board crashes in Southern Indian Ocean

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

 He said that that would be big enough to be something like a wing, but a wing would likely sink.

Maybe not.  If the plane flew until it was out of fuel, the wing would be empty of fuel and thus more likely to float than otherwise.

[Tender Branson]

If it is the same "thing" like in the previous satellite image, then this thing is now another 240 km away from where the Chinese satellite has spotted it.

The original thing was found on March 16, this one on March 18 - but 120 km away from the original location. Now we have March 22.

[Tender Branson]

BTW, don't spy satellites have a much better resolution than this sh*tty image quality ?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

BTW, don't spy satellites have a much better resolution than this sh*tty image quality ?

Satellites have variable resolution.  Yes they can have much better resolution, but to get at it, they need to look at smaller areas.  A wide area geotracking satellite that looks over a large area all at once sacrifices resolution to cover more area all at once.

[Tender Branson]

Info chart:



The US is doing surprisingly little, considering their massive fleet and aircraft arsenal.

[7,052,770]

When was the last time that a plane went missing, and no wreckage was ever found?

I believe it happened about 10 years ago in Africa, but it wasn't full of passengers.

[NewYorkExpress]

When was the last time that a plane went missing, and no wreckage was ever found?

I believe it happened about 10 years ago in Africa, but it wasn't full of passengers.

I thought it was Amelia Earheart's plane?

[7,052,770]

When was the last time that a plane went missing, and no wreckage was ever found?

I believe it happened about 10 years ago in Africa, but it wasn't full of passengers.

I thought it was Amelia Earheart's plane?

No, there have been a few since then.  Like those 5 planes that disappeared in the "Bermuda Triangle" during WWII.

Here's the one I was thinking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Boeing_727-223_disappearance

[Donerail]

Has anyone looked into the financial situations and any insurance policies taken out by the pilot or copilot? Could be a plausible reason for pilot suicide that would explain why it's thought to have flown so far away from everything.

[Tender Branson]

It seems they found some wooden pallets and some strapping belts/seat belts yesterday/today.

But of course this could also apply to pallets from cargo ships that were thrown overboard ...

Plus new images from French satellites (didn't find the images yet on the internet).

[Mr. Morden]

It seems they found some wooden pallets and some strapping belts/seat belts yesterday/today.

But of course this could also apply to pallets from cargo ships that were thrown overboard ...

It sounds like they spotted that from one of the planes, but weren't able to retrieve them…and then when they tried to go back and find them again, they'd drifted away?  (Or maybe I was misunderstanding?)  In any case, for any such debris that they might find, they'll obviously want to take it aboard one of the ships that's in the area now, and try to determine whether it's actually from flight 370.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The thing to consider is that while is obviously sea-junk in the water, it's not an especially busy area of shipping. Certainly nothing like aquatic junk-yards the South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca or even further North in Indian Ocean are. 

[Mr. Morden]

New altitude information:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/23/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/

Plane dropped to 12,000 feet when it made its turn, which might suggest some kind of accident on board.  Pilots would fly low if a crisis caused the plane to lose pressure, since at the lower altitude, passengers would be more likely to survive.

OTOH, the 9/11 hijackers also flew low, so who knows.

[Tender Branson]

The Aussies are now in the process of recovering some objects in the waters that they spotted from an aircraft ...

The airline also confirmed that the plane had some wood pallets in their cargo bay. Those pallets were spotted as well by planes (but could be from a ship too).

[Mr. Morden]

A new piece of news on the co-pilot….this was his first time out on a 777 without a trainer looking over his shoulder:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10718863/MH370-Co-pilot-was-flying-Boeing-777-for-first-time-without-trainer.html

[Mr. Morden]

Here's one of the objects spotted by the Australian air force plane:

[Mr. Morden]

Various new folks are tweeting about the families of passengers being called into an emergency meeting with Malaysian officials, and a press conference to be held shortly.  They might have some big news that they're ready to announce.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/448086964534009856

"Sky Sources: relatives of missing plane passengers to be booked on charter flights to take them to Australia"

Sounds like they may have some evidence that the debris that was spotted is from MH370.  But we'll find out for sure at the top of the hour, when the Malaysians hold a press conference.

[Mr. Morden]

https://twitter.com/7NewsSydney/status/448095584985956353

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Tender Branson]

[DemPGH]

Most logical place for it to be is the southern Indian Ocean, and all lives are reported lost.

So now the work to be done is figuring out the cause. It appears to have been put on autopilot, or so goes the thought and dipped to 12,000 feet to avoid air traffic. That it may have lost pressure is a very real possibility.

[Mr. Morden]

Most logical place for it to be is the southern Indian Ocean, and all lives are reported lost.

So now the work to be done is figuring out the cause. It appears to have been put on autopilot, or so goes the thought and dipped to 12,000 feet to avoid air traffic. That it may have lost pressure is a very real possibility.

Except that after it turned west and flew across the Malay Peninsula, it apparently then went south.  And after it went down to 12,000 feet, I'm assuming that it went back up to a cruising altitude at some point, because otherwise it would have run out of fuel much more quickly (since fuel consumption is much greater at lower altitudes).  Sounds like someone was at the controls, at least long enough to make those multiple course changes.  But exactly who and why remains as clear as mud.

[muon2]

So finally they let us know about the intermediate satellite pings and indeed they narrow the path to a corridor to the south. It is somewhat amazing that they consider the Doppler effect from these intermediate pings to be "groundbreaking", but I guess no one ever thought they'd be stuck with only one satellite to reconstruct a path.

This seems like a pretty simple, compelling argument: https://plus.google.com/106271056358366282907/posts/GoeVjHJaGBz

OK, but then how do you explain the satellite pings?  If it kept going for hours on that heading, then it would be very far away from either the northern or southern "arcs" on those maps.

I haven't posted in this thread yet, and if someone knows the answer, please point me at it. But here's my curious thought about the satellite pings.

From what I've read there are pings every hour or so from the plane's antenna to the Inmarsat satellite, that data includes the unique identifier for the plane and the angle of the antenna. The 8:11 am ping at 40 degrees provides the information to construct the search arc like the one below.



Note that the last radar contact at 2:40 am is not along the 8:11 am arc. This is important since there should be approximately five hourly "handshakes" with the satellite after 2:40 and before 8:11. If there is one a little after 3:00 am then it should define an arc on a smaller circle centered around the satellite position. With each hour there would be a slightly different radius circle for the plane's position. If one starts with the 2:40 am position, there should a more restricted range of flight paths that would link the circles at a cruising speed for the 777.

For example a series of circles that slowly move from a circle consistent with the 2:40 position and end at the 8:11 arc would suggest a long relatively steady flight. A couple of intermediate circles then some repeats at the same distance would suggest a shorter flight that ended before 8:11 but still had power to communicate. However, I haven't read anything about any satellite ping except the one at 8:11.

[Mr. Morden]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11226334

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[RedSLC]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11226334

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This sounds very similar to the circumstances surrounding the crash of SilkAir flight 185:

You must be logged in to read this quote.