MH370 missing (Part 2)

As the primary thread, located here is approaching the 400 page cutoff, I'm going to start a spinoff thread where we can continue discussing the missing flight.

Current updates, as of 4/17:

David Mearns, director of Bluewater Recoveries, and a world renowned wreck hunter, says he's confident they have found the crash site.

Bluefin 21 is beginning another search, after completing a full 16 hour search on the third attempt (16 hours searching, four hours analyzing) The first two attempts were cut short by the depth, and mechanical problems. Officials say they think that the ROV can go deeper than the current 15,000 foot depth it's limited to. They are currently analyzing the data from the first search. They are planning to reprogram the ROV to operate down to 16,400 feet, as opposed to the current 15,092 feet.

The oil slick found this week is not related to the aircraft. The oil was not fuel or hydraulic fluid.

Malaysian officials have said that the search will continue through the holiday weekend. An estimate for the search, using private companies, shows it could cost a quarter billion dollars before it's over. Bluefin 21 has currently searched 34.7 square miles, of an area 370 miles long and 30 miles wide.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Where is the black box situated on a plane? And will the ROV have adequate tools to get it and bring it back? On accident such as these do they leave the corpses in the ocean or it is possible to have them sent back to their families? Anyone knows the rate of putrefaction of a human body in the ocean? Must be quick with al these shrimps and crabs down there.

reply to post by Golantrevize


Both recorders are located in the aft fuselage near the tail.

The Bluefin 21 is only a sidescan search ROV. There is one in Japan that is capable of diving down deeper than this location that can recover any debris or the recorders, as well as several others that can be flown in.

Remains are usually brought back to the surface, and returned to the families if they're recoverable. Sometimes they'll leave them with the wreckage as a mass grave, but they'll let the families decide in many cases.

reply to post by Zaphod58


In 1988 the Gemini ROV's used to locate and retrieve parts of the Helderberg were operating in the Indian Ocean, 135nm NE of Mauritius at 4500 to 5000 meters depth. That would be roughly 14,810 to 16,460 feet. I find it hard to believe that after 25 years, ROV technology has gone backwards or not moved forwards at all. And since I have designed UWROV robotics systems, I do understand quite well how they work, pressure and ballast systems, communications, navigational controls, cameras and lighting and the lengths of the cables required. I did a 9 month NRC project on ROV's back in 90's to design/develop/build communications, joystick and ancillary function control systems and we had a 18,000 foot depth back then.

Seems like they are stating limits probably to charge more money.

Cheers - Dave

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


It hasn't gone backwards. The Bluefin is a side scan sonar ROV. There are several ROVs that operate at that depth, or even deeper. The one from Japan dove to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Most of those don't have a wide area sonar search capability though, so there's not much point in deploying them until there's debris found.

Golantrevize
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

Where is the black box situated on a plane? And will the ROV have adequate tools to get it and bring it back? On accident such as these do they leave the corpses in the ocean or it is possible to have them sent back to their families? Anyone knows the rate of putrefaction of a human body in the ocean? Must be quick with al these shrimps and crabs down there.

edit on 112014Thursdayam430Thu, 17 Apr 2014 11:56:01 -0500America/Chicagov56 by Golantrevize because: (no reason given)

I believe there are two black box recorders - one in the avionics bay underneath the cockpit and another in the tail section of the plane.

Finding the airplane sections and taking photographs is the first priority. Then the second priority is to locate the flight recorder.

There are some flight recorders which today have remained unrecovered, even thought they are located in lakes.

en.wikipedia.org...

Flight 389 crashed in Lake Michigan and came to rest in 76m of water way back in 1965. Even now the flight recorders have never been found.

I can't not get the image I have created in my head about what I believed happened.

After the last contact "sign off", he says to the co-pilot, "The girls are busy, I could sure use a cup of Java, mind going an getting us some to celebrate you first official command take off of the 777>?!" "Sure, I gotta use the restroom anyway".

The co-pilot leaves. At that point the pilot begins to shut down transponders etc etc. He begins his turn back to Malasia, people start to sense something is wrong and begin to break into the cockpit. The pilot takes the plane up to 42,000 feet for 24 minutes, killing all on board, except him (he has extra O2 in the pilot area we have learned- Plus the Co-pilots, now).

He works his way around the radar so he can fly off into the horizon until the planes goes down. During that time he is up and about, walking around-checking out his "work", having some drinks etc. His own little kingdom. Until the end.

"Try finding me"!!

reply to post by Zaphod58


s&f for 2nd thread.

I hope they find the plane soon.

reply to post by stormcell


They're both in the tail section of the aircraft. The microphones are in the cockpit, but they've found they survive better in the aft fuselage than they do in the forward fuselage. And they tend to end up near each other by being located next to each other, so they're easier to recover.

Zaphod58
reply to post by bobs_uruncle

 

It hasn't gone backwards. The Bluefin is a side scan sonar ROV. There are several ROVs that operate at that depth, or even deeper. The one from Japan dove to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Most of those don't have a wide area sonar search capability though, so there's not much point in deploying them until there's debris found.

But you want wide-area side and bottom scanning in order to cover larger areas, so why would it not be used initially? Or is this a multi-step process to increase profitability for the company doing the SRO? You know, never time to do it right, but always time to bill more for it later?

Cheers - Dave

How do they know they are searching in the correct area?

I'm sure they have info. not released to the public but where is the debris? Ocean currents could have and probably have moved the debris but the last I heard nothing has been found.

To be honest I don't think they have data that can confirm a crash let alone a crash zone.

Just curious.

reply to post by bobs_uruncle


They are doing a wide area scan. That's what the Bluefin 21 is. It's a modular design, that is currently carrying a sidescan and bottom search sonar system. If it finds debris they can mount high resolution cameras and take pictures of what the sonar saw.

reply to post by minusinfinity


Because they heard pings that match the recorder locator pingers. They are not naturally occurring frequencies, and matched up to the satellite data from Inmarsat showing possible flight paths.

reply to post by anon72


well if your going to speculate and fantasize,



although,,,i'm partial too,,

Ahhhh...a fresh start in a new thread...S & F.

Thanks

Des

reply to post by Zaphod58


personaly i thing the pings are from here,,,

reply to post by BobAthome


The problem with that theory is that the pings have stopped, almost right on schedule for the recorder batteries to die.

Zaphod58
reply to post by minusinfinity

 

Because they heard pings that match the recorder locator pingers. They are not naturally occurring frequencies, and matched up to the satellite data from Inmarsat showing possible flight paths.

Right but I've heard they could receive similar pings from search craft. A similar frequency that can be misinterpreted.

Also I've heard somewhere that salt water can alter the frequency to a small degree, not sure if it's true but I hate to see them waste time searching where there is no plane.

I know they are doing their best. I wish them luck.

reply to post by minusinfinity


There are other things it could be, but the location matching up to the Inmarsat flight paths, plus the frequency being within range of the recorders, there being two pings right next to each other, and them ending within the right time frame to be the recorders all mean that there's a very good chance they are on top of the wreckage.

I keep trying to understand why the Malaysian air force did not intercept the jet when it flew over Malaysia. Were they asleep? Could not care less?

Has anyone got any ideas?