Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

SNAKEDOC

I still cant fathom that they think the crew and possibly all on board were incapicated yet the plane continued flying for several hours making course changes. I think its completly mad. Something happened onboard but i dont think it was anything innocent or accidental.

Bill G

Tea 1000 wrote: »

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/03/23/MAS-plane-ducks-nepal/

Don't know if that story was posted here or not, but in that particular incident, the pilots seemed to have a fairly lax attitude to reporting problems to ATC. It might raise questions for Malaysia Airlines practices and pilot training, I assume from IATA or some similar body? Or is there such a procedure for airlines if there is a questionable action following an incident?

Since it was the landing light and not the windscreen that hit (as was broken) by the birds, the pilot probably didn't even know they had hit anything.

fits

Pitch black in search area now. HMAS success found nothing before darkness fell.

ProfessorPlum

Bill G wrote: »

Since it was the landing light and not the windscreen that hit (as was broken) by the birds, the pilot probably didn't even know they had hit anything.

Yes I saw that article linked before and thought it was pretty strange. I've never know a cockpit window to break into lots of pieces leaving pieces of broken glass as described on the threshold. A broken landing light would explain it alright. In any case, if a cockpit window had shattered into pieces over the threshold, getting the call into ATC would be the least of their worries!

TCDStudent1

This is probably a silly question and may be the wrong thread or even forum to post this.

But in all the news reports, I keep hearing how "remote the location of the search is" and "how difficult it is to get to that area of the South Indian Ocean". Things like that.

Has there been any exploration expeditions done in this area in the past? Like, has anybody ever explored what lives in that part of the ocean? Am just curious as it seems strange that parts of the world are still left so unexplored in our modern day.

sopretty

fits wrote: »

Pitch black in search area now. HMAS success found nothing before darkness fell.

Seems some developments now, though nothing confirmed, just speculation by Sky reporter.

Emergency meeting called to meet families in 1/2 hour.
PM of Malaysia to give press conf. at 2pm (GMT I presume).

Supposition that the HMS Success, MAY have retrieved the objects..

Thrill

Families of mh370 to take chartered flight to Australia tonight.

homerjay2005

emergency meeting called for families in the next 30 minutes to an hour and new press conference called for 45 minutes.

i guess this is it then?

Thrill

Prime Minister of Malaysia : I will be making a statement on MH370 at 10pm Malaysian time tonight at PWTC

sopretty

homerjay2005 wrote: »

emergency meeting called for families in the next 30 minutes to an hour and new press conference called for 45 minutes.

i guess this is it then?

God love the families going in to receive news..

Meglamonia

Think this is it,the end is near.

Meglamonia

Thrill wrote: »

Families of mh370 to take chartered flight to Australia tonight.

Where did you see that?

billie1b

Meglamonia wrote: »

Where did you see that?

They have said it on Sky News a few times, just said it there now too

fits

Meglamonia wrote: »

Where did you see that?

mark stone of sky tweeted it.

homerjay2005

Meglamonia wrote: »

Think this is it,the end is near.

in one sense yes, in terms of having planes searching areas 1000's of miles apart, but without bodies and a crash site, the search will still go on for weeks.

it seems that some of the debris is already 500+miles apart.

weisses

rumours say relatives are booked on charter planes to Australia

I think they found it

Would be "great" news to families so they can get some closure

wil

brandon_flowers wrote: »

I assume what they have found in the Indian Ocean to be parts of MH370 as I fully believe it is in the water and not landed in someones back yard being painted in the new Air Al-Qaeda livery.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/17/world/asia/search-for-flight-370.html?ref=world&_r=0

Using the above timeline how plausible is this scenario? Given that I am not fully aware of what does and doesn't run on a UPS system in an aircraft.

Pilots get a fire warning in the cockpit at 1.20
Go through checklists for fire which involves pulling circuit breakers including those running transponders/comms
Input new waypoints to return to KUL (assuming nav is running on a UPS)
Pilots try to communicate but systems are off due to pulling circuit breakers
Fire damage causes decompression during or just before descent
Fire runs out of fuel (tyres, cables or whatever could have burning)
Autopilot continues to fly for another 7 hours until engine fuel is gone (no idea if autopilot also runs on a UPS)

I guess one piece of info that would be very nice to have is what was the altitude was between Malacca Straits and the Southern Indian Ocean.

This scenario but with one big unexplained lack.
Critical at this point would be communication - please don't ANC, fighting a fire is not Aviation and the fire list earlier was good exploration of that. We need something to explain the lack of any attempt to communicate/mayday.
Pilots must have become incapacitated early on as surely there would be some intent if not able to communicate to at least attempt sea ditch somewhere not far out in the ocean. Pilot would likely have understood the possibility for recovery even if they thought landing impossible.

Still seems odd no single mayday before everything pulled. What does the 777 SOP manual say for fires.
What about trying each in turn. It must mean a very large fire extent.

If proven so, or even if not, then this seems like a very glaring lack on the comms side of commercial airliners.
There should be several layers of redundancy built in including independent options for cabin crew.

Did you note the recent MAS incident, does that raise any warning flags with you about training/policy?

Thrill

Meglamonia wrote: »

Where did you see that?

As others have said, it was on SKY. I should have indicated that.

Meglamonia

Thrill wrote: »

As others have said, it was on SKY. I should have indicated that.

Cheers, sorry wasn't watching.

billie1b

wil wrote: »

Did you note the recent MAS incident, does that raise any warning flags with you about training/policy?

No, it was a landing light that was shattered, its about 100ft behind the pilots and under them too, they wouldn't be able to hear or even see that part of the aircraft. The only way it could be brought to their attention is by an aircraft waiting to take-off and seeing it happen or a landing aircraft behind them noticing the glass on the runway. Nothing unusual about that incident in my opinion

sopretty

brandon_flowers wrote: »

I assume what they have found in the Indian Ocean to be parts of MH370 as I fully believe it is in the water and not landed in someones back yard being painted in the new Air Al-Qaeda livery.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/17/world/asia/search-for-flight-370.html?ref=world&_r=0

Using the above timeline how plausible is this scenario? Given that I am not fully aware of what does and doesn't run on a UPS system in an aircraft.

Pilots get a fire warning in the cockpit at 1.20
Go through checklists for fire which involves pulling circuit breakers including those running transponders/comms
Input new waypoints to return to KUL (assuming nav is running on a UPS)
Pilots try to communicate but systems are off due to pulling circuit breakers
Fire damage causes decompression during or just before descent
Fire runs out of fuel (tyres, cables or whatever could have burning)
Autopilot continues to fly for another 7 hours until engine fuel is gone (no idea if autopilot also runs on a UPS)

I guess one piece of info that would be very nice to have is what was the altitude was between Malacca Straits and the Southern Indian Ocean.

That link is quite concise and easy to follow.

wil

billie1b wrote: »

No, it was a landing light that was shattered, its about 100ft behind the pilots and under them too, they wouldn't be able to hear or even see that part of the aircraft. The only way it could be brought to their attention is by an aircraft waiting to take-off and seeing it happen or a landing aircraft behind them noticing the glass on the runway. Nothing unusual about that incident in my opinion

Large bird strike - you sure they aren't supposed to report that?

ProfessorPlum

As Billie and Bill have already said - how can you report something you don't know about? There is no way they would have known they'd broken a landing light. They may (or may not) have seen the birds. Typical media misreporting the incident to make headlines.

Tenger

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

........I keep hearing how "remote the location of the search is" and "how difficult it is to get to that area of the South Indian Ocean". Things like that.

Has there been any exploration expeditions done in this area in the past? Like, has anybody ever explored what lives in that part of the ocean? Am just curious as it seems strange that parts of the world are still left so unexplored in our modern day.

Its an area thats is so far from any populated landmass. No islands of significance (ONly really Kerguelen Island to consider?) and its on no trade routes for ships. Nothing there but ocean.


This causes problems for search aircraft and any subsequent recovery operations.

billie1b

wil wrote: »

Large bird strike - you sure they aren't supposed to report that?

They are supposed to report it, if they new it happened, i.e - hitting the flight deck windows, or the front of the aircraft where they would see or hear it. They can't report what they don't know happened, thats why the procedure is in place that any aircraft that sees FOD on the runways, taxiways or aprons have to report it as that aircraft that caused the FOD might not be aware that they caused such an incident.

fits

Jon ostrower on twitter: pm statement likely to give definitive information on location of flight 370

Thrill

Searchers have found at least four significant items that are possibly connected to MH370. SKY

Paramedics have been called to the facility where MH370 families are gathering to hear latest news.

Authorities in Malaysia are briefing families of missing MH370 passengers before PM's announcement.

homerjay2005

statement from the airline.

#Breaking Malaysia Airlines "evidence suggest that plane went down in the ocean".
assumed beyond any reasonable doubt and regrettably, Missing #MH370 plane "lost" with no survivors,

statement from Prime Minister now.

Immersat data has concluded that its last location was in the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

Meglamonia

Malyasia Airlines "With no considerable doubt the plane has been lost and none on board survived"

Happyman42

Text message to families according to BBC

13:47:BREAKING NEWS The following SMS message has been sent to relatives: "Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia's Prime Minister, we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean."