Malaysian 777 missing
03-17-2014, 08:51 AM
#541
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Originally Posted by MEMbrain
What about the two S. African ladies?
03-17-2014, 08:54 AM
#542
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
You would have to land the plane like Sully and then let it sink intact.
Any sort of impact would break up the plane and release all sorts of debris, much of which would float.
But that's mostly irrelevant...it's a very, very big ocean and wind and waves would quickly disperse any debris such that you would not be able to spot a defined debris field.
Any sort of impact would break up the plane and release all sorts of debris, much of which would float.
But that's mostly irrelevant...it's a very, very big ocean and wind and waves would quickly disperse any debris such that you would not be able to spot a defined debris field.
03-17-2014, 08:58 AM
#543
Banned
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
According to the airline, totally not authorized. If that actually happened in flight, somebody is getting fired soon. The pics I saw on the media looked like they were taken on the ground.
Malaysian MH370 co-pilot entertained teenagers in cabin on earlier flight | World news | theguardian.com
03-17-2014, 08:59 AM
#544
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Originally Posted by Taped2Seat
Understood - wondering if whoever was in command of the plane may have ditched at a pre-determined rendezvous point, then sunk the plane. But that would require extraordinary skills, to land in open ocean w/o breaking apart/cartwheeling.
But why would you even want to land it in the water?
03-17-2014, 09:03 AM
#545
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
[...8<...] How about this...someone in the cockpit could survive in the high flight levels ONLY if he used the appropriate setting on the oxygen mask, and used it properly. But any little mistake in that and the perpetrator would find himself disabled before he knew what hit him. Also...if he flew above the 30's the mask would NOT protect him from the bends unless he had pre-breathed pure O2 long enough to purge all the N2 from his body. He wouldn't have had time to to do that, even if he knew he needed to. Perhaps the perpetrator inadvertently took himself out along with the pax during that altitude excursion, and then the plane flew on AP following whatever route the perp had programmed until it ran out of gas.
[...8<...] How about this...someone in the cockpit could survive in the high flight levels ONLY if he used the appropriate setting on the oxygen mask, and used it properly. But any little mistake in that and the perpetrator would find himself disabled before he knew what hit him. Also...if he flew above the 30's the mask would NOT protect him from the bends unless he had pre-breathed pure O2 long enough to purge all the N2 from his body. He wouldn't have had time to to do that, even if he knew he needed to. Perhaps the perpetrator inadvertently took himself out along with the pax during that altitude excursion, and then the plane flew on AP following whatever route the perp had programmed until it ran out of gas.
03-17-2014, 09:12 AM
#546
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
But why would you even want to land it in the water?
03-17-2014, 09:17 AM
#547
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Originally Posted by Taped2Seat
Not to beleaguer this angle but to answer the question. Most events have a human element, and there are two broad scenarios here - either it was accidental, or it was purposeful. Assuming the latter, then there must've been a reason to make the plane completely disappear w/o a trace. If the purpose was to get attention/make a point, if the plane is never found would go down in history as one large unsolved mystery. But as you pointed out, time and currents would disperse debris, so landing it in water is a moot, unless whoever did it was planning on surviving and being picked up somewhere. Looking at the problem from the mind of whoever did it instead of looking at the (potentially incorrect) data points we are getting. Thanks for the insight though.
I can't see a motive to land on the water, anyone with a enough piloting skill to even try it would know it's probably not going to work out in a big jet.
Random technical failures have no motive and this are harder to predict and analyze, especially with little or no data.
03-17-2014, 09:43 AM
#549
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Ground yourselves in a little reality.
Pilot: Was that Boeing 777 diverted deliberately? Not necessarily - CNN.com
Pilot: Was that Boeing 777 diverted deliberately? Not necessarily - CNN.com
03-17-2014, 10:06 AM
#550
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Originally Posted by Captain Bligh
What if..... in a collaborative effort with the financier of the stollen passport holders, the aircraft was stolen for a purpose? Like a dirty bomb or nuclear device delivery vehicle?
I always said, when I flew it inserting troops to the gulf, was that it was the perfect bomber platform. It could fly so high and fast that NATO fighters that attempted to intercept us for practice (which was allowed since we were using CRAFT mission call signs) often couldn't reach us. Especially ones form EU nations with limited range and airspace. We would pass overhead at 37,000 feet doing .84 mach and they just couldn't close the distance given what they had to work with. The airplane has the ability to haul/deliver 100,000 pounds of payload an incredible distance. If terrorists stole it for a suicide mission, or imagine malicious intent, pick a city and it's gone. There's no way anyone in most of the governments in the world, has the testosterone to shoot down a civilian airliner given the history of how well that's worked in the past, nor with the current administrations at the helm of western governments.
Even if terrorists or a foreign power just landed a 777 full of commandos somewhere after an intercept and started shooting their way out of the airplane, there isn't a civilian airport in the world that would be prepared for it. This is one of the problems with exporting technology for the sake of $$$$$, hoping to replace the cash flow from previously exported manufacturing jobs.
Here's the thing, there's almost always a business man or two that have several global sat phones, one in their pocket one in a briefcase. Unless they killed everyone enroute, someone would make a call. As this story unfolds however; I think most people should hope and pray it crashed.
I always said, when I flew it inserting troops to the gulf, was that it was the perfect bomber platform. It could fly so high and fast that NATO fighters that attempted to intercept us for practice (which was allowed since we were using CRAFT mission call signs) often couldn't reach us. Especially ones form EU nations with limited range and airspace. We would pass overhead at 37,000 feet doing .84 mach and they just couldn't close the distance given what they had to work with. The airplane has the ability to haul/deliver 100,000 pounds of payload an incredible distance. If terrorists stole it for a suicide mission, or imagine malicious intent, pick a city and it's gone. There's no way anyone in most of the governments in the world, has the testosterone to shoot down a civilian airliner given the history of how well that's worked in the past, nor with the current administrations at the helm of western governments.
Even if terrorists or a foreign power just landed a 777 full of commandos somewhere after an intercept and started shooting their way out of the airplane, there isn't a civilian airport in the world that would be prepared for it. This is one of the problems with exporting technology for the sake of $$$$$, hoping to replace the cash flow from previously exported manufacturing jobs.
Here's the thing, there's almost always a business man or two that have several global sat phones, one in their pocket one in a briefcase. Unless they killed everyone enroute, someone would make a call. As this story unfolds however; I think most people should hope and pray it crashed.
Firstly, there's been a lot of talk about intercept in this thread, but I haven't seen anything anywhere addressing what I've been wondering about, which is whether it's possible for another rogue aircraft could've done a planned intercept of the flight and coerced the pilots' actions either over a direct communication or via some sort of 'sleeper' agent on the plane? Assuming that's not a completely crazy question, would a second plane be able to travel closely enough along the evasive flightpath to remain a threat without arousing further radar suspicion?
Verging on getting a little more far-fetched, similar to the post above, once there was speculation that the plane could've landed somewhere covertly, my first (possibly Hollywood) thought was whether it would make for an excellent transport of a massive dirty bomb or the like. Supposing the plane is on some remote island off of, say, Indonesia, is it conceivable that it could fly to a target at the far end of its range, initially using the open waters of the Indian Ocean to mask its position? I realize things would get messier once it had borders to contend with, but might some nations' air forces be reluctant to deal with shooting down a flying dirty bomb if the stated target was beyond them? (For example, would Iran bother engaging such a rogue aircraft and risking fallout over its country if the intended target was in Israel?)
Sorry if I'm pushing things into the absurd. I have no illusions I'm about to crack the case, I'm just not sure if I'm completely goofy with these thoughts.
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