Malaysia Airlines Flight Goes Missing En Route to China

[ABX]

I wonder if the climb to 45K feet was an attempt to choke out a fire?

[DCPatriot]

It's beginning to look like it, isn't it?

That was my first inclination....that the rise to above 43K feet was to "get rid" of the passengers.   It also explains no calls, texts, tweets....etc., .

Then it becomes one of two choices.

1)  Ditch it into the Indian Ocean

2) Fly it to a safe airstrip in a Taliban friendly airport in Pakistan.

I'll take what's behind door number two, Alex..........

[SouthTexas]

It's beginning to look like it, isn't it?

That's exactly what they are discussing right now on Fox.

[NavyCanDo]

They had time to climb to 45,000 feet to "choke out a fire" but didn't even have time to send a mayday message. That would be against everything these pilots are taught.   And climbing to choke out a fire would not be the first thing they would be doing.

The 2 engines and 1 APU all have fire suppression systems. If one of these are on fire the flight crew  pulls the fire engine switch, and at that point :
 
- Fuel is shut off
- Bleed Air is shut off
- Electrical is shut off
- Hyd is shut off and pump depressurised
- Thrust reverser disarmed
-Fire bottles are armed for discharge

[Oceander]

That was my first inclination....that the rise to above 43K feet was to "get rid" of the passengers.   It also explains no calls, texts, tweets....etc., .

Then it becomes one of two choices.

1)  Ditch it into the Indian Ocean

2) Fly it to a safe airstrip in a Taliban friendly airport in Pakistan.

I'll take what's behind door number two, Alex..........

I'm not sure if I follow the reasoning

[happyg]

BREAKING: Flight #MH370 Pilot Had FIVE ASIAN RUNWAYS Programmed Into His Home Simulator

Malaysian news reported MH370 Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator had five runways programmed into the system.

The runways included:
** Three airports in India and Sri Lanka
** One airport in Maldives
** One US military base in Diego Garcia
Berita Harian reported that five runways were programmed into Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator.
AU.News reported:


A Malaysian newspaper is reporting that investigations into the flight simulator, seized from the home of one of MH370′s missing pilots, included software for five practice runways around the Indian Ocean, where the desperate search for the plane is continuing.

The Berita Harian is reporting that five runways were programmed into Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator that was taken by police for analysis last Saturday.

The simulator was reassembled at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, where experts conducted the checks.

“Among the software we checked so far is the Male International Airport in Maldives, three airports in India and Sri Lanka, and one belonging to the US military base in Diego Garcia. All have a runway length of 1,000 metres,” a source told the Malay daily.

After 10 days of searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, investigators have now conducting extensive background checks on the 239 people on board the plane, including the pilots, crew and passengers.

The Malaysian pilot on missing flight MH370 was reportedly a political fanatic who attended the trial of the country’s opposition leader hours before the flight.

More pictures and graphs at link: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/breaking-flight-mh370-pilot-had-five-asian-runways-programmed-into-his-home-simulator/

[ABX]

[Oceander]

BREAKING: Flight #MH370 Pilot Had FIVE ASIAN RUNWAYS Programmed Into His Home Simulator

Malaysian news reported MH370 Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator had five runways programmed into the system.

The runways included:
** Three airports in India and Sri Lanka
** One airport in Maldives
** One US military base in Diego Garcia
Berita Harian reported that five runways were programmed into Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator.
AU.News reported:


A Malaysian newspaper is reporting that investigations into the flight simulator, seized from the home of one of MH370′s missing pilots, included software for five practice runways around the Indian Ocean, where the desperate search for the plane is continuing.

The Berita Harian is reporting that five runways were programmed into Captain Zaharie Shah’s homemade flight simulator that was taken by police for analysis last Saturday.

The simulator was reassembled at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, where experts conducted the checks.

“Among the software we checked so far is the Male International Airport in Maldives, three airports in India and Sri Lanka, and one belonging to the US military base in Diego Garcia. All have a runway length of 1,000 metres,” a source told the Malay daily.

After 10 days of searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, investigators have now conducting extensive background checks on the 239 people on board the plane, including the pilots, crew and passengers.

The Malaysian pilot on missing flight MH370 was reportedly a political fanatic who attended the trial of the country’s opposition leader hours before the flight.

More pictures and graphs at link: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/breaking-flight-mh370-pilot-had-five-asian-runways-programmed-into-his-home-simulator/

The fact that he had the US military base on Diego Garcia in his simulator doesn't really fit with the others if he was looking for places to land a stolen 777.  Also, we aren't told how many other airports did he have on his flight simulator?

[olde north church]

They had time to climb to 45,000 feet to "choke out a fire" but didn't even have time to send a mayday message. That would be against everything these pilots are taught.   And climbing to choke out a fire would not be the first thing they would be doing.

The 2 engines and 1 APU all have fire suppression systems. If one of these are on fire the flight crew  pulls the fire engine switch, and at that point :
 
- Fuel is shut off
- Bleed Air is shut off
- Electrical is shut off
- Hyd is shut off and pump depressurised
- Thrust reverser disarmed
-Fire bottles are armed for discharge

Fire doesn't just go out in low oxygen environments, it reacts differently.  I remember they were doing fire experiments on the ISS.

[Atomic Cow]

If you have a fire in an engine, you dive, not climb.  That may help put out the fire.

Also, in Boeing aircraft, an uncontained engine fire will eventually burn through the pylon, resulting in the engine dropping free from the aircraft.  This is by design so the fire will not eat into the wing itself.

It actually happened on a BOAC (forerunner to British Airways) 707-465 when engine 2 failed and caught fire.  However, the crew did not follow the engine fire drill, thinking it was only an engine failure.

By the time they realized it was a fire, it had spread to the wing because maximum fuel was still being dumped into the burning engine.  The breakaway pylon is designed to have the engine fire drill followed at once and correctly, not keep dumping endless fuel into the engine.



The engine did fall away as designed and a photographer actually caught it on film.

[ABX]

@SavageNation 47s

BREAKING: Intel Group With Source Inside Boeing Says Missing Flight #MH370 Went to Pakistan: Megyn Kelly broke... http://bit.ly/1qXkZkD

[Oceander]

@SavageNation 47s

BREAKING: Intel Group With Source Inside Boeing Says Missing Flight #MH370 Went to Pakistan: Megyn Kelly broke... http://bit.ly/1qXkZkD

1,000 miles off Perth, now Pakistan, what's next?  I think I'm just going to stop following this until I see on the front page of my morning paper that they found the da*ned thing.

[Atomic Cow]

@SavageNation 47s

BREAKING: Intel Group With Source Inside Boeing Says Missing Flight #MH370 Went to Pakistan: Megyn Kelly broke... http://bit.ly/1qXkZkD

And tomorrow it went to Iran, and then Indonesia, and then back to the Indian Ocean.

[ABX]

Don't forget Antarctica

[alicewonders]

Pakistan makes more sense, if you're going to go to such elaborate lengths to take a plane and hide where it's going.  I also think it would have to be in a country that would "turn it's back" in a surrepticious way to let it land and Pakistan fills the bill.  I think our government probably knows where the plane is too - these other searches are wild goose chases to make the terrorists think we don't know. 

[ABX]

Now the USGS weighs in.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000nb9b#summary

[Bigun]

Pakistan makes more sense, if you're going to go to such elaborate lengths to take a plane and hide where it's going.  I also think it would have to be in a country that would "turn it's back" in a surrepticious way to let it land and Pakistan fills the bill.  I think our government probably knows where the plane is too - these other searches are wild goose chases to make the terrorists think we don't know.

The only problem with the plane getting to Pakistan or Eastern Iran is that they would have had to fly at altitude through Indian airspace for a long period of time without anyone raising an alarm. That simply cannot happen!

[Oceander]

Now the USGS weighs in.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000nb9b#summary

at least they're carefully knocking down another strange "hypothesis".

[Oceander]

The only problem with the plane getting to Pakistan or Eastern Iran is that they would have had to fly at altitude through Indian airspace for a long period of time. That simply cannot happen!

Very good point.  I also suspect that if Indian radar spotted an unidentified plane heading in the direction of Pakistan, they would consider it a potential threat and they would have gone after it.

[alicewonders]

The only problem with the plane getting to Pakistan or Eastern Iran is that hey would have had to fly at altitude through Indian airspace for a long period of time. That simply cannot happen!

I've heard some talk that the plane could have "shadowed" another plane in some way as to make itself not be noticed on it's own.  Is that possible? 

[Atomic Cow]

I've heard some talk that the plane could have "shadowed" another plane in some way as to make itself not be noticed on it's own.  Is that possible?

In theory, but highly unlikely.  It would require a lot of manual flying, and also to know when and where the aircraft to follow would have been.

With all of the electronics disabled, the lead aircraft's TCAS would not have detected another aircraft being close to it.

[Bigun]

I've heard some talk that the plane could have "shadowed" another plane in some way as to make itself not be noticed on it's own.  Is that possible?

It's theoretically possible but practically a real stretch! The pilot who could do that for any length of time at night doesn't exist IMHO.

[DCPatriot]

I'm not sure if I follow the reasoning

I was thinking that maybe there was an insurrection among the rest of the crew and together with the passengers tried to gain access to the cockpit.

Like somebody else said....a number of people know the punch key sequence to unlock the door.

If one of the goals was for the plane to literally disappear, it could be the reason he rendered everyone unconscious asap....and not just dive it into the ground like flight 93 supposedly did in Pennsylvania.

[alicewonders]

In theory, but highly unlikely.  It would require a lot of manual flying, and also to know when and where the aircraft to follow would have been.

With all of the electronics disabled, the lead aircraft's TCAS would not have detected another aircraft being close to it.

Okay - and I know this is a real stretch here, but I'm letting my imagination "free-flow" - what if the plane that was being "shadowed" was piloted by a pilot that was in on the plot?

[Atomic Cow]

Okay - and I know this is a real stretch here, but I'm letting my imagination "free-flow" - what if the plane that was being "shadowed" was piloted by a pilot that was in on the plot?

I think that is just too out there @ this point.  The people in the plane ahead would not know someone was behind them.

Also, there is something called wake turbulence, all aircraft generate it.  The bigger the aircraft, the more severe it is.  Following close behind a similar or larger sized aircraft (747, A330, A340, A380, 777) would be extremely hazardous.