Which would also make them probably not very bright, but explain why they had been using EU passports. :confused:

Yes both passports were stolen in Phuket and both tickets purchased in Pattaya.
A lot of passports are stolen in Thailand and there is an "underground" business selling them. Tourists gladly hand over their passports for renting something or even a guided tour ... and oops, lost.
While the two passports have been reported stolen at different times, they could very well have been purchased at the same time.

My guess is that your bad feeling is not going to get any better

The latest is that some airliner spotted a debris field SE of HCM City just off shore...

Al Jeezera was reporting that reports of debris off the Vietnam coast were false. Where did you get your information?

Anyone else a little concerned how this will impact our profession if it turns out to be terrorism? Even a catastrophic mechanical on the 777 could impact public's travel decisions.

MSNBC reporting that the search area has widened to included mainland Malaysia. Anyone else reporting that?

I'm not worried about it at all. American's are incredibly myopic. In fact, I'd argue that even though it's all over the news feeds, most Americans probably couldn't care less. It happened in a part of the world most don't even realize exists on an airline they've never heard of.

I don't know if it was brought up earlier, but the US Government said our satellites did not pick up any explosions in the region. So, unless terrorists managed to unscrew every bolt on the wings, it is highly unlikely it was a bomb. What else could cause a mid-air disintegration? If there was a catastrophic powerplant and electrical failure and trimmed in cruise flight, how likely is a 180 degree turn before completely losing control?

That just means they didn't see anything. It doesn't mean they would have for certain seen something if it had happened.

A high-resolution satellite would be able to see exactly what happened...if it was looking right at the airplane. Those satellites are in high-demand and probably focused on the middle east or somebody's military facilities, not open ocean.

The satellites best suited to that sort of thing would be the ones designed to detect strategic missile launches...they constantly cover large areas and look for thermal blooms (ballistic missiles but out a lot of heat on launch). I would think if the airplanes' fuel atomized and ignited in the air then such a satellite could have spotted it. But a small HE charge causing structural failure would not be enough to show up unless a lot fuel burned all at once.

Is that so? :rolleyes:

Not worried at all. Being a non-western airline, the public will assume it was a beater airplane maintained by dudes wearing loinclothes using junkyard parts, and flown by incompetents who had been fired from every previous pilot job they had.

If it was terrorism, they'll just write it off to poor security in the third world.

Moreover, if terrorism, they will rest assured that they are attacking easier targets in the 3rd world rather than the western security apparatus.

Looks like it may have been a terrorist attack. It was an Iranian who purchased a ticket with a stolen passport.

Don't ask how I know, but if "they" said there was no evidence, there was no explosion. I know I give people a hard time for saying that but in this case it's not worth jail.

Iran is the last group that would do something like this to China. China and (and Russia) have always been somewhat reluctant to apply sanctions against Iran...they have dragged down the west's efforts to contain the Iranian nuclear program. Iran wouldn't bite that hand...I can't even think of why they would want to.

That's quite a leap. How would it be any different if an Iranian had a stolen or real passport? You don't get to carry on bombs in either case. Also, what's the motivation of an Iranian hijacking or blowing up a Malaysia Airline flying from China to the South Pacific?

The only "leap" is your assertion that lack of satellite info means there wasn't an explosion.

You sound more and more like a "truther" with every post.

How long before this thread gets locked ? It's not like any sign of the plane has even been found; those government satellites may also not be looking for the size of a jet blowing up. I'm no expert, but I believe the kind of weapons those monitor are much larger.

Wild wild wild speculation here.

I'm not a truther. I just happened to have a security clearance with a need to know when I was an Air Force officer.

Also, most strategic weapons are smaller than regional jets. How big of a signature do you think they look for?

Me too. My TS/SCI doesn't mean jack, or that you can eliminate an explosion due to "no evidence found." Haven't found the aircraft yet either.

Also doesn't mean that we think there was an explosion, but you can't eliminate it at this point...I've known many "experts" in that realm going back to the OKC bombing who ended up wrong despite honest evidence supporting their argument. Lots of ways this can go.

To Wannabees
 

For those who fly the C-172s as flight instructors to build hours, to those who fly a regional jet at minimal wages, to those that aspire to fly a big jet internationally, this is the real world that you will enter and the responsibilites you will undertake.

I meant the size of the explosion, not the weapon itself. Either way, I don't know much about it and was making a guess. I have zero familiarity with military ops aside from two guys I drink with and an uncle.

I'm not saying it wasn't brought down by nefarious forces just that it didn't go the way of TWA 800 or anything similar.

Fair enough. I'm inclined to agree at this point.

The 747 Captain rates at Polar are less than the 737 FO rates at Delta.

Not to mention Malaysia is an Islamic country.

if it fell apart up high, there would be a large debris field, like TWA, comet or Lockerbie...

That's what is most odd about it, it's almost like they had a complete electrical blackout, and then may have flown several hundred miles blind to a crash site.

That was my thoughts as well. In regards to the other post though, what're the chances of a complete electrical blackout and flying totally blind ?! That seems REALLY far fetched.

IF there was ill intend there may be some doubt as to whether the holders of the stolen passports even knew that it was a codeshare before they actually checked in (or maybe even before they boarded).

They are now searching west of the planned route of flight in the Andaman Sea. Plot thickens.

Also, the 777 has fuel tank nitrogen inerting so those tanks might not have exploded as it broke up.

As it broke up, there would be oxygen reintroduced to the tanks.

For those of you that fly down there, that area is non radar, right?

No, they have pretty good radar coverage in that area until you hit the Bay of Bengal.
The 777 has ADS-B so they should still be receiving info from the a/c.

(I have flown out of KL quite abit)

A secular Islamic country. Big difference.

Interesting. I know they were receiving ADS-B up to a point. If it exploded right there, they would have found it by now.

Does anyone know if their planes have international wifi available to the passengers?

Thanks!

edit: It makes me wonder if it went vertical into the vietnamese jungle a la UA 93. That would create a much smaller and more difficult hold to find.

For god's sake, if you get a call to give an interview on TV, and the idiot interviewer asks you "do these new planes fly themselves"? DON'T SAY YES!!!

The 777 does not fly itself - WE fly the aircraft. We control and manage the crew and the plane's automation. We understand what automation means. The public doesn't. Telling the public, who has no real idea what our job is about (with the exception of watching the movie "Airplane"), that the planes fly themselves is ridiculous.

I just watched some ex-777 captain agree with Greta Van Susteren that, yes, many pilots let the plane fly itself and turn on the autopilot at 400 feet. Sheesh. Take some pride and talk about how automation augments our natural god-like aviating abilities. We don't need to let the public think a monkey could do our job as long as he's fed bananas. If we keep this up, they'll be able to replace us with drones and chimps.

Have some pride in the job.

To Mesabah

Check this forum for rates at Polar (now Atlas). Don't think a Delta 737 FO earns $203 an hour. My goodness, ignorance abounds.

:confused:

It seems that since there has been no debris found that the aircraft was likely intact upon impact. This does not exclude a bomb as a possible cause of the crash, just leaves other possibilities on the table. As most of you know we won't know much of anything until the boxes and wreckage are analyzed.

[QUOTE]For god's sake, if you get a call to give an interview on TV, and the idiot interviewer asks you "do these new planes fly themselves"? DON'T SAY YES!!!

The 777 does not fly itself - WE fly the aircraft. We control and manage the crew and the plane's automation. We understand what automation means. The public doesn't. Telling the public, who has no real idea what our job is about (with the exception of watching the movie "Airplane"), that the planes fly themselves is ridiculous.

I just watched some ex-777 captain agree with Greta Van Susteren that, yes, many pilots let the plane fly itself and turn on the autopilot at 400 feet. Sheesh. Take some pride and talk about how automation augments our natural god-like aviating abilities. We don't need to let the public think a monkey could do our job as long as he's fed bananas. If we keep this up, they'll be able to replace us with drones and chimps.
Hithe job.[/QUOTE
God like? Lol. Bit of a God complex, mate?