Malaysian Flight Hijacked?

[chrisk]

I've been on a comercial flight before where we were pushed back 20 ft from the gate and stopped. An armored truck backed up to the plane and the entire contents of the truck was put in the plane. When we landed there was a truck waiting.

How many times would this have to oçcur before someone could come up with a plan for next time. Just saying there could be other motives.

[wishboneash]

It seems the intent was to steal the plane for nefarious purposes. The passengers might have been rendered unconscious or even killed by depressurization at very high altitude. Then pilot delivers aircraft to some terrorist organization in one of these central Asian countries. The lead pilot was a simulator nut and may know about radar locations and holes in coverage in those regions. He could have evaded Chinese and Indian radar north of the Himalayan region. Just a WAG!

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[Ratherbflying]

Wonder if 9/11/14 we will find out?

Are you kidding me? What Jose is describing would be like 911 times a thousand!

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[Piloto]

At this point, it seems most likely and clear a deliberate act, rather than an accident.

 

I know I expressed that I have worries that this part of a larger terrorist plot which I am sure the powers that be must be actively pursuing as well.

 

But what do you guys think of the possibility of an elaborate but otherwise simple pilot suicide scenario?

Why someone trying to kill himself and other 200+ passengers would fly that long in hidding? 

 

José

[Piloto]

It seems the intent was to steal the plane for nefarious purposes. The passengers might have been rendered unconscious or even killed by depressurization at very high altitude. Then pilot delivers aircraft to some terrorist organization in one of these central Asian countries. The lead pilot was a simulator nut and may know about radar locations and holes in coverage in those regions. He could have evaded Chinese and Indian radar north of the Himalayan region. Just a WAG!

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I think this plane was headed for Somalia to meet with pirates buddies.

 

José

[Piloto]

Don't hold your breath.  Even if they are listening to suggestions and leads I hardly think they would phone you back and say thank you or give you some kind of feeling of being listened to.

 

In a related "But I told you…" story, I know a math professor who suspected Ted Kacynski of being the unibomber, or at least a dangerous threat years before he was officially identified.  This professor ran across him when he was hanging out at his institution, and he was enough convinced that  Kacynski was a danger that he called the FBI, and he was persistent to get through to someone.  Now this was an established full professor at a big name brand university.  Instead of listening to a lead or a hint, the apparently the FBI treated this professor as if he were the kook, and they brushed it off and furthermore treated him very rudely.

 

Oooh!!, But I was looking for some kind of reward or donation for my tips. Maybe it will come on my tax refund. If not I will do like the Jews do in Jerusalem. Park a truck on Wall Street full with 3,000 gas masks with a sign "The End is Comming get your mask $200 each". Made in America and tax deductible. I just hope the Jews in NYC don't get ahead of me on this.

 

José

[wishboneash]

I think this plane was headed for Somalia to meet with pirates buddies.

José

Seems like a good theory. Radar coverage is probably spotty over the Indian ocean and with the passengers incapacitated, no texts, no calls. If the plane ran out of fuel, it's probably somewhere off the E African coast.

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[flyboy0681]

Or it will never be heard from again and it will belong to the ages.

[Mooneymite]

There are many radars besides land-based radars. However, much of what is detected can't be revealed because the detection capability can't be divulged. (OTH-backscatter)

I suspect the whereabouts of this aircraft is known, but can't be immediately told.

Perhaps there will be a "discovery" soon, but we won't be told the true source.

[yvesg]

This text from CNN:

For days, we've been talking about the last transponder signal the plane sent. And now it appears another system that sends data about the plane, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, was shut off, too. Authorities say the last transmission from that system came early in the flight, at 1:07 a.m. But they say they don't know exactly when the system was shut down, as the next transmission wasn't due until 1:37 a.m. Someone inside the cockpit, believed to be the co-pilot, made the plane's last verbal communication with air-traffic controllers at 1:19 a.m., saying, "All right, good night." The transponder was then switched off at 1:21 a.m., authorities say, and all civilian radar lost contact with the plane altogether about 1:30 a.m. Military radar last detected the plane at 2:15 a.m. off Malaysia's west coast, hundreds of miles off-course. And at 8:11 a.m., more than seven hours after takeoff, a satellite made the last electronic connection, known as a "handshake," with the plane.

If the ACARS is off, what system is this handshake coming from?

Yves

[flyboy0681]

If the ACARS is off, what system is this handshake coming from?

 

Exactly what I want to know. Reports have been saying that the engine monitoring system had been "Pinging" the satellite every hour and that's how they know it flew for some seven more hours. But with ACARS disabled, what was sending out the Ping?

 

In addition, how much can we trust the actual information coming out about the aircraft systems itself? One report said that ACARS has to be disabled down in the avionics bay while another said the pilot turned it off on the flightdeck.

[201er]

From what I understood is the satellite transmitter is separate from the ACARS. It's like they shut off the computer without shutting off the router. So the network connection was still sending syn/ack but without data.

[Seth]

Malaysian officials Sunday confirmed someone in the cockpit of Flight MH370 turned off the aircraft's ACARS system before sending the final radio transmission ("all right, good night) a non-standard response to an ATC handoff that is normally answered with a read back. The revelation has focused even more attention on the possible involvement of the crew in what is now presumed to be the intentional diversion of the aircraft. Officials seized the elaborate flight simulator the captain of the flight built at his home to determine if he'd been practising the unusual flight profile that was apparently used by whomever was in control of the aircraft. On Saturday, officials confirmed the aircraft's automatic engine monitoring system sent its last signal to a satellite almost seven hours after data link and transponders aboard the Boeing 777 were "deliberately" turned off early last Saturday morning. There were also reports the aircraft climbed as high as 45,000 feet and spent time at 23,000 feet, all adding up to potential destinations for the aircraft that include the restive Xinjiang region of western China. That's where militant ethnic Uyghur Muslims have staged grisly attacks, including a knife massacre in a train station that killed 29 people two weeks ago and a more recent attack that killed six. At a news conference, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said the last ping from the aircraft was at 8:11 a.m. Saturday, perhaps over the Indian Ocean. All the maneuvering that led to the long flight is "consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane," Razak said.

The new information has, of course, led to more speculation on the fate of the passengers and crew and possible crew involvement in the caper. Malaysian officials searched the homes of the two pilots on Friday and are going through the personal backgrounds of everyone aboard. Malaysia has come under intense criticism for allegedly withholding critical information about radar returns and satellite uplinks but the prime minister defended his officials on Saturday. “We have shared information in real time with authorities who have the necessary experience to interpret the data,” he said in a prepared statement read at a news conference. “We have been working nonstop to assist the investigation, and we have put our national security second to the search for the missing plane.”

[yvesg]

From what I understood is the satellite transmitter is separate from the ACARS. It's like they shut off the computer without shutting off the router. So the network connection was still sending syn/ack but without data.

If that is the case, if this data did not contain coordinates, it will be very difficult to locate it. As I type this, I got this one which explains that the satellite angle of reception is mesured (Inmarsat info):

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/satellite-signals-plane-identity-flight-370/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Yves

[201er]

Exactly. There aren't coordinates. All they know is that the signaling continued for seven hours so it gives them an idea of how long the plane was running.

[yvesg]

Maybe it wasn't flying for 7 hours... maybe it floated for 7 hours...

Yves

[flyboy0681]

One thing is for sure. At CNN it's all MH370 all the time, even preempting scheduled programming. While Fox is still giving it a significant amount of airtime, it's nothing like the other guys. I guess MH370 is CNN's Benghanzi.

[201er]

Sounds like Michael McCaul reads Mooneyspace

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/17/lawmaker-missing-airliner-may-have-landed-in-southeast-asia-for-use-as-weapon/

[flyboy0681]

Sounds like Michael McCaul reads Mooneyspace

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/17/lawmaker-missing-airliner-may-have-landed-in-southeast-asia-for-use-as-weapon/

 

I actually remember this guy. A week or two before the Olympics he said that there is 100% probability that terrorism will hit the games. Not 50% or 75% - but 100%.

[Oscar Avalle]

very nice and interesting article written by Les Abend, who writes normally a column for Flying Magazine.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/12/opinion/abend-malaysia-370/index.html

[chrisk]

I'm not sure I buy the steal the plane and weaponize it theory.  I'm waiting for someone to explain the advantage a 777 would have over a 727 or 747.  Especially since the 727 or 747 can be had (leased) for not all that much money.     

[BigTex]

I'm not sure I buy the steal the plane and weaponize it theory.  I'm waiting for someone to explain the advantage a 777 would have over a 727 or 747.  Especially since the 727 or 747 can be had (leased) for not all that much money.     

As you stated, it has nothing to do with re-using the plane as a weapon.  It's all about the fear that now you can't even trust the folks up front in the cockpit.  It goes to the core of what terrorism is all about.

[fantom]

[flyboy0681]

 

That's just about what it's going to come down to.

[fantom]

Quite an elaborate plan if the pilot(s) just planned to run it out of fuel and sink into the Indian Ocean. No distress signal, no ransom notes, no one claiming responsibility, lots of conjecture and confusion, and probably more 'facts' than have been made public.

 

I think the souls are either swimming with the fish or viewing earth from far, far away. BUT, I expect lots more mystery.