Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

Sam Russell

LordSutch wrote: »

I think they should do a reconstruction of the southern flight path (as hypothesized) taking into account that the plane might have gone a lot slower than calculated, ergo the crash zone might be much further north than the current search quadrangle.

Just a thought.

The only problem with that is the B777 would be out of fuel and would crash into the oceam with the loss of all on board.

BorneTobyWilde

I thought it was confirmed that the plane took one of two routes, two corridors . One was to the south, one to north. It seems to me that all the garbage and false satellite images has convinced everyone it went south.
But it's only garbage in the ocean, so maybe it indeed went north...

partyguinness

Sam Russell wrote: »

The only problem with that is the B777 would be out of fuel and would crash into the oceam with the loss of all on board.

LMAO...love it.

Synode

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I thought it was confirmed that the plane took one of two routes, two corridors . One was to the south, one to north. It seems to me that all the garbage and false satellite images has convinced everyone it went south.
But it's only garbage in the ocean, so maybe it indeed went north...

Inmarsat did further technical analysis on the data and confirmed the positions of the "handshakes" were only consistent with the Southern Corridor

Mountainsandh

Then again we just have their and Malaysian authorities' word for it.

Enough statements have been vaguely made, withdrawn, altered... to be doubtful about this one too.

Synode

Inmarsat have not made any vague statements

Bill G

Synode wrote: »

Inmarsat did further technical analysis on the data and confirmed the positions of the "handshakes" were only consistent with the Southern Corridor

I wish people would stop calling it a Corridor. The arc does not describe a path the airplane travelled down. The arc represents the point where they received the last ping from.

So conceivably it could of sent the last ping 50 miles off Java. They are searching at the end of the arc because they are postulating it travelled in a straight line until it ran out of fuel, but that certainly is not a given.

Sam Russell

Bill G wrote: »

I wish people would stop calling it a Corridor. The arc does not describe a path the airplane travelled down. The arc represents the point where they received the last ping from.

So conceivably it could of sent the last ping 50 miles off Java. They are searching at the end of the arc because they are postulating it travelled in a straight line until it ran out of fuel, but that certainly is not a given.

From what has been said in posts above, Inmarsat looked at the time of the ping response back to the satellite and calculated where on the surface of the globe that could have come from, and doing this for each of the six pings shows a travelling transmitter that could be travelling N or S, but not stationary. Clearly there is significant uncertainty with this method, and after further analysis, Inmarsat decided that the southern route was more likely. Bear in mind that only one satellite received the ping, and that in itself gives rise to uncertainty as regards position. Three satellites (or better still four) would allow pinpoint positioning. A satnav uses upto 12 satellites at a time to show you the way home.

sopretty

The initial maps after this 'corridor' revelation cited a massively long range, but with a 1 hour flight time from every potential spot on the 'corridor'. I think the media has however misinterpreted this 'corridor' as being a flight path, rather than what it actually means.

Mountainsandh

Synode wrote: »

Inmarsat have not made any vague statements

And neither have I stated that they did. Please re-read.

Tenger

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Then again we just have their and Malaysian authorities' word for it.

Enough statements have been vaguely made, withdrawn, altered... to be doubtful about this one too.

Sounds like you are implicating Immarsat with the Malay authorities on the vague statements front.

Growler!!!

Sam Russell wrote: »

Bear in mind that only one satellite received the ping, and that in itself gives rise to uncertainty as regards position. Three satellites (or better still four) would allow pinpoint positioning. A satnav uses upto 12 satellites at a time to show you the way home.

Inmarsat comms terminals only ever lock onto 1 satellite, the one with the strongest signal. If the signal significantly weakens it then goes into search mode, ie if it's at the edge of two overlapping satellite footprints.

Mountainsandh

Tenger wrote: »

Sounds like you are implicating Immarsat with the Malay authorities on the vague statements front.

No, but I am doubtful of anything relayed by the Malay authorities. At this stage, I should add.

Happyman42

Can anybody reccomend a good site that updates daily on progress? Newshounds are beginning to lose interest.

wil

Happyman42 wrote: »

Can anybody reccomend a good site that updates daily on progress? Newshounds are beginning to lose interest.

.
Best ones are probably those closest to the action
New Straits Times Latest

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/

AMSA
https://twitter.com/AMSA_News

http://www.jacc.gov.au/media/

and WSJ
http://stream.wsj.com/story/malaysia-airlines-flight-370/SS-2-475558/

I note there is a 75m fisheries vessel, presumed illegal fishing, gone missing 3200km w of Perth. Beacon detected, no radio response, debris sighted.
AMSA regular SAR activities continue

wil

Sam Russell wrote: »

..
The also say they used doppler to determine the direction the plane was going - N or S. Is that possible that they were able to detect the frequency of the ping signal compared to the nominal? It would appear to me to be a lot of info was captured from such a brief and infrequent signal (once per hour over 6 hours).
...
None of this adds up.

That was also my first thought when this was published.
At face value, this must be so as I find it hard to believe they could be involved in some subterfuge to convince us of a particular scenario.
Some interesting discussion here
Even if genuine and correct, it looks like the margin of error is huge

Also an interesting link to a PPrune user getting advice on changing ACARS ids - that doesn't sound like the sort of info that should be asked for or received in public forum.

Actually - have a read of this fairly well credentialed UK/Aussie NASAastronomist/physicist etc etc

http://www.duncansteel.com/

A bit tired and my physics a bit rusty, but there is some concerning analysis that might just throw this all open again. Inmarsat may not be correct to be so certain of their conclusions.

Have a read of his About me - among other things includes a probably Asian 777 pilot outlining a possible fire scenario

Dublin Red Devil

This will never be found. Might as well just call off the search

sully2010

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

This will never be found. Might as well just call off the search

I doubt you'd say that if you had a relative on board!

robertxxx

Dublin Red Devil wrote: »

This will never be found. Might as well just call off the search

This has to be found, not just for the families, but for the black box to see what went wrong and to implement any safety measures if any.

warren44

The plane landed somewhere, looted of its cargo, passengers killed, plane hidden or destroyed on land. Not 1 piece will ever be found. The Black boxes are long gone.

Jack1985

Ok lads enough with the conspiracy theories? Getting tiring now.

PropJoe10

Malaysian political opposition leader putting the boot in now, and to be honest, he has a point. Its unbelievable to think that the plane wasnt picked up on some radar system somewhere. There's something extremely dodgy about the whole thing.

http://news.sky.com/story/1236868/malaysia-concealing-missing-jet-information

Jack1985

Just watched a Sky News ''reconstruction'' :rolleyes: of MH370, the interviewer asks the pilot, ''how would we turn the aircraft''.. ''Pilot'' replies, ''Like this.'' - Then goes on to turn the IAS/MACH knob.

Need I say more.

sopretty

Jack1985 wrote: »

Just watched a Sky News ''reconstruction'' :rolleyes: of MH370, the interviewer asks the pilot, ''how would we turn the aircraft''.. ''Pilot'' replies, ''Like this.'' - Then goes on to turn the IAS/MACH knob.

Need I say more.

What's the IAS/MACH knob?

That pilot fella does my head in.

Nonoperational

warren44 wrote: »

The plane landed somewhere, looted of its cargo, passengers killed, plane hidden or destroyed on land. Not 1 piece will ever be found. The Black boxes are long gone.

Ah that's grand so. Mystery solved. Good man.

DellyBelly

warren44 wrote: »

The plane landed somewhere, looted of its cargo, passengers killed, plane hidden or destroyed on land. Not 1 piece will ever be found. The Black boxes are long gone.

Funnily enough we were saying the same thing last night. I was a bit dubious about this happening but the longer it goes on without being found I'm thinking what you are saying might be the case...although I still think it has crashed in the sea somewhere. But we can't rule anything in or out at this stage...

Jack1985

sopretty wrote: »

What's the IAS/MACH knob?

That pilot fella does my head in.

Controls airspeed, pretty ridiculous to be able to confuse it with heading ha!

sopretty

Can I ask, if anyone knows, where is this Diego Garcia island, in relation to where they have been searching?

Red Pepper

robertxxx wrote: »

This has to be found, not just for the families, but for the black box to see what went wrong and to implement any safety measures if any.

I am pretty certain that, unless they find it in the next few days before the black box locator signal loses power, it will never ever be found.
Air France was different, they had a fair idea where it was, they had shallower and calmer seas, the search vessels were closer to land to make the search easier logistically.

I believe the search will be called off when it gets too expensive over the next few months. They might maintain a "token" search but it will be in vain.

IRLConor

sopretty wrote: »

Can I ask, if anyone knows, where is this Diego Garcia island, in relation to where they have been searching?

https://www.google.com/maps?t=m&ll=-7.313333,72.411111&z=4&q=7%C2%B018%2748.0%22S+72%C2%B024%2740.0%22E&cid=0x0&output=classic&dg=ntvo