The Malaysia Airlines Mystery (Help Solve It)

[Shaka_Khan]

This website allows you to do a grid search of the ocean area that the plane's last location was believed to be.

They took a huge satellite photo of the ocean there and are letting us help search it!

Go to http://www.tomnod.com

The site is slow due to heavy use. Refresh if it doesn't show.

[rvg]

I'm really tired of this flood of "news" about this plane. They literally have nothing to say about it, so they keep pulling stories out of their asses, airing useless testimonies from airline experts, if this then that, but if not this then THAT. Ugh. The plane's gone, unless you have a solid lead, let's talk about something else. Makes me wanna switch the channel to the Kardashians.

[lars573]

Yeah CNN's increasingly hyperbolic coverage is getting really frustrating. They're insinuating all of this bad Hollywood bullshit about what happened. The worst is the plane was hijacked* for purposes of human trafficking the passengers.

This plane and all it's human contents are on the bottom of the ocean somewhere. With a small possibility of it being a smear in a jungle or a mountain side.


*In no way do I discount that it could have been hijacked.

[rvg]

*In no way do I discount that it could have been hijacked.

Of course not, but for God's sake it's not human trafficking. the plane itself is worth far more than the net value of all of its passengers.

[Kadagar_AV]

Yeah CNN's increasingly hyperbolic coverage is getting really frustrating. They're insinuating all of this bad Hollywood bullshit about what happened. The worst is the plane was hijacked* for purposes of human trafficking the passengers.

This plane and all it's human contents are on the bottom of the ocean somewhere. With a small possibility of it being a smear in a jungle or a mountain side.


*In no way do I discount that it could have been hijacked.

The fact that you watch **** like that to levels of frustration, says a lot about what you choose to spend your mental energy on.

But then, I guess it's ability-based.

[jackfruitguy69]

if the plane is being hijacked dont the pilots have a way to lock the cockpit and radio someone?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Not if they are the ones hijacking the plane.

[drone]

The easiest way to find this plane is to look for unusually large purchases of aviation fuel to small airfields or private businesses. They stole the ER version, which takes 45K gallons US of fuel. I presume they did this to make the plane as big a weapon as they could get, but to do that they will need to refuel somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. I'd hate to swipe my credit card at that pump.

Edit-> wiki says this was the 404th 777 built. Either that is some wiki editor's joke, or the irony has apparently been lost on the news crews.

[Kadagar_AV]

I don't think fuel is much of a problem for the people hi-jacking it.

The chance that oil-money helped in the whole thing is like what, 99%?

[drone]

I don't think fuel is much of a problem for the people hi-jacking it.

The chance that oil-money helped in the whole thing is like what, 99%?

Paying for the fuel isn't the give-away, getting the fuel from anywhere other than a large airport is.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

So far, we have zero info on who may have hijacked the bird or why. Evidence of a hijacking is based on the fact that somebody turned off the transponder at the exact time when the planes' absence from controller interaction would be unnoticed for the greatest amount of time, that radar then shows the plane deviating from course at an altitude designed to fall between normally assigned altitudes (thus minimizing the collision risk of a plan operating without its transponder). The limited information as to location (the satellite pings) we gathered from a system that is not designed to track specific location automatically, thus leaving us with the huge location "arc" from which the plane could still have travelled away for 70-90 minutes of flight time.

Who did the hijacking, under what circumstances, and for what purpose are, at present, conjectures only.


Btw, while the "oil money" may be behind the hijacking as you suggest, most of the countries with the heavy oil money have comparatively little refining capacity. As noted above, the purchase/theft of 45k gallons would likely be noticed, unless said fuel had already been purchased in smaller lots and stockpiled in advance.

[Kadagar_AV]

So far, we have zero info on who may have hijacked the bird or why. Evidence of a hijacking is based on the fact that somebody turned off the transponder at the exact time when the planes' absence from controller interaction would be unnoticed for the greatest amount of time, that radar then shows the plane deviating from course at an altitude designed to fall between normally assigned altitudes (thus minimizing the collision risk of a plan operating without its transponder). The limited information as to location (the satellite pings) we gathered from a system that is not designed to track specific location automatically, thus leaving us with the huge location "arc" from which the plane could still have travelled away for 70-90 minutes of flight time.

Who did the hijacking, under what circumstances, and for what purpose are, at present, conjectures only.


Btw, while the "oil money" may be behind the hijacking as you suggest, most of the countries with the heavy oil money have comparatively little refining capacity. As noted above, the purchase/theft of 45k gallons would likely be noticed, unless said fuel had already been purchased in smaller lots and stockpiled in advance.

I don't think a shady looking guy will approach some public airport asking to buy 45k gallons anytime soon, no.

If you are organized enough to steal that damned thingy, you are very well also organized enough to supply it with fuel.

Specially as I guess the trip won't be on a return ticket

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I am also interested in the Chinese reaction to the whole thing. Apparently their nationals represented more than half of the passenger list and the Chinese government is officially "not amused" with the current situation.

[Kadagar_AV]

I guess the biggest question is what happened to the passengers

I hope they will show up eventually.

[lars573]

I guess the biggest question is what happened to the passengers

I hope they will show up eventually.

They died is what happened to them.

[Kadagar_AV]

They died is what happened to them.

Source?

If it's a terrorist act, it's not necessary that they saw the passengers as targets, and just keep them stored. No?

At least one can hope...

[drone]

I believe the current theory is that the pilot(s) took the plane to a higher altitude and shut off the cabin oxygen.

[Kadagar_AV]

I believe the current theory is that the pilot(s) took the plane to a higher altitude and shut off the cabin oxygen.

Sure. But honestly speaking, the "current theory" is worth... Absolutely nothing... When no one what so ever has any information.

Don't fall into the media hype.

[Fragony]

Some new info, don't know if it says anything, but an unindentified aircraft has been spotted on the radar. Speculation: shot down?

[Major Robert Dump]

They dropped altitude quickly to spook passengers, the captain announced a crash landing and the flight attendants collected all passengers personal items, and now the plane is likely heading to a pawn shop. Reality TV

[Seamus Fermanagh]

They dropped altitude quickly to spook passengers, the captain announced a crash landing and the flight attendants collected all passengers personal items, and now the plane is likely heading to a pawn shop. Reality TV

Those "Pawn Star" producers will do anything to keep Rick's numbers up. Bustards!

[Fisherking]

This is something I am not buying into.

The location of this thing is known to some agency. I am sure the NRO knows where it is and very likely why it was taken there.

That particular part of the world, far from being a blind spot, has heavy surveillance.

The only thing I really wonder about is why we are getting such a misinformation campaign.

It was no suicidal pilot or he would have just put the plane into the drink straight away.

Governments with spy satellites are not going to share the information because they don’t want others to know what they know.

Will we ever know what happened? Only if it serves a purpose. Chances are we won’t.

[naut]

Most plausible theory I have heard on the topic, based on what we know. Electrical fire.

In the event of a fire, specifically in the electronics, the pilot will shut them off one by one until the culprit is identified and can be isolated.

Altitude fluctuations could be an attempt to extinguish a fire, but it could also be incorrect. Primary radar at 300+km is not entirely accurate.

Precision of the turn. Likely a calculated move on the part of a pilot, and not indicative of a struggle for control of the aircraft. In the case of a fire the pilot will make a decision to try land at the closest, safest airport. The bearing of the direction change puts it on course for Langkawi Airport. The 3800m long Langkawi makes more sense than turning back to Kuala Lumpur. The approach to Langkawi is over water, less populated and a less busy airport; Kuala Lumpur is none of those things, and has the 2000m Titiwangsa Mountains on approach.

If he's trying to land there why is the plane still lost? Possible smoke inhalation killed/incapacitated them before they had a chance to land the plane. George the auto-pilot is perfectly capable of handling most of the flight systems, until either the fire spreads or they run out of fuel.

All speculation though.

[Kadagar_AV]

naut, that's the common theory among "experts" in Sweden. Seems plausible when Ockham's Razor gets involved.

I was about to write about it, but your summary nailed my thoughts on the subject.

[Kadagar_AV]

naut, that's the common theory among "experts" in Sweden. Seems plausible when Ockham's Razor gets involved.

I was about to write about it, but your summary nailed my thoughts on the subject.

However, my gut instinct still say terrorism.

Honestly, this seems like a way for the "experts" to explain what has happened logically.

Still though, there has to be a LOT of factors to go wrong at the same time for this scenario to make sense. Sure, there are just SO many flights, and accumulated over enough years freak accidents will happen.

My PERSONAL Ockham's Razor though, from no expert point of view what so ever... still points to terrorism.

[HoreTore]

Terrorism makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Anyway, the plane seems to be found at last, so at least the worries can be put to rest. I am sure the nonsensical conspiracy theories like the one Fisherking outlined in this thread will take another few years to be put to rest, however.

I mean, there was confusion and high media coverage. This was obviously an NWO plot to take over the world, one plane at a time. Or something.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

The one I enjoyed most was the question from a CNN newsie as to whether it was possible that a tiny black hole had snatched the plane (sadly, not a joking reference to some conspiracy theory but an actual question).

They do look good on camera though.

[HoreTore]

The one I enjoyed most was the question from a CNN newsie as to whether it was possible that a tiny black hole had snatched the plane (sadly, not a joking reference to some conspiracy theory but an actual question).

They do look good on camera though.

I am not sure if I should cry or laugh.

[lars573]

I am not sure if I should cry or laugh.

When it comes to Yank news networks a firm policy of first one then the other works best.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Have to concur here.

Hey Lars, any news-babe pics you'd like to share...I always liked your posts in the babe thread.