Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

roundymac

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Well, I know it's not an aircraft but the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney went down off the west coast of Australia in 1941, in pretty much the same waters that MH370 is presumed to have gone down in, after a battle with the german merchant raider Kormoran. The entire complement of Sydney was lost, 645 men, the only wreckage found was a single shattered raft. The wreck of the Sydney wasn't discovered until 2008, almost 67 years later so it's quite possible that MH370 might not be found for a long time, if ever.

They did'nt really start to search for the Sydney until around then, any earlier searchs were during the war and they did'nt have the technology that they have now.

JONJO THE MISER

And still no debris has turned up, i wonder why.

feargale

KoolKid wrote: »

Not a thing. Is there anything even remotely close to this that has ever happened before?

Nungesser and Coli, l'Oiseau Blanc 1927.

kippy

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

And still no debris has turned up, i wonder why.

A long way from land, possibly a long way to the sea floor (especially if it didnt break up), and an absolutely crazy amount of ocean.
All completed reasonable explanations.

BlaasForRafa

kippy wrote: »

One has to ask was that because of advances in technology, a larger amount of funding going towards the search operation or indeed a stroke of good luck.

A bit of all of that tbh. There were failed searches during the war and then in the 90's and 2000's. Part of the problem was that the australians didn't really believe the german account of the battle and weren't searching in the right places but in the last search David Mearns (discoverer of the Titanic, Bismarck, Hood and other famous wrecks) based his search on the german's last recorded sightings and found the ship.

I had a look at the map of where the Sydney went down and it's closer to Australia than where MH370 is presumed to have gone down and even at that the Sydney was at almost 9000 feet below the surface, I'd presume that being further out into the ocean that MH370 is even deeper. Also the Sydney was a bigger "target" to find than MH370 at over 500 feet in length and 9000 tons in weight, plus I'd presume there is more chance of an aluminium and carbon-fibre airplane breaking up than a ship made from thick steel armour. But essentially I agree that it eventually will be found, it's just that there are elements that make the search even more difficult.

Calina

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

David Mearns (discoverer of the Titanic, Bismarck, Hood and other famous wrecks) based his search on the german's last recorded sightings and found the ship.

I know this is off topic, but I'm certain that the Titanic and Bismarck findings were credited to Robert Ballard.

intellectual dosser

Calina wrote: »

I know this is off topic, but I'm certain that the Titanic and Bismarck findings were credited to Robert Ballard.

It was, and I've wondered why he wasn't given a blank cheque in terms of resources to go and find MH370. He's 72 according to wikipedia - still young enough to lead a search I'd think.

I was reading recently how the US Navy employed 'out there' algorithms to find both a sunken Soviet Submarine and USS Scorpion during the cold war when there was barely any clues as to where either were lost - yet we cannot find this state of the art aircraft - it's frustrating even as a bystander.

Maximus Alexander

intellectual dosser wrote: »

It was, and I've wondered why he wasn't given a blank cheque in terms of resources to go and find MH370. He's 72 according to wikipedia - still young enough to lead a search I'd think.

I was reading recently how the US Navy employed 'out there' algorithms to find both a sunken Soviet Submarine and USS Scorpion during the cold war when there was barely any clues as to where either were lost - yet we cannot find this state of the art aircraft - it's frustrating even as a bystander.

Project Azorian, the recovery of the Soviet submarine you're referring to, cost the equivalent of nearly 4 billion dollars in today's money. They're not really in the same ballpark.

intellectual dosser

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Project Azorian, the recovery of the Soviet submarine you're referring to, cost the equivalent of nearly 4 billion dollars in today's money. They're not really in the same ballpark.

I think Project Azorian was initiated after the sub had been found, in a bid to raise and recover it.

Anyway I did a quick check after I had posted and I got it slightly wrong, the 'out there algorithm' I was referring to (Bayesian Search Theory) wasn't used in the Soviet sub search, but I discovered it was used in finding AF447.

Maximus Alexander

intellectual dosser wrote: »

I think Project Azorian was initiated after the sub had been found, in a bid to raise and recover it.

That's a fair point, but it gives you an idea of the kind of financial clout and manpower available in that instance, which you're not going to get for a commercial airliner.

They located it using a hydrophone network in the north Pacific which was a defense system designed to listen for submarines in the first place.

intellectual dosser

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

That's a fair point, but it gives you an idea of the kind of financial clout and manpower available in that instance, which you're not going to get for a commercial airliner.

They located it using a hydrophone network in the north Pacific which was a defense system designed to listen for submarines in the first place.

Yeah so take the Soviet sub out of my original post and replace with the hydrogen bomb off Spain in 1966 (which I originally meant) and AF447. I would be interested to know what the theorem would show if the top 5 or 10 experts weighed in on MH370's likely outcome.

mbur

link I'm having trouble with this story. I don't know if the timing of it supported by the acars handshakes or not.

fits

Looking at the detritus from the latest crash. There just may not be much substantial left of MH370 there to find. Very different to a ship.

Synode

You'd have to think some debris would have been seen or would have washed up somewhere if MH370 disintegrated on impact. I think it's more likely it sank, substantially intact

stevielenihan

The plane most likely crashed into the Southern Indian Ocean according to the edvience.

stevielenihan

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Is this a towelette from MH370? Investigations have started into a packet which washed up on a West Australian beach.

Very interesting.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2987078/Is-towelette-MH370-Investigations-started-packet-washed-West-Australian-beach.html

I belive this towelette did come from Flight MH370.

stevielenihan

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I cant believe this thread is still going. Seriously, just give up all the useless speculating and wait for an answer. Nobody knows what happened and probably never will. Accept it.

The plane will be found sometime I believe. I think it might even be found sometime this year as I get the feeling they are getting closer to the debris field in the Indian Ocean.

pfurey101

stevielenihan wrote: »

I belive this towelette did come from Flight MH370.

The source was explained a few pages back.

stevielenihan

The plane had crashed into the North Indian Ocean off the Maldives instead of the Southern Indian Ocean. https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QqQIoADAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.express.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2F568284%2FMH370-Malaysia-airlines-missing-Maldives-Kuda-Huvadhoo&ei=osUfVe-pItXWatergPgI&usg=AFQjCNHhADWYrT3keNSSiPjIFBK-4HGucw

KoolKid

Those reports have been there from the start.
For me it's always been strange that they were never followed up on or publicised more.

bodhi085

stevielenihan wrote: »

The plane had crashed into the North Indian Ocean off the Maldives instead of the Southern Indian Ocean. https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QqQIoADAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.express.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2F568284%2FMH370-Malaysia-airlines-missing-Maldives-Kuda-Huvadhoo&ei=osUfVe-pItXWatergPgI&usg=AFQjCNHhADWYrT3keNSSiPjIFBK-4HGucw

So in the 13 months since the plane disappeared, and the people who claim that they witnessed a plane in that area at the time of the disappearance,who in turn want authorities to go to the island because they believe the plane crashed there,why doesn't someone with a boat,sail to this island,recover a small bit of wreckage and take it to the authorities to prove they are right. In 13 months not one single person has been bothered to do that.

KoolKid

I don't think they seen it crash. But there appears to be a lot of witnesses who seen it pass over very low contrary to official reports.
Worth looking into IMO considering the official investigation and search has revealed nothing.

_Tombstone_

Wasn't it some English Company that got a world of praise for tracking it to where it was "supposed" to have went down? I remember a whole segment on BBC News about them and how they did it...was it all bOllocks or what?

KoolKid

It's hard to know. But it is possible a lot of people are making a lot of money looking for something that may not be where they are searching.

Fuzzy Clam

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Wasn't it some English Company that got a world of praise for tracking it to where it was "supposed" to have went down? I remember a whole segment on BBC News about them and how they did it...was it all bOllocks or what?

There is no way of knowing the answer to that until the wreckage is found.

Mountainsandh

I think the Maldives sighting was very quickly dismissed because of the proximity to Diego Garcia : it is the perfect trigger for conspiracy theories, remember the report of a mobile phone pic of passenger that was supposed to have been geolocated to DG ?
Authorities were trying to calm down public opinion, not fire up imaginations even more.

I still have a very open mind, and am still not convinced they have the right location, but that's for a different thread. All alternatives to the pings location analysis are considered CT and unwelcome here.

Panda_Turtle

Considering it took almost two years to find the main wreckage field from air france flight 447 which crashed in June 2009 (main debris field found April 2011), it seems unlikely that they will find this MH370 any time soon considering they knew roughly where the Air France plane went down?

Mountainsandh

Panda_Turtle wrote: »

Considering it took almost two years to find the main wreckage field from air france flight 447 which crashed in June 2009 (main debris field found April 2011), it seems unlikely that they will find this MH370 any time soon considering they knew roughly where the Air France plane went down?

Debris and bodies were found within 5 days in that case.

Bateman

Someone posted this as a comment on the Mail story about the islanders seeing a plane:
It's really quite simple, actually. If the Maldivians had seen an aircraft on 'a very clear and bright day' it couldn't possibly have been MH370. It's a question of chronology. The plane goes missing at 01:21(UTC+8) and is 3500km from the Maldives. The earliest it could get to a position where it could be seen over the island in question would be in about 3.5 hours; the latest it could get there would be after around 8 hours (based on the fuel load of the 777). The Maldives is on UTC+5. That means that if they had seen MH370, it would be over the island some time between 2am and 7:30am local time. Seems more likely to me that they saw a different aircraft.

pablo128

Bateman wrote: »

Someone posted this as a comment on the Mail story about the islanders seeing a plane:
It's really quite simple, actually. If the Maldivians had seen an aircraft on 'a very clear and bright day' it couldn't possibly have been MH370. It's a question of chronology. The plane goes missing at 01:21(UTC+8) and is 3500km from the Maldives. The earliest it could get to a position where it could be seen over the island in question would be in about 3.5 hours; the latest it could get there would be after around 8 hours (based on the fuel load of the 777). The Maldives is on UTC+5. That means that if they had seen MH370, it would be over the island some time between 2am and 7:30am local time. Seems more likely to me that they saw a different aircraft.

The islanders claim to have seen the plane at 6.30 am local time.