777 down
 

this doesn't look good - god speed

Beijing-bound MAS flight carrying 239 people lost contact with Subang air traffic control

Doesn't look good. :(

Don't these planes have some kind of homing signal that allows their location to be known at all times?

And if so, can't airline management simply follow the homing signal to locate the missing plane?

I lived in Kuala Lumpur for 18 months in 2011 and 2012 and have flown that route on that airline multiple times... At least 5 or 6. Godspeed to all on board.

Malaysian Jet's Disappearance Sets Off Echoes of 2007 Crash - NBC News

OK........taken from your link:

The device is called an emergency locator transmitter and can be damaged in a crash. Thus a glitch in finding the aircraft.

Thanks Todd...I understand now.

Seems three Americans were on that flight. God bless them all.

Hard to imagine what their families are going through.

They're reporting that the Vietnamese Navy has confirmed it crashed in the ocean.

Vietnam media: Navy confirms flight MH370 crashed into the sea

Oh no....

They didn't make it very far. The location given is only 200-300 miles from Kuala Lumpur

They were at 35K', no distress signal or odd messages. Gotta be some catastrophic failure (Boeing is scrambling right now - wonder if MAS used the AHMS), or maybe foul play. Sounds like the first officer was experienced - don't see something like the Air France incident, especially since there wasn't bad wx.

Is there turbulence at 35k?

Of course there can be!

Here's the latest....

Malaysia Airlines plane missing at sea off Vietnam, presumed crashed | Reuters

So horrible. Really don't understand how there isn't a device on planes that senses an impending crash and jettisons just before impact. Heck for $300 or so I bought a handheld beacon that could put rescue planes/boats right on top of me anywhere in the ocean.

For some interesting related reading check out the wiki pages on Malaysia, Straights of Malacca, etc.

Read on a pilots board that an Italian national living in Thailand had his passport stolen last August in Thailand. Someone using that passport reportedly boarded the missing aircraft. Italian guy is reported to have called his family in Italy to tell them he was not on the missing aircraft. Media not reporting this. Terrorism?

"Modern aircrafts are beautifully built and incredibly safe.

"If the engines were to fail because of some kind of interruption to the fuel flow, they can glide with no problems whatsoever for about 40 minutes at that height."

Mr Learmount said the time which the Malaysia Airlines plane went missing may be significant.

He said: "Between midnight and 2am you're not at a mental or physical performance high - you're at the lowest performance standard in the 24-hour cycle."

The failure to locate the plane so far was not unusual, he added, with investigators taking two years to find the missing Air France 447 plane.

However, Mr Learmount admitted he was "puzzled" why authorities had not divulged a more accurate location of where the aircraft went missing.

"They may not know precisely but they know pretty accurately," he said.

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight: Live updates as it emerges one of 227 passengers 'was using STOLEN passport' - Mirror Online

777 has an excellent safety record (when not piloted by Asiana pilots). I find it very hard to believe that mechanical failure caused it to fall from the sky. Same goes for turbulence.

The 777 has been my first choice whenever possible. This is disturbing.

Here you go:

Stolen passports were used to buy two tickets for Malaysia Airlines missing flight | South China Morning Post

Karma for the thieves. If nothing else.
A terrible tragedy for everyone else.

My first reaction on hearing that is that this is an act of terrorism....with the terrorists using stolen passports to get on and then doing the deed as they are wont to do.

777's have this stellar record, have a very large doubt that any aircraft issue would result in it disappearing without some sort of call out from the crew that they were having issues with the airplane.

In any event, godspeed...this will not end well methinks....

Dennis

Ahh...it already did not end well. The plane is on the bottom of the ocean and everyone is dead.

So when they scan a stolen passport at their airports being used by someone else, it justs says, "All good! Let them board." ????

That was my first thought too. And just now its noted? Bizarre. Who has jurisdiction of criminal investigation?

Not all countries have US airport security or US airline regulation (maintainence) requirements. That's the answer to a lot of the "how come" questions.

I've been in countries where if you pull the engine cover on a plane your likely to see soda can, zip tie and tape repairs. It wouldn't surprise me if the airline involved in this crash had a few "deficiencies".

I was thinking of the repercussions of terrorism....and yes, it is already a bad end for the people on board.

As for the passport thing, the communication between countries is not all that it is cracked up to be. Even if the passport is reported stolen, no guarantee that the departing airline has an up to date list or that the boarding agent actually scanned the thing.

I have had odd occurrences in North America where you flash the passport and boarding pass and off you go, they don't always scan.

Dennis

777 down
 

Pure speculation but I'd wager money on the "religion of peace" having something to do with this.

I hope I'm wrong.

Based on the country involved, that's not a real master detective deduction.

Malaysia isn't a hotbed of terrorism. Indonesia however is completely messed up. The other group to ponder are the Uihgurs in China (the flight was headed for Beijing).

Seems like a mechanical failure would allow the crew to contact the ground unless it was a catastrophic decompression at altitude. Either way, same results for the pax.

I've flown MAS a lot (at least 20 legs, 41k actual miles flown according to my frequent flier account with them) and have flown out of KUL many, many times. Malaysia is not a first world country but their airline and KUL airport are both top notch imho. You may be assuming that they are some sort of fly by night operation bit this is not the case. I have flown plenty of other semi-sketchy airlines in and around that region (Jet, Tiger, Air Asia, Vietnam, China Air) but would compare Malaysia to Singapore Air, Emirates, Qatar, etc.

Now of course I am not in the airline industry, not a pilot etc... just speaki g from my experience as a passenger.

As far as the Muslim angle, Malaysia is of course one of the largest Muslim nations on earth (second only to Indonesia I believe). I'm not sure I could understandthe angle of Muslim terrorists attacking a flight originating from Malaysia and heading to China where there are also plenty of Muslims... seems kind of counterintuitive.

For the moment, disregard this tragedy but I'm perplexed by the stolen passports. Not one but two reported.

What's the chance of that? Is this a regular thing having passengers with stolen passports? One would think INTERPOL would have some cross ref. and flag airport db.

How does it come to light after the fact?

With all the micro spying between and within governments, vast networking, the powers to be are still that stooopid?

Which bowing jet has the known hydraulic problem of rudder going full tilt the opposite of peddle input?

****loads of drugs going back and forth

north korean spies

could be anything

Rudder problems - 737.

Yeah, what do the pilot expert say to this? Even the Air France crew that crasghed into the Atlantic a few years ago was able to send a brief message, I remember. What catastrophic sudden event in the cruising phase could possible caused both the crash and the instant loss of communication?

North Korean missile.

North Korean missile? That far away? That accurate?

Here are some questions about the sudden crash of the Signapore Airline 777 answered:

Why Malaysia Airlines Jet Might Have Disappeared - ABC News

And on the stolen passports:

Missing MAS flight: Both imposters bought tickets from China Southern Airlines - Nation | The Star Online

And:

http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/2137361/authorities-investigate-possible-foul-play-as-search-for-missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-continues/?cs=87