Malaysia Airlines tragedies

[breadnatty08]

Interesting/scary stuff:
Malaysia Air Flight: Stolen European Passports On Plane

 

[EarlyMon]

As many of you know, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 appears to be lost in the South China sea without word of any of the 239 souls on board.

My heart goes out to all family and friends affected.

The news reports were sketchy all night.

The flight was believed lost at less than an hour into the flight, perhaps better than halfway between the Malaysian peninsula and the southern tip of Vietnam in the South China Sea, adjacent to the Gulf of Thailand.

Wild speculation has raged over how you lose an airplane off radar - but that's easy when you know that radar coverage is very spotty for that part of the world, especially for southern Vietnam. Not a value judgement, just what it is.

Others are speculating over the timeline. The known ground track shows the plane's position at 18 minutes into the flight, and the last check-in was at double that distance.

Despite reports of being lost an hour or two into the flight, those times would have put them firmly into Vietnamese airspace and it's clear they never made it that far.

The last reports were of an oil slick and a multinational search and rescue effort.

Hopefully, survivors will be found.

 

[palmtree5]

Let's hope there's survivors from this. I can't even begin to understand how their families must feel

 

[MoodyBlues]

I've heard such WILDLY disparate info on this, it's hard to know what's correct.

Let's hope for the families and friends of those involved that the plane is found soon. It's hard to imagine the worry and grief they're experiencing right now.

 

[breadnatty08]

I've been following this all morning, and certainly my heart goes out. So many unanswered questions, and so many folks jumping to conclusions.
I wish all the best and hope for survivors.

 

[Prinny]

I've been following this all morning, and certainly my heart goes out. So many unanswered questions, and so many folks jumping to conclusions.
I wish all the best and hope for survivors.

I really don't think I could have worded it better myself. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.

 

[EarlyMon]

I've heard such WILDLY disparate info on this, it's hard to know what's correct.

Let's hope for the families and friends of those involved that the plane is found soon. It's hard to imagine the worry and grief they're experiencing right now.

I worked in air vehicle operational test for the Air Force and have Asian ties. My brother works on Naval aircraft maintenance.

We were online for hours together throughout the night, separating fact from fiction and following the direct reports from Vietnam courtesy of the Aviation Herald.

I'm away from my desk, will link sources later when I'm back, but hopefully I won't have to and we'll hear something more concrete soon.

 

[EarlyMon]

^^ First 18 minutes of flight ground track.

Flight time and track calculator: Flight Time from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China

For the scheduled flight time to Beijing, expect an average of around 470 to 480 knots.

Actual flight path was not a straight line.

Flight took off at 16:21 GMT, missed scheduled check-in at 17:22 GMT.



Map locating Thổ Ch

 

[EarlyMon]

 

[mrnyjet]

I've been following this all morning, and certainly my heart goes out. So many unanswered questions, and so many folks jumping to conclusions.
I wish all the best and hope for survivors.

Likewise! What is suspicious is that there are two people on that flight using stolen passports. The owners reported them stolen in Thailand long ago. There are too many insane / violent people thinking their cause justifies anything they do, even to innocent people.

 

[Steven58]

Stolen Passports. sigh.

 

[EarlyMon]

Stolen passports are commonly used there for smuggling.

I'd expect any terrorist group to have spoken up by now, yeah?

 

[Steven58]

No. Give them time. This so stinks.

 

[breadnatty08]

Stolen passports are commonly used there for smuggling.

I'd expect any terrorist group to have spoken up by now, yeah?

They briefly interviewed an US Gov't Antiterrorist rep on the news yesterday morning and he basically said they really have no leads on terrorist groups in that area, so little to no reason to suspect that.
I'd say it could be either smuggling or folks trying to flee who don't have passports.

 

[EarlyMon]

I still think that a bolide, or even something smaller, is more likely.

https://b612foundation.org/education/data-visualization-bolides/

 

[Oasish]

Still no more concrete info on this?! Something very strange about this. I fear it may have crashed.

 

[03bluecoupe]

First; it's a VERY tragic situation and my sympathies to out to all of the people on the plane and their relatives.

But there are very few reasons for a plane just disappearing from radar. The most likely is a fairly large explosion. Granted, coverage in that part of the world is sparse but if I had to bet, it was a large explosion.

 

[dan330]

any news yet?

guessing it crashed in the ocean
that is why it is so hard to find

passport might have been .. someone trying to travel .. to get out of that country.
may not be part of the reason it went down

 

[EarlyMon]

The press introduced the idea, "disappeared from radar."

Disappearing from radar over Omaha is not the same thing as this situation. We have radar over Omaha.

These are countries with national pride under a global microscope lacking full radar coverage.

Vietnam's latest official statement is based on Malaysia's - the plane was lost one minute before entering Vietnam's airspace. According to the press.

If the USA said that, it would be because of tracking radar.

What Vietnam was more likely trying to say is that, even if was by only a minute, it hadn't passed in to our air control network yet.

Well over a day ago, China said that they tracked it changing course from 24

 

[mikedt]

I'm paying particularly close attention to this, because I flew with Malaysia Airlines last year, Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. Which takes a similar route to the Beijing flight, going over Vietnam.

 

[EarlyMon]

I'm paying particularly close attention to this, because I flew with Malaysia Airlines last year, Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. Which takes a similar route to the Beijing flight, going over Vietnam.

I've flown them often too, always thought that they did a great job.

 

[EarlyMon]

This "report" just hit and is so sensationalistic that I can't take it seriously -

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/us-exclusive-probe-plane-idUSBREA280FF20140309

"Search teams have not been able to make any confirmed discovery of wreckage in seas beneath the plane's flight path almost 48 hours after it took off."

And they're not going to. Even if it was on track going down, which is more than doubtful, the ocean surface is not stationary.

The report is sensationalizing comparisons to terrorist mid-air detonations.

"... said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the investigation."

I hope that they find and fire them. The idiot reporter probably has a gold star on his forehead.

True or false isn't the point.

The point is that speculative reports already built on one another until no one could tell who said what, followed by some control being imposed, reports unwound, and retractions issued.

We don't need some mouth looking for the scoop to start it up again.


Good news - the Chicago Tribune swallowed it hook, line and sinker and is repeating it with unfounded (and probably made-up) exaggerations.

Wtg, Chicago Tribune, you suck.

And now the media feeding frenzy is on.

"Reuters" said it, so it must be true according the press jackasses.

 

[EarlyMon]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/0...-loses-contact-with-plane-carrying-23-people/

1. Nobody checked passports with Interpol. They have photos of the fakers.

2. Possible debris sighted by the Vietnamese 53 miles south of Tho Chu.

3. "Malaysia's air force chief" was reported to have said that military radar showed the plane turning back before being lost.

Point 3 has been repeated and retracted often, each repeating with a new vague identity of who said it. Last one was The Guardian reporting: "Malaysia's air force chief Rodzali Daud told a press conference that it appeared to have gone off-route. "We are trying to make sense of this … The military radar indicated that the aircraft may have made a turn back and in some parts, this was corroborated by civilian radar," he said." But not saying when that press conference took place or if they were there themselves - or repeating a false quotation.

Sentence structure implies that the radar was Malaysian military.

It wasn't - it was the Chinese as I mentioned earlier.

Point 2 is credible but unconfirmed. It's dark there now, no new credible reports to expect for some hours.

If you're interested in passports here, that's what's properly reported.


~~~~~

Malaysia reported oil slicks south of where Vietnam sighted them. No confirmation if aviation grade.

 

[EarlyMon]

Here's the picture of the oil slicks found by the Vietnamese Air Force, courtesy of The Guardian in the UK -

You have to be an expert to know that's what an oil slick looks like.

Finding things in or on the ocean is very difficult ok.

 

[EarlyMon]

Meanwhile, Thailand's navy is shifting its focus in the search away from the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, Thai Navy Rear Adm. Karn Dee-ubon told CNN on Sunday. The shift came at the request of the Malaysians, who are looking into possibilities the plane turned around and could have gone down in the Andaman Sea, near Thailand's border, Karn said.

The Andaman Sea lies to the west of a narrow strip of Thailand that ends in the Malaysian peninsula, while the Gulf of Thailand lies to the east of that Thai isthmus.

New leads explored in hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight - CNN.com

For that to be possible, they would have had to have flown for at least 40 minutes due west of their last reported radar position, crossing land, without anyone noticing and without any contact from the plane. If extending down to the Malacca Straight at WSW, that would be at least 35 minutes flight time.

If true, then obviously the plane didn't suddenly disappear from radar while exploding at 35,000 feet over the South China Sea - as claimed by that unnamed expert source.

And that shows exactly how absolutely confused the entire situation is.

And why to never trust unknown expert sources.