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

reply to post by MrLimpet


Short answer, not really.

Long answer:

It depends entirely on how the plane is used. Years and hours are relatively irrelevant when it comes to determining a planes age. You go by what they call cycles, which is a pressurization and a depressurization. When they pressurize the skin expands, and it shrinks back down when they depressurize. A plane like this, that is used mostly on long range flights, 12 years isn't that old, and it will have more hours than cycles on it. A plane like say a 737 used in Hawaii, will have far more cycles than hours, and 12 years can be pretty hard on it.

KnightLight
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

Could that mean that the airplane fell apart, like maybe the wings ripped off after years of bad care, or are you saying something else?

This isn't fun to talk about...

edit on 7-3-2014 by KnightLight because: (no reason given)

It is way too early to tell what happend.

We will know more when ACARS maintenance data and the flight recorders are analyzed.

I'm not trying to go off topic here, but why isn't this thread showing up on the "recent post?" The other one is there. Or is it just my side missing it? I'm seeing a ton of other post that are new, but not this one. I would think many members would want to follow this.

onehuman
I'm not trying to go off topic here, but why isn't this thread showing up on the "recent post?" The other one is there. Or is it just my side missing it? I'm seeing a ton of other post that are new, but not this one. I would think many members would want to follow this.

It shows up at the top of the RECENT POST > CONSPIRACY list for me

reply to post by opethPA

I know only two possible causes, mechanical...bomb.
We are all speculating here so far.

I paid no attention to attack number one...but I am now.

reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen


We may not get the recorders depending on where they came down. But the maintenance history and ACARS data will be invaluable. The only thing so far is transponder data, that appears to show a sudden loss of power at 35,000 feet.

Granite
reply to post by opethPA

 

I know only two possible causes, mechanical...bomb.

You might want to add human error.

reply to post by Granite


Weather, mechanical, external (including human error, or an explosive device), maintenance. And a lot of sub categories as well. Or it could be a combination of two of them. It's way too early to say it's an attack of any sort. We need a lot more data before even trying to say what caused it.

Granite
I know only two possible causes, mechanical...bomb.

What about weather?
What about human error?

It's not a binary equation when something traditionally as safe as an airplane goes down. Sure a bomb or terrorist attack is a possibility but until more info or really any info is available I don't get making that jump.

reply to post by Zaphod58



A report I just watched shows the intended flight path, where they lost radar contact and where it's estimated position would have been during the hand-off.

The last radar contact was over Malaysia, hours before the scheduled hand-off over Vietnam. Does that mean that the jet was not reported missing until that hand-off did not occur? It seems that the plane could have gone down over Malaysia or just off the coast.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

(For the time-zone challenged like me, the flight is now approximately 6 hours overdue)

Just saw a report

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight Found In Namning (Update)

Okay ignore link.. verified as false..

reply to post by Leonidas


Not necessarily. At that point it was probably in a gap between radar coverage areas. It was supposed to fly through a coverage area in Vietnamese ATC, and never did. But it appears that it may have been far enough out of Malaysia that it would have been beyond their radar range. If that's the case then they would have been relying on waypoint check calls to know where it was.

I wonder how diligent the people truly are that are supposed to do the routine maintenance checks on the planes in that region? When I flew into Singapore one night the bottom of the Airbus rattled real bad as we were coming in for a landing. Everybody looked at the floor in fear as we were coming down. Another time when coming into the same airport, near the same time, the pilot had to abort the landing just a few hundred feet above the runway. There was utter silence for about 10 minutes and then the pilot eventually explained on the intercom that there was some vehicle on the runway, even though he was cleared to land. Are the air traffic controllers confused?

By the way, Singapore is real close to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

reply to post by juniperberry


Update: An official press conference has confirmed that the reports of the plane landing in Namning are inaccurate and the search continues.

juniperberry
Just saw a report

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight Found In Namning (Update)

Just saw this come across Twitter but it's from a feed that can sometimes go overboard : "BREAKING NEWS
VIETNAMESE RESCUE OFFICIAL SAYS MISSING MN370 FLIGHT SIGNAL DETECTED - REPORT"

juniperberry
Just saw a report

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight Found In Namning (Update)

Sadly, unconfirmed. Not to mention that given where Nanning is, the flight would have been on the ground several hours ago.

reply to post by juniperberry


According to the update, the reports are inaccurate and the plane is still missing.

Zaphod58
reply to post by Leonidas

 

Not necessarily. At that point it was probably in a gap between radar coverage areas. It was supposed to fly through a coverage area in Vietnamese ATC, and never did. But it appears that it may have been far enough out of Malaysia that it would have been beyond their radar range. If that's the case then they would have been relying on waypoint check calls to know where it was.

Thank you, very clear.

It has been four decades since I used to ride around in the back of a Big, Ugly, Fat jet over that region of the world and I am out of touch.

reply to post by lostinspace


There are several companies that contract to do the maintenance checks on planes. Lufthansa has a huge maintenance subdivision that operates around the world. There are several others as well. To date though, Malaysia has an outstanding safety record.

News.com.au says the plane plunged 200m then lost contact..
www.news.com.au... 60442

China’s state news agency is reporting that the Malaysia Airlines aircraft has lost contact over Vietnam while an unconfirmed report on a flight tracking website said the aircraft had plunged 200m and changed course shortly before all contact was lost.

with the recent knife attack there are definitely people whom hate china and are willing to kill a fair few Chinese.

I hope the planes found, but i don't think it will be!