Search on after Malaysia Airlines flight vanishes

[klr]

I thought that with gps they would know exactly where the plane was, when it went down.

Not at all amazing. Assuming that the GPS has some sort of backup power supply to transmit a signal after the plane has broken up, it would be of much smaller wattage than under normal conditions. Also, it would only have a small antenna left after the plane's disintegration. Thirdly, its communication system is designed for air travel, not submarine. That's why we don't usually build radio masts 50 metres below sea level.

The NSA has radio masts everywhere..

The NSA is everywhere. I was sitting at a co-worker's desk earlier, and he had an NSA pen.Yes, THAT NSA.

Anyhow, I am in the "open mind" category at present as to the cause. There could be any number of reasons why someone is travelling on a false passport.

[mistermack]

Maybe someone let off poison gas.

Airline food...

Yeh, that could make you let off poison gas !

[Warren Dew]

Edit that. The news just said that it's possible that someone on the plane switched off all the transponders, and turned back on a new course, crossing the mainland at low altitude.
That would answer why the trail ended over the Gulf of Thailand, but there isn't any sign of the plane there.

The Malaysian military might just have lost track of the plane there. If the Iranians using the stolen passports were actually hijackers rather than asylum seekers, that would have been the right way to fly to get to Iran.

[mistermack]

Edit that. The news just said that it's possible that someone on the plane switched off all the transponders, and turned back on a new course, crossing the mainland at low altitude.
That would answer why the trail ended over the Gulf of Thailand, but there isn't any sign of the plane there.

The Malaysian military might just have lost track of the plane there. If the Iranians using the stolen passports were actually hijackers rather than asylum seekers, that would have been the right way to fly to get to Iran.

They flew FROM Iran, to Kuala Lumpur.
Seems a bit pointless, to fly to somewhere, just to hijack a plane to get back to where you started.

Interpol seem very confident that their story checks out.
If someone DID gain control of the cockpit though, they wouldn't have needed a bomb to destroy the plane, they could just fly it into the sea. I thought that they had procedures to prevent passengers getting into the cockpit, since the 911 attacks.

[cronus]

Could have been taken by the Chinese for medical experiments. When you have excluded the impossible whatever you have left no matter how improbable is likely to be the truth.

[Faithfree]

I can sense thousands of conspiracy buffs tapping furiously at their keyboards as we speak.

[FBM]

Well, let's try to pre-empt that here:

Why It's Taking So Long to Find Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane.

[Faithfree]

At least Australia won't feel so bad about loosing a Prime Minister now. A Prime Minister is a lot smaller than a Boeing 777, and therefore easier to misplace.

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs144.aspx

[laklak]

The media is really full of shit. CNN quoted an unnamed "single engine aircraft pilot" who said it is common for thieves to siphon out fuel and replace it with vegetable oil, and then sell the fuel to private pilots. Apparently the vegetable oil "damaged" the turbines. Couple of issues here. First, the vast majority of "single engine aircraft" are piston powered, and won't run on jet fuel. Second, if you've got the dosh to own a single engined turboprop you have enough dosh to buy fuel. Third, this is Malaysia, not Nigeria, the idea that thieves manage to siphon jet fuel from a commercial airliner at a major airport is ludicrous. Fourth, vegetable oil is more expensive then jet fuel (unless you've got a BIG fucking tanker truck full of used McDonald's french fry oil), so how are you makling money using this paradigm? Fifth, you would have to siphon off one FUCKLOAD of jet fuel before the amount of canola oil you dump in would have any effect on the engines. A 777 carries over 50,000 gallons of fuel, dumping a few hundred or thousand gallons of veggie oil in isn't going to significantly alter the viscosity or burn rate of the fuel. Jet fuel and veggie oil have very similar densities (.82 and .85 respectively) so they'll mix easily. Last - bio jet fuel is a combination of kerosene and "vegetable oils", and it burns just fine.

The media seems averse to a minimal bit of fact checking.

[piscator]

The media is really full of shit. CNN quoted an unnamed "single engine aircraft pilot" who said it is common for thieves to siphon out fuel and replace it with vegetable oil, and then sell the fuel to private pilots. Apparently the vegetable oil "damaged" the turbines. Couple of issues here. First, the vast majority of "single engine aircraft" are piston powered, and won't run on jet fuel. Second, if you've got the dosh to own a single engined turboprop you have enough dosh to buy fuel. Third, this is Malaysia, not Nigeria, the idea that thieves manage to siphon jet fuel from a commercial airliner at a major airport is ludicrous. Fourth, vegetable oil is more expensive then jet fuel (unless you've got a BIG fucking tanker truck full of used McDonald's french fry oil), so how are you makling money using this paradigm? Fifth, you would have to siphon off one FUCKLOAD of jet fuel before the amount of canola oil you dump in would have any effect on the engines. A 777 carries over 50,000 gallons of fuel, dumping a few hundred or thousand gallons of veggie oil in isn't going to significantly alter the viscosity or burn rate of the fuel. Jet fuel and veggie oil have very similar densities (.82 and .85 respectively) so they'll mix easily. Last - bio jet fuel is a combination of kerosene and "vegetable oils", and it burns just fine.

The media seems averse to a minimal bit of fact checking.

True that, but WVO also gels below about +20f, and you can expect it to plug a filter when it gets cold, like it stays at 28-35,000 feet where heavy jets fly most efficiently. I'm pretty sure jetliners have fuel heaters, but sub-spec fuel could have been a factor.

[JimC]

The media is really full of shit. CNN quoted an unnamed "single engine aircraft pilot" who said it is common for thieves to siphon out fuel and replace it with vegetable oil, and then sell the fuel to private pilots. Apparently the vegetable oil "damaged" the turbines. Couple of issues here. First, the vast majority of "single engine aircraft" are piston powered, and won't run on jet fuel. Second, if you've got the dosh to own a single engined turboprop you have enough dosh to buy fuel. Third, this is Malaysia, not Nigeria, the idea that thieves manage to siphon jet fuel from a commercial airliner at a major airport is ludicrous. Fourth, vegetable oil is more expensive then jet fuel (unless you've got a BIG fucking tanker truck full of used McDonald's french fry oil), so how are you makling money using this paradigm? Fifth, you would have to siphon off one FUCKLOAD of jet fuel before the amount of canola oil you dump in would have any effect on the engines. A 777 carries over 50,000 gallons of fuel, dumping a few hundred or thousand gallons of veggie oil in isn't going to significantly alter the viscosity or burn rate of the fuel. Jet fuel and veggie oil have very similar densities (.82 and .85 respectively) so they'll mix easily. Last - bio jet fuel is a combination of kerosene and "vegetable oils", and it burns just fine.

The media seems averse to a minimal bit of fact checking.

True that, but WVO also gels below about +20f, and you can expect it to plug a filter when it gets cold, like it stays at 28-35,000 feet where heavy jets fly most efficiently. I'm pretty sure jetliners have fuel heaters, but sub-spec fuel could have been a factor.

A fuel issue would not have lead to a catastrophic break-up - the pilot would have plenty of time to communicate his problem over the air.

[mistermack]

I think it's heavily odds-on that the plane DID turn off it's transponders and change course.
But nothing can be sure.

If it DIDN'T turn off it's transponders, and instead experienced a sudden and catastrophic break-up at altitude, you would think that SOMETHING would have been found by now, in the main search area, where the transmissions were lost.
As it's relatively shallow there, you would think that they would have picked up the pings from the black box by now as well.

They have the last transponder position, so they have the point where it would have broken up.
The wreckage should be within ten or twenty miles of that point, max, and they've been crisscrossing the area for six days.

So if the bookies were taking bets, I'd say it's in the Malacca straits, or a bit further on, and that someone took control of the plane. They had enough fuel to go a long way, over water. It might never be found. I still don't get how nobody made a phone call though. The passengers might not know that anything was wrong, but you'd think that the cabin crew would have to notice.

Maybe there isn't any mobile coverage in the area.

[DaveDodo007]

I'm not saying it is aliens but you know aliens.

[Sælir]

I'm not saying it is aliens but you know aliens.

It really is the only option left

[cronus]

I'm not saying it is aliens but you know aliens.

It really is the only option left

Extra-ordinary rendition, anyone checked Camp Gitmo for new faces?