Air Traffic Control (Aviation Disaster thread)

[Tyrath]

If an aircraft explodes in midair (explaining no distress call) would it really be that easy to find wreckage considering how wide the debris field would be? Especially considering the amount of junk in the water on this part of the globe.

It took 2 years to find Air France 447s black box.

Yeah, but it was posted earlier in the thread they found the debris in like 5 days. The 2 years just took to find the black box that was submerged in the ocean.

[Raldo]

If this BBC article is accurate, they don't even know which side of Malaysia to look at.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26514556

That's a lot of ground/sea to cover.

[Intense]

If this BBC article is accurate, they don't even know which side of Malaysia to look at.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26514556

That's a lot of ground/sea to cover.

I was, at first, confused by the search areas, because I thought maybe the search parameters would have been narrowed to along the flight path, but I guess there is speculation that the plane tried to turn around?

Where did the jet disappear?
It was flying over the South China Sea, south of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. The normal route would have taken it over Cambodia and Vietnam before entering Chinese airspace.

No distress signal or message was sent but it is believed the plane attempted to turn back from its scheduled path, perhaps towards Kuala Lumpur Airport.

[kuronosan]

Also, someone else reported "debris" visible from their flight from China to Malaysia... only on the opposite side (closer to Malaysia).

Something ain't right.

[Xno Kappa]

The more I read about this the more eerie it becomes. I couldn't imagine the confusion and heartache the families are going through right now.

[Ghost_Wheel22]

Hiring Sum Ting Wong and Ho Lee Fuk as pilots wasn't the best move by Malaysia Airlines. The lack of Bang Ding Ow is somewhat disturbing as well.

[Roranora]

The more I read about this the more eerie it becomes. I couldn't imagine the confusion and heartache the families are going through right now.

Definitely some bullshit for the next of kins and close friends.

[Kryssan]

If the plane had exploded, they really ought to have found pieces of it by now. Explosions scatter things far and wide, sure, but we're talking about a smallish area with a lot of resources prowling and they haven't found one iota of anything from that plane. At this point without humouring conspiracy theorists, it would be likely that plane hit land or water more or less intact. And if it hit land, they should have found it by now because of the smoke from the burnings ( assuming it crashed ) or we ought to have heard demands from someone ( assuming it was intact, but doesn't explain radar / lack of communication details ).

If it was more or less intact when it hit the sea... it could be a while before they find anything ( again, assuming crash without pilots having time to react or communicate ). The plane fuselage would crumple on impact ( assuming typical flight speed ) and the amount of shearing would be dependent on the angle of impact. Fracture would occur at relatively minor depths. Still, you'd think someone would have seen something. A 777 isn't that small and there is a lot of landmass in that area ( for an over-water flight ). I don't know how deep the water is in these regions, but assuming the plane hit water with integrity intact ( more or less ) most of the airplane will be on the bottom, not on the top.

As for the time to find something, the AirFrance precedent tells us that it took them 5 days to recover bodies and 6 days to actually recover a significant piece of the airframe ( most of the airframe however would not be found until the debris field was located in 2011 during the recovery of the black boxes ); however, they were using fewer resources in the search than the resources currently stated to be searching for this flight. Up until that point all they found for the Air France flight were a few minor pieces of mainly the interior of the craft. Assuming the bodies of the passengers didn't disintegrate, they ( or agitated marine activity ) should be found within a week.

[kuronosan]

Wouldn't pieces show up on radar?

[Kryssan]

They haven't yet, apparently. However, it should, assuming the pieces are on top of the water. This also goes into the explosion thing - we watched Columbia break apart on reentry, both visually and with radar. If the plane had exploded, the radar should have seen it happening.

[Mazmaz]

This legit?
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/missing-mal...swered-1439560

[Ksandra]

This legit?
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/missing-mal...swered-1439560

It's "true" in that the phones are ringing BUT:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mis...ybe-not-n49371

Reports are emerging that some cellphones of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are ringing — but no one picks up. However eerie this seems, it may have more to do with how mobile phones and networks operate than any deeper mystery.

According to a China.org.cn report, 19 families signed a statement saying that dialing their loved ones' phones leads to a ring, rather than going straight to voicemail, as one would expect of a phone in airplane mode or otherwise unable to be reached.

But it's not that simple. When you hit the call button on some phones, a ringing tone begins immediately.

"However, that does not mean the phone you are calling is ringing yet," wrote wireless analyst Jeff Kagan in an email to NBC News. "The network is searching for the phone. First based on where it last was, then it expands. Then if the network can't find the phone, the call terminates."

The search for the party on the receiving end may be nearly instantaneous, or take a few seconds — during which time the phone (depending on model, network and other variables) may or may not make a ringing noise to indicate to the caller that it is attempting to make the cell connection. So while it may ring four times for you, the person you're calling may only hear it ring once -- or not at all.

Families Frustrations Grow with Lack of Answers in Vanished Plane
Nightly News

If the phone you're calling is in airplane mode, or is off, out of range, or destroyed, the network may still take a few seconds to confirm it's unreachable.

In a video from a Chinese news channel purporting to show one of the calls in question, the caller's phone appears to ring for only a second or so before failing. The family members who were able to "get through" or "connect" to a missing person's phone, which subsequently "hung up," could very possibly be experiencing this caller-side ringing effect, Kagan said.

[kuronosan]

I dunno, I would always get straight to voicemail when I called a phone in airplane mode.

Even still. More head games for families.

[hey]

I dunno, I would always get straight to voicemail when I called a phone in airplane mode.

Even still. More head games for families.

I guess it might look further if it's known to be outside the country, or something. If a phone can be anywhere in the world, it's going to take a second or two to find it (or determine that it can't be reached).

[Intense]

News about the identities of those 2 stolen passport passengers:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mis...fficial-n49591[U

Investigators identified the passenger as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 19, and said they believed he was trying to reach to Germany to claim asylum. He was traveling on an Austrian passport.

...

He added: "We believe he was trying to migrate to Germany. We are in contact with his mother. His mother was expecting him to arrive in Frankfurt. When he doesn’t arrive [the mother] contacted us here and that’s why we knew he was the one traveling on the stolen passport.”

Interpol later identified the second Iranian as 29-year-old Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza. He traveled on a stolen Italian passport.

"The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident," the global police agency's Secretary General Ronald Noble added.

http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscm...ux-640-440.jpg


Poor guys... They boarded the wrong flight.

[kuronosan]

And now the plot thickens:

http://www.businessinsider.com/malay...ing-off-2014-3

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's military believes a jetliner missing for almost four days turned and flew hundreds of kilometers to the west after it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a senior officer told Reuters on Tuesday.
In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew.

Malaysian authorities have previously said flight MH370 disappeared about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital Beijing.

"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the senior military officer, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.

[Roranora]

It's in Pakistan in the mountains. And those 230+ wish they were dead.

[Acevalefor]

The transponder and nav radios are believed to have been turned off by the pilots. This suggests foul play more than any accident.

[archibaldcrane]

Holy shit.

[archibaldcrane]

Also, ALIENS