Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

[Gnam]

Aaaaaand the crazies start to take hold: http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/03/25/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-now-clearly-a-government-cover-up-all-evidence-contradicts-official-story/
;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odj67g0yH7c

[TravelGal]

For your consideration. An airline check pilot's take on what we (think we) know now.

http://www.airlineratings.com/news/264/mh370-only-human-%20%20input

[Gnam]

Cool graphic showing how deep the black boxes might be.

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/the-depth-of-the-problem/931/?tid=sm_fb

It might be easier to recover the boxes by drilling through the Earth from the other side of the planet.

[TravelGal]

Satellite Operator To Offer Free Tracking To Airlines
UK satellite operator Inmarsat will offer a free, basic tracking service to all the world's passenger airliners. This comes after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared without trace in March. It was very brief electronic "pings" from Inmarsat equipment on the lost aircraft that prompted investigators to look for wreckage in the Indian Ocean. Inmarsat says the free service it is offering would carry definitive positional information. It would see an aircraft, determine its location using GPS and then transmit that data, together with a heading, speed and altitude over Inmarsat's global network of satellites every 15 minutes. Cost is one of the reasons often cited for the reluctance of airlines to routinely use satellite tracking. The London-based company announced its offer ahead of a conference on aircraft tracking being hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal yesterday. Both ICAO and the IATA are considering how best to respond to the mysterious loss of MH370.

[JohnHKart]

My prediction: This is never found.

[WickerBill]

I hope this one is easier to find and turns out to be less suspicious... :(

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2014-12/29/c_127341602.htm

[TravelGal]

I hope this one is easier to find and turns out to be less suspicious... :(

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2014-12/29/c_127341602.htm

:(

[nrc]

The circumstances sound similar to Air France 447. That would be bad news for Airbus. Not that anything but bad news seems likely at this point. :(

[nrc]

Black boxes located, one of two retrieved so far.

I only know a little more about crash investigation than your average Holiday Inn Express guest but I always cringe when an important air accident investigation is handled by a... smaller country.

http://news.sky.com/story/1406139/airasia-flight-8501-exploded-before-impact

S.B. Supriyadi, a director with the Indonesian national search and rescue agency, said wreckage analysis suggested it had broken apart because the cabin could not adapt to pressure charge caused by the steep descent.
Section of the tail of AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane is seen on the deck of the ship Crest Onyx, the day after it was lifted from the seabed, as it arrives at Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun

"The cabin was pressurised and before the pressure of the cabin could be adjusted, it went down - boom. That explosion was heard in the area," said Mr Supriyadi.

:saywhat::saywhat::saywhat:

[cameraman]

That's an interesting take on the laws of physics:shakehead:

[TravelGal]

Search For Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Ends
After nearly three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration Tuesday, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a trace of the plane. The Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia, which has helped lead the $160 million hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia, said the search had officially been suspended after crews finished their fruitless sweep of the 46,000-square mile search zone. Officials investigating the plane's disappearance have recommended search crews head north to a new area identified in a recent analysis as a possible crash site. But the Australian government has already nixed that idea. Last year, Australia, Malaysia and China, which have each helped fund the search, agreed that the hunt would be suspended once the search zone was exhausted unless new evidence emerges that pinpoints the plane's specific location. Since no technology currently exists that can tell investigators exactly where the plane is, that effectively means the most expensive, complex search in aviation history is over. There is the possibility that a private donor could offer to bankroll a new search, or that Malaysia will kick in fresh funds, but no one has stepped up yet. This raises the bleak possibility that the world's greatest aviation mystery may never be solved. [I disagree-- unless you consider the Amelia Earhart disappearance solved by now.]

[TravelGal]

From today's ARTA E-News
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Mystery Still Baffles Experts
The AP reports on the almost three-year search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The report said Tuesday the continuing mystery over the fate of the plane and the 239 people on board is "almost inconceivable." But the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final report on the search, which was abandoned in January, concedes that authorities are no closer to knowing the reasons for the plane's disappearance, or its exact location. This is despite last year's narrowing down of its most likely resting place to a 9,650-square mile patch of the southern Indian Ocean. The Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew disappeared soon into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. A 52-day surface search covered an area of several million square square miles in the Indian Ocean west of Australia, before an underwater search mapped 274,000 square miles of seabed at depths of up to 20,000 feet. They were the largest aviation searches of their kind in history, the bureau said. Despite other methods such as studying satellite imagery and investigating ocean drifts after debris from the plane washed ashore on islands in the eastern Indian Ocean and the east coast of Africa, the 1,046-day search was called off by the governments of Malaysia, China and Australia on Jan. 17."The reasons for the loss of MH370 cannot be established with certainty until the aircraft is found," the bureau, which co-ordinated the search, said in the 440-page report. "It is almost inconceivable and certainly societally unacceptable in the modern aviation era with 10 million passengers boarding commercial aircraft every day, for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of the aircraft and those on board," it said. The report did say the understanding of where the plane may be is "better now than it has ever been," partly as a result of studying debris that washed ashore in 2015 and 2016 which showed the plane was "not configured for a ditching at the end-of-flight," meaning it had run out of fuel. The bureau said the search had at least led to some important gains in the field of locating missing aircraft on flights over deep ocean areas, with improvements made to systems for tracking aircraft.

[TravelGal]

Here's the latest update. Starts with "Proves conclusively" and ends with "The other pieces, while not identifiable as being from the missing Boeing 777, are positively aircraft debris" :shakehead:

New MH370 Debris Proves Violent And destructive End
Airlineratings reports new debris from MH370 found on Madagascar proves conclusively that the Boeing 777 met a violent end and that it broke apart on impact. Wreck hunter Blaine Gibson and some relatives of those lost in the MH370 disappearance handed over five pieces of debris yesterday collected by residents in Madagascar over the past year to Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke. "The debris proves two things. MH370 crashed violently and it almost certainly is in the Southern Indian Ocean," Mr. Gibson said. The next of kin said they want assurances from Mr. Loke that the Malaysian Government would continue efforts to find a satisfactory resolution to the mystery of MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 aboard.
One piece of debris found at Sandravinany, south Madagascar, has been positively identified using a fragment of a label still attached as part of a floor panel from a Boeing 777. "Don Thompson, one of the Independent Group investigating MH370's disappearance, found the actual identification label for the Boeing 777," Mr. Gibson said. An important clue was the piece contained a portion of a placard with the identifying characters WPPS61. According to another IG member, Victor Iannello, Mr. Thompson was able to determine that the full placard number was BAC27WPPS61 and he found a similar placard on the floorboard of wreckage from MH17. "This leaves little doubt that the piece recovered from Madagascar is from MH370," Mr Iannello said.
The other pieces, while not identifiable as being from the missing Boeing 777, are positively aircraft debris. While the two extensive searches have not turned up the main body of wreckage, Mr Gibson believes that the main body of wreckage probably lies just outside the search area about 1800 km due west of Perth. That main body would include engines, undercarriage, wings and the bulk of the fuselage.

[nrc]

I can't imagine what it must be like for those families not having any clue what happened. I hope they're able to solve it someday.

[TravelGal]

I can't imagine what it must be like for those families not having any clue what happened. I hope they're able to solve it someday. And to have your hopes built up again....

Ocean Infinity Stands Ready To Resume Search Of MH370
Airlineratings reports Ocean Infinity stands ready to resume the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on a no-fee, no-find basis and says it is better placed to conduct it than it was 12 months ago. CEO Oliver Plunkett said in a video link to a weekend event to mark the fifth anniversary of the crash that the world should not give up on finding the plane. MH 370 went missing five years ago with 239 people on board while flying between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing and has been the subject of two unsuccessful searches. Ocean Infinity conducted the second search for the missing Boeing 777 using a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles to sweep the seabed. The company's technology allows it to deploy multiple, untethered AUVs equipped with a side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo-sounder, a sub-bottom profiler, an HD camera, synthetic aperture sonar and other sensors. This allows it to sweep the ocean floor much faster than had previously been the case and MH370 gave the fledgling technology unprecedented exposure. Since then, it has found the sunken South Korean ore carrier Stellar Daisy and the Argentine navy submarine San Juan, which went missing with 44 crew on board in late 2017. Plunkett 's comments came as the Malaysian government reiterated its willingness to resume the search but said there needed to be a fresh proposal with credible leads. The search expert told families gathered to remember the event on the weekend that he remembered very clearly the sense of excitement and then the disappointment at not finding the wreckage. Plunkett said the company had spent an enormous amount of time reviewing and analyzing different theories and ideas that had been sent to it. Describing the search for MH370 as being of global importance, he added: "We shouldn't give up. "It's not easy and it's not certain, because the southern Indian Ocean is an enormous body of water. But it will be possible to find it."

[SteveH]

What Really Happened to Malaysia?s Missing Airplane (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-airlines/590653/)



too lengthy to read now, but have some hotel time ahead this week

[nrc]

I read this and now I'm wondering if they need to put crews of three on every flight to prevent the "would you go back and check on something" scenario. :eek: I know it's still rare but commercial air travel is safe enough now that it seems like pilot suicide is a non-trivial part of the equation.

[cameraman]

That's not likely in a world where they are considering automating the aircraft to the point where there only needs to be a single pilot.

$$$ rule.

[devilmaster]

I read this and now I'm wondering if they need to put crews of three on every flight to prevent the "would you go back and check on something" scenario. :eek: I know it's still rare but commercial air travel is safe enough now that it seems like pilot suicide is a non-trivial part of the equation.

I know of some small airlines over the past few years that have instilled a 2 person always cockpit rule - that if one of the pilots has to go to the bathroom, one of the attendants goes into the cockpit as well. Probably not knowing how to fly wouldn't change the outcome though, but the secrecy is curtailed.

[TravelGal]

From today's ARTA E-News. I don't usually include an entire article but I thought airline buffs would find this interesting.

Airline ratings reports there is now new technology that is proven to work. The greatest mystery in aviation is much closer to being solved after the latest trials of breakthrough tracking technology by aerospace engineer Richard Godrey. Mr. Godfrey has pioneered a suite of software tracking and analysis technologies and has just completed yet another trial of WSPRnet and will now turn to track MH370 to its final resting place. All the debris drift analysis and Inmarsat satellite tracking work completed by various Australian and global teams have the resting place of MH370 about 1,900km west-south-west of Perth, Western Australia, but it is hoped WSPRnet will provide a more precise location. The latest drift analysis was completed by Mr. Godfrey earlier this year and points to an area 1,960 km due west of Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia is in a location that has been partially searched before but is in very difficult terrain with the sea bed up to 5,000m deep with high mountains, deep ravines, and even volcanoes. Using the tools Mr. Godfrey has been able to detect and track aircraft anywhere in the globe and at any time currently or historically going back as far as 2009. The WSPRnet system has been undergoing a number of trials that have been set up by ex-Qantas Captain Mike Glynn as well as flights provided by the New Zealand Air Force, The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, and Australia Maritime Search Authority and adjudicated by AirlineRatings.com. All have been successful.

The latest trial involved an RNZAF Orion P-3C aircraft on March 28 2014 as part of the AMSA SAR after the disappearance of MH370. Mr. Godfrey said that “in total 90 data points over a period of 3 hours flying time were analyzed. Despite the fact that the Orion aircraft is much smaller than MH370 and despite the fact that the flight time was in the earlier part of the day where the WSPRnet transmissions are fewer, the aircraft could be successfully detected and tracked to and from the search area near the 7thArc. “Whenever the aircraft made a tight turn or a sharp descent or climb, the number of WSPRnetanomalies increased. At one point it was even possible to detect the aircraft at an altitude of around 600 feet.” Mr. Godfrey says the trials have been an excellent proving ground for the holy grail of being able to give a more precise impact point for MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 souls on board. He will use the system to track MH370 from departure via the point of diversion to beyond the limited range of the civilian and military radar systems and into the Indian Ocean. This data he says coupled with the Inmarsat satellite data will give a more accurate picture of the flight path followed by MH370. However, any new search would likely not be till late 2022 early 2023.

[pfc_m_drake]

Believe it or not I read about that 'new technique' a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have time to dig into the analysis methodology like I would have liked, but I did read a thread on another message board which contained a 'refute' of the technique. From my standpoint, if it leads to finding MH370 - I'm all for it. I think the only sticking point at this time is getting someone to pay for another search.

I think it's pretty clear what happened to MH370. In fact, and I actually never thought of this but it's a brilliant point: Certain people believe that the famous flight-plan that was recovered from Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home flight simulator by the FBI was actually left by Shah as a 'breadcrumb'. The reason being he would have learned NOTHING by simulating a flight into the South Indian Ocean - the fuel burn/weather/flight conditions/etc. are NOT representative of real life...so there would be absolutely no reason to 'fly' that flight on your simulator.

Unless you were trying to leave a clue for those who would eventually stumble upon it.

So, while we can say with fairly good confidence what happened to the flight, it would be good to find MH370 to bring closure to everything.