Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

homerjay2005

Setun wrote: »

A map of all the possible 777-capable airstrips in the estimated range of the flight. Should narrow it down a bit...



Via Guardian/WNYC

would they need an airstrip though? surely a wide open space could take a jet no problem, assuming its more than 4 or 5km in length and fairly level?

wretcheddomain

homerjay2005 wrote: »

would they need an airstrip though? surely a wide open space could take a jet no problem, assuming its more than 4 or 5km in length and fairly level?

I don't think many areas of Asia offer such a possibility and even if it were available, it's highly probable it would crash in some way.

A Primal Nut

theKillerBite wrote: »

The last signal received from the plane was 7.5hrs after takeoff.



The planned flight to Beijing was 6hrs.



Surely the entire plane would be beating down the cabin door to get answers towards the end of the 7th hour.

Maybe that is what happened.

homerjay2005

did they check both pilots houses or just one?

that must mean something if its only one house they are looking at.

wretcheddomain wrote: »

I don't think many areas of Asia offer such a possibility and even if it were available, it's highly probable it would crash in some way.

you could land a 777 in a place like the curragh in kildare for example and even in the pheniox park no problem, am sure theres loads of places like that in Asia, and more isolated. likelyhood becomes even more possible with a private grounds.

Hank Scorpio

almost a week gone and still nothing, such a bizarre situation

jasonb

Setun wrote: »

A map of all the possible 777-capable airstrips in the estimated range of the flight. Should narrow it down a bit...



Via Guardian/WNYC

Would I be right in thinking that's the range from either when they took off, or from when they dropped off secondary radar? I don't think that's the range from when the pings stopped, hours later?

J

ubercool

RTE have such useless coverage of this story - do they even have a reporter or correspondent in the region?

2 stroke

Setun wrote: »

A map of all the possible 777-capable airstrips in the estimated range of the flight. Should narrow it down a bit...



Via Guardian/WNYC

I would have expected more on islands, old ww2 airstrips and lengths of roadway that could double up as emergency landing strips.

JONJO THE MISER

Why do people still believe it has crashed into the sea, if it was hijacked the amount of planning they have done already is very detailed, for what reason would they crash it, they have had this planned to land somewhere.

brilou23

at this stage i wouldnt be surprised at anything its a story nobody will forget no matter what the ending is

Setun

jasonb wrote: »

Would I be right in thinking that's the range from either when they took off, or from when they dropped off secondary radar? I don't think that's the range from when the pings stopped, hours later?

J

I'm not certain to be honest - I'm not sure of the methodology the journalists used to produce the map, although it has been reported in recent press releases that the plane could technically make it to Kyrgyzstan. Having said that, the plane symbol looks like it's still over the gulf of Thailand, which may indicate that the map was made a few days ago before the diversion over the Andaman Sea was confirmed.

Ace2007

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Why do people still believe it has crashed into the sea, if it was hijacked the amount of planning they have done already is very detailed, for what reason would they crash it, they have had this planned to land somewhere.

If you land a plane with over 200 people on board, some one somewhere would notice it, if they landed it somewhere, are you assuming there just killed everyone on board? If the flight was 6hrs long, and they think it flew for 7 more hours, there wouldn't be much fuel left on board, so kinda narrows down where they went.

Regarding the pings, if the plane was sitting in some garage would it be giving off the pings, or does the engine have to be switched on?

A Primal Nut

This thread started around 8.30 Malaysian time. I remember seeing the thread just after. Hard to believe the plane may still have been in the air at that point. Never would have suspected it at the time.

K.Flyer

If this is a planned hi-jack it is unlikely that they flew the plane until they found a random piece of ground to put down on, they would have most likely had a planned destination.
While it could be the actions of one person, which is unlikely, when there are more involved, then its easier to control the crowd.
If its been planned well, then all phones will have been collected from passengers to avoid the chance of coms to outside.
The one thing that keeps coming to my mind is the stabbing incidents at the Chinese train station earlier this month, could there be some connection?

2 stroke

If it was highly planned, and some of the worlds shadier militaries were involved, could this plane be refueled in the air? could it still be airborne? If it is a hijacking, those hijackers would have a lot of hungry mouths to feed, it could be worth tracking food deliveries.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Flippyfloppy

Is anyone searching using the Tomnod maps? If there is anyone have you found anyway to only search the westerly region now? Any map I go to seems to be in the Gulf of Thailand or whatnot, as we all know that area is discredited. The Andaman Island area that they have pics of is extremely small but at least the plane may have gone that way.

Spanish Eyes

I think....from the moment this bird went off air, those who needed to know, knew where it was. Demands were made. The information had to be kept secret. Negotiations ongoing.

All the bluster and lack of information and obfuscation....it there, no its here, it went East, no it went West, it's been tracked 7.5hours after last call. All to muddy the waters while frantic negotiations are going on.

At least if the passengers are still alive, that would be a great result! Let's hope all is not lost.

But sadly, I'm afraid not. I put up my mad theory, because that's what I want to happen, and all passengers to be free soon.

A Primal Nut

Was just reading that a satellite reading showed the plane may have been at a point 1000 miles west of Perth. This seems to contradict everything I read in this thread about the plane heading North from Andaman Islands. Any more detail on this? Just makes no sense!!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/15/flight-mh370-malaysians-convinced-missing-airliner-was-hijacked

Silverbling

A planned operation of this size has to have massive financial backing, so who has that sort of money and an agenda?

The plane could be landed somewhere and the hi-jackers saying WTF do we do now? I doubt the plan was to get most of the world involved in the search and rescue.

I agree that those higher up know a lot more, maybe they are in hostage negotiations? I hope so, I really want those people to be alive and go back to their families.

Witcher

Setun wrote: »

A map of all the possible 777-capable airstrips in the estimated range of the flight. Should narrow it down a bit...



Via Guardian/WNYC

What's the standard strip length for a 777 capable field and what is the bare minimum length it could land on?

I'm just thinking that there might be more than that map shows if you added in airfields that an airline company wouldn't land because it doesn't have the standard safety margin on the end or whatever but that could take a 777 if you had the stones to try it.

CollyFowler

Blay wrote: »

What's the standard strip length for a 777 capable field and what is the bare minimum length it could land on?

At maximum load weight it needs to be just over 8000 feet

fingal raven

Has anybody looked at Diego GarCIA ? just saying !

Witcher

CollyFowler wrote: »

At maximum load weight it needs to be just over 8000 feet

That's the bare minimum distance? But an airport would have twice that or so for safety I assume?

I'm just thinking that the map might only show airfields that would have that safety margin when there might be others that have the 8000 feet as you said that the plane could actually be landed on.

It probably shows any of 8000 feet and over but I'm just throwing it out there.

2 stroke

Blay wrote: »

What's the standard strip length for a 777 capable field and what is the bare minimum length it could land on?

I'm just thinking that there might be more than that map shows if you added in airfields that an airline company wouldn't land because it doesn't have the standard safety margin on the end or whatever but that could take a 777 if you had the stones to try it.

I can't answer your question accurately, but I remember talking to an aircraft mechanic a few years ago, we were joking about him getting dropped home by his employer. He said that you could land an average jet on a much shorter runway than standard, if you weren't worried about a few passengers suing for bumps and bruises. Though for takeoff it might be necessary to strip some weight, unload cargo, minimum fuel, push engines to their limit.

homerjay2005

ubercool wrote: »

RTE have such useless coverage of this story - do they even have a reporter or correspondent in the region?

BODs retirement and the trade unions are more important dont you know?

A Primal Nut

Blay wrote: »

What's the standard strip length for a 777 capable field and what is the bare minimum length it could land on?

I'm just thinking that there might be more than that map shows if you added in airfields that an airline company wouldn't land because it doesn't have the standard safety margin on the end or whatever but that could take a 777 if you had the stones to try it.

Agree with this. If it was the pilot he had a lot of confidence in his own ability. I'm sure in situations like this he would have no issue landing on a shorter airstrip.

2 stroke

8000 feet is almost 2.5 kilometers, I'd hazard a guess you could stop in half that using brakes and reverse thrust, tossed your passenger around a bit and didn't care about the stress on the aircraft, as you're not trying to get 30 years out of it.

ThunbergsAreGo

Thanks to all the informed people on here!

Crazy whatever happened, like a Fringe event

SpaceTime

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You could rule out about 99% of those, there might be some in some strange countries or very remote islands that would be worth checking out, the rest would be about as likely to notice an unexpected 777 as Kerry or Knock would!

There are also plenty of places you could probably land it, but taking off again would be another question entirely.