Beijing-bound MAS plane carrying 239 people missing as of 20 mins ago.

reply to post by DrHammondStoat


What I mean by the story being changed is this:

First the plane was lost from radar at 1:20am over the South China Sea, then it was 2:40 am over the Straits of Malacca and now it's 2:15 am 200 miles north west of Panang. It's all very confusing and constantly changing.

Source



Vietnam is scaling back on the search efforts:

"We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended," Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, told reporters. Tieu said searches by ships were being suspended. He said Vietnam had asked Malaysian authorities for information about reports that the plane, carrying 239 passengers and crew, had changed direction after its last known contact on Saturday but it had yet to receive any response. Earlier on Wednesday, the head of Malaysia's air force denied making comments that the Malaysian military had last tracked the plane far to the west of its course over the Strait of Malacca.

Source

reply to post by MRuss


I only know of two things. Some paper in China is reporting they have a source who claims to have found a body with a life preserver on washed up on shore.

Someone else reported that a something with the word "board" or "boarding" washed ashore.

Also, the military regeged on their earlier statements that they tracked the plane past the point where the transponder or whatever went off or it went off the radar.

Zaphod58
reply to post by bobs_uruncle

 

The 777 has flown over 7 million flights, and this is the third crash. Prior to this there were three fatalities in the first two.

How is that NOT a stellar record?

Also responding to Leonidas,

I did not single out the 777, I stated Boeing and after seeing some of the evidence I have seen on automatic fire fighting measures within a plane and the availability of crew based fire fighting equipment, it's sorely lacking. If a fire starts on a plane, the crew has between 3 and 5 minutes to put it out and have a 50/50 chance of making the next airport. At 7 minutes those odds drop to about a 20% chance. At 10 minutes, you're done. Was the 777-200 a pax only plane or was it a combi (pax and cargo on the same level), many of the combi's had a -2xx designation. One of the incredibly stupid things Boeing did in the 747-244 combi was that they shared the cargo environmental systems with the pax environmental systems. So, if a fire starts in the cargo area and there was no automatic fire fighting system, the pax get the smoke, pretty clever huh? They also had only 2 fire extinguishers, wow, that's gonna help lots and if I remember right, 1 portable respirator, so only the FE or other trained person can fight the fire. And the checklist, drop to 5000 feet and 175 knots and open the door? Seriously, add fuel to the fire to clear the smoke, it simply amazes me. No, I'm sorry, it's stupidity at least in the case of some of Boeing's planes.

Cheers - Dave

MRuss
Can someone kindly provide an update for those of us who are at work and can't read through the whole last 20 pages? What's happened since midnight last night?

Anything interesting?

Thank you!

body has been found floating and wearing a life jacket. but it's all speculation who it is, where came from

There has been a lift raft and a body in a life jacket found but those could be tied to maritime activity. No confirmation either way.

Also the email from a rig worker off Vietnam stating he thought he saw a plane burning, in descent, SW or W of his location which was south of Ho Chi Minh City in the South China Sea.

MRuss
Can someone kindly provide an update for those of us who are at work and can't read through the whole last 20 pages? What's happened since midnight last night?

Anything interesting?

Thank you!

This caught my eye

letter from a New Zealand oil worker that claims the plane went down in flames

Leonidas
www.bbc.com...

Last communication being reported as: "All right, roger that"

...to a radio message from Malaysian air control, authorities said.

I seem to recall that when passed over from Malaysian air control to Vietnamese radio controls, the operator from Vietnam making contact with the flight pilot reported only hearing something said that was very garbled/mumbled?

OK, some reposted the email. I would think that is a lead worth looking into.

reply to post by watchesfromwall


No that was when the plane ahead or behind radioed them

watchesfromwall

Leonidas
www.bbc.com...

Last communication being reported as: "All right, roger that"

...to a radio message from Malaysian air control, authorities said.

I seem to recall that when passed over from Malaysian air control to Vietnamese radio controls, the operator from Vietnam making contact with the flight pilot reported only hearing something said that was very garbled/mumbled?

That radio contact was a pilot in another flight ahead of 370 at the request of the Vietnam controllers.

reply to post by xavi1000


Yeah, this has been being discussed on other sites all day.

IMO, that [email protected] doesnt sound like an official email to me. Sounds like it might be for the tower, as in control tower of the airport, but sure doesn't seem like anyone got it (if it was in fact really sent).

reply to post by ~Lucidity


The NZ passport number looks suspect also.....

reply to post by Cosmocow


OK. I stand corrected if you can provide a link or something; much appreciated. =-)

Or reply from roadgravel if cosmocow is away? Thanks.

reply to post by samaria


Immersed the survival time would be 2- 3 days, there are a lot of factors, exposure, heat stroke, dehydration and atmospheric squeeze , bizarrely enough it's the squeeze that used to kill a lot of mariners especially when winched vertically into a helicopter

reply to post by Xavierm


Plus what he describes could be a meteor?

bobs_uruncle

Zaphod58
reply to post by bobs_uruncle

 

The 777 has flown over 7 million flights, and this is the third crash. Prior to this there were three fatalities in the first two.

How is that NOT a stellar record?

Also responding to Leonidas,

I did not single out the 777, I stated Boeing and after seeing some of the evidence I have seen on automatic fire fighting measures within a plane and the availability of crew based fire fighting equipment, it's sorely lacking. If a fire starts on a plane, the crew has between 3 and 5 minutes to put it out and have a 50/50 chance of making the next airport. At 7 minutes those odds drop to about a 20% chance. At 10 minutes, you're done. Was the 777-200 a pax only plane or was it a combi (pax and cargo on the same level), many of the combi's had a -2xx designation. One of the incredibly stupid things Boeing did in the 747-244 combi was that they shared the cargo environmental systems with the pax environmental systems. So, if a fire starts in the cargo area and there was no automatic fire fighting system, the pax get the smoke, pretty clever huh? They also had only 2 fire extinguishers, wow, that's gonna help lots and if I remember right, 1 portable respirator, so only the FE or other trained person can fight the fire. And the checklist, drop to 5000 feet and 175 knots and open the door? Seriously, add fuel to the fire to clear the smoke, it simply amazes me. No, I'm sorry, it's stupidity at least in the case of some of Boeing's planes.

Cheers - Dave

edit on 3/12.2014 by bobs_uruncle because: (no reason given)

I am curious how Boeing's safety record compares to Airbus, Antonov, Embraer, Bombardier and Suhkoi? What does your research say about those manufacturers?

reply to post by samaria


I just saw on www.pprune.org... pg 112

BBC has determined, no one with that name works on that oil rig

The Gmail letter sent by an New Zealand oil rig worker of the coast of Vietnam turned out the be false. The journalist (Florian Witulski @vaitor ) who posted a photo Tweeted:

BBC also reported about the letter but it turned out to be false information... nothing at the Ho Chi Minh coast

this is the only place I saw this , anyone see this somewhere else???

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Or a missile!

I just reviewed the facts and news stated so far and sad to say that after almost 5 stressful days of brainstorming...these are the only undeniable facts I could find.

1. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, takes off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 at 12:41am.

2. Flight MH370 disappears from Department of Civil Aviation Radar on approx. 1:30am. Last point of contact, according to Malaysian Airlines, was approx. 120 nautical miles east of Kota Baru at the South China Sea.

3. Last communication from MH370 was, "All right, roger that."

4. Vietnamese governement website claims the plane lost contact near Ca Mau province airspace as it was preparing to transfer to Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control.

5. Two passengers who boarded the flight carry stolen passports.

I didn't include here statements that were retracted or news items that were or are still unfounded.

May I suggest that we create a fact sheet for ATS members to post relative information in. Not speculation or opinions, but just facts members have collated. Say a notepad type website (I don't know any but I'm sure it exists) where members can check in regulary, review facts, etc. We could also create a separate page on that website where we could dump noteworthy theories found here so that it won't get lost in all the clutter of info and banter. Who knows we might come up with something.

"...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -Sherlock Holmes

I further suggest that since ATSers have proven time and time again to be great debunkers, we approach this case the same way we approach conspiracy theories. Start with a theory and debunk it using our facts sheet, like the process of elimination. Then whatever holds water in the end, however improbable, must be the truth or hopefully close to it. Rather than start with facts, news, conjectures and trying to build a theory from there.

I'm not hijacking this thread though. I'm suggesting this coz I'm fully aware of the collective power members have in here. And I'm not just talking about the hackers here, but the ordinary joes and janes who like a good mystery and who are good people. Good enough to try to help.

This was on Twitter one second ago

Breaking: Malaysia police questioning Iranian man who hosted 2 Iranians travelling on stolen passports on #MH370. He's NOT arrested, he says

Posted by RAGreenCNN

And this

DM paper

Images off tomnod