Malaysian Jet

Malaysia considering hiring American firm Ocean Infinity to re-start the search for the missing plane.

Quote: Fleastiff

Malaysia considering hiring American firm Ocean Infinity to re-start the search for the missing plane.

As might be expected Malaya has insisted on a contract that is "No Find, No Fee'.

New search just got underway.

The search firm has long ago concluded its "No Find, No Fee" search that the Malaysian government insisted be at no cost to Malaysia.

The Australian version of 60 Minutes on Ch 9 in Australia has a review program but its apparently largely a nothing new and nothing really known situation.

I still see a "Something happened suddenly, pilots made immediate turn to a heading that they knew was the general direction of the nearest airport and then made course corrections to the general direction of an optimal airport considering runway length, approach path, runway lighting availability, radar and manned tower situations.

Course of the aircraft appears to have been consistent with lack of commanded inputs. At some point, fuel starvation and fuel exhaustion would be encountered and it is likely decent would have been gradual and at a fairly shallow attitude.

Death of all occupants in the cabin and cockpit was likely well before impact and may have been induced by fumes, smoke, carbon monoxide or lack of pressurization.

Search was hampered by Malaysian incompetence and Malaysian attitudes of non disclosure of anything. Russian search vessels hampered search efforts for either political reasons or incompetence reasons with early "pings" being from onboard a Russian search vessel, not from a submerged "black box" pinger. At all times during the search political considerations prevailed rather than scientific or technical considerations.

In short, nothing new at all.

Search is officially ended.

One day, someone will stumble across it, or a big piece of it.

Quote: rxwine

One day, someone will stumble across it, or a big piece of it.

Unlikely. The "scatter pattern" is unknown but has long since sunk/floated in a widely dispersed manner. The final search area is in the middle of nowhere and in extremely deep water with even deeper canyons. Malaysia did not even pay a fair share of the costs much less all the costs.

There remain the lunatics who speak of UFOs and those who see terrorism at every cloud shadow. I see an onboard electrical fire directly above the cockpit generating such intense smoke that the crew were forced to abandon the cockpit, attempt to obtain relatively clear cabin air free from dripping molten plastic but found themselves unable to re-enter the cockpit, lost cabin pressurization, lost all ability to breathe, died promptly and remained on course for hours.

Quote: Fleastiff

I see an onboard electrical fire directly above the cockpit generating such intense smoke that the crew were forced to abandon the cockpit, attempt to obtain relatively clear cabin air free from dripping molten plastic but found themselves unable to re-enter the cockpit, lost cabin pressurization, lost all ability to breathe, died promptly and remained on course for hours.

What is your theory about why the plane made a near U turn over the ocean and then flew for hours the wrong way?

My best theory, and I haven't studied it in much depth, is there was some kind of emergency and the pilots had the navigation computer head towards a closer airport (I don't know which) for an emergency landing. However, something like your smoke situation caused them to quickly lose consciousness and plane flew blind for hours until it ran out of gas.

Quote: Wizard

My best theory, and I haven't studied it in much depth, is there was some kind of emergency and the pilots had the navigation computer head towards a closer airport (I don't know which) for an emergency landing. However, something like your smoke situation caused them to quickly lose consciousness and plane flew blind for hours until it ran out of gas.

Penang International Airport airport has an 11,000' runway and 7 MAP which makes it one of the busiest airports in the country and a very obvious diversion airport.

00:42 MYT, Flight 370 took off from runway
01:06 MYT aircraft's final automated position report and last transmission, using the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) protocol,
01:19:30, Captain Shah acknowledged a hand-over by Lumpur Radar to Ho Chi Minh ACC: Lumpur Radar: "Malaysian three seven zero, contact Ho Chi Minh one two zero decimal nine. Good night." Flight 370: "Good night. Malaysian three seven zero."
01:20:31 MYT, Flight 370 was observed on radar at the Kuala Lumpur ACC as it passed the navigational waypoint IGARI (6°56′12″N 103°35′6″E) in the Gulf of Thailand; five seconds later, the Mode-S symbol disappeared from radar screens.

Quote: Wizard

What is your theory about why the plane made a near U turn over the ocean and then flew for hours the wrong way? .

Let us just think that SOMETHING happened and it happened with a CLUNK, not some slow subtle event.

Normal procedure is that the pilot would know where he was and would immediately turn the aircraft to NEAREST landing fields' GENERAL DIRECTION, not exact course. Then he would REFINE his choice by: Runway length, runway lights, approach path terrain clearance, radar approach control, etc. etc.. And would then dial in a more exact course for his chosen optimal landing field. This might well be a PROCESS of refinement as different crew members look things up and re-consider time of nightfall, runway lighting, etc. Course alterations might reflect a newly selected destination a bit different than a recently chosen one.

Altitude changes would be made as required for smoke/fume suppression.

Cockpit oxygen is separate from cabin oxygen and cockpit oxygen might be scene of fire. Lithium batteries???

Think of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate and assume the flight crew would try to do that and do it properly though not necessarily perfectly or instantly, just reasonably correct.

I believe the flight path comports with a reasonable reaction to an emergency that was recognized as being critical and that after selecting a general heading of "towards safety" they selected a more desirable heading after weighing such factors as darkness, radar, runway lights and high terrain.

British film maker announces plane located in dense Cambodian jungle filled with lions, tigers and poachers. Not yet identified of course as that will require expensive and dangerous trek. France investigating lies in initial reports of missing flight. China claims to have re-focused a satellite. Strange how a flaperon could be found in the Indian ocean yet plane's fuselage be in deep Cambodian jungle.