Malaysia Airlines 777 missing

Pilot Fighter said:
It's hard to follow stories like this in the popular press. When they say they lost radar contact, could they mean they lost transponder reception vs. primary return? It would explain why they can't find any wreckage.
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If they are simply referring to secondary radar, that plane could have gone down anywhere within like a 7 hour flying time radius around where they disappeared. If that's the case, the plane might not be found for years...
 
Cptnchia said:
L

So you're saying, a Chinese national, who cannot return to China under their own name has to use an assumed identity to return home, or that someone transiting through Beijing to a third country is doing that?
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The former, the Chinese national could return home to China with his own name but the return trip could be problematic.

Let's say that I'm Vietnamese, living illegally in Thailand. My problem is not traveling to Vietnam, it's returning to Thailand.
 
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I lived/ grew up in Sigapore/Malaysia/ Indonesia. Not many of the ethnic Chinese living illegally in those countries can afford to purchase stolen Western passports, let alone airplane tickets to go home on vacation. As a matter of fact, the Singaporean government used to run an amnesty program. If they would register, the government would buy them a round trip ticket and guarantee their re-entry.
 
Pilot Fighter said:
It's hard to follow stories like this in the popular press. When they say they lost radar contact, could they mean they lost transponder reception vs. primary return? It would explain why they can't find any wreckage.
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I'd bet a paycheque they don't have prime capability in that area.

Basically because it's almost impossible, standard PSR only has a range of 80-100NM
 
Cptnchia said:
Yeah, when my dad got out of the AF, he ended up with Mobil Oil. Been to all the hot spots. Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa. I was an oil brat.
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Growing up overseas is such a badass opportunity. I was a military brat (well, DOD) and spent a lot of time in Germany and Japan. Wouldn't trade it for a thing.
 
BobDDuck said:
Two thoughts...

Even a high altitude inflight breakup will leave a pretty good sized debris field (see: Columbia) so the fact that they haven't found anything yet leads me to believe that either it landed somewhere under it's own power or if it did breakup (or even crash) it did it somewhere where the search teams aren't looking right now.
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These two theories are the only ones that make sense to me.

Another theory, but a stretch.

Route in the airplane was different than the route ATC had or was filed. Happens often enough, usually in radar coverage though
 
Cptnchia said:
So you're saying, a Chinese national, who cannot return to China under their own name has to use an assumed identity to return home, or that someone transiting through Beijing to a third country is doing that?
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I just described a scenario that is commonly seen by customs officials, people returning to their home country with fake credentials. It's not like you can switch identities mid-flight. I was just describing a possibility. I haven't heard of any news outlets describing that many of these "stolen" passports are actually sold by their owners.
 
http://m.tuoitre.vn/tin-tuc/Chinh-t...n-vat-the-kha-nghi-cach-dao-Tho-Chu-100km.ttm

Here's where the Vietnamses are searching today (yesterday).
khu-vuc-tim.gif

Quoting from the Google Translation of that page:
"In particular, the Malaysia has 6 planes, 6 ships, China has two aircraft, 14 ships, the Philippines has one plane, three ships ; Singapore has 1 C130 aircraft, and Vietnam have 3 planes, 6 ships."
 
Cptnchia said:
No other aircraft reported missing in that area though.
Unless,... umm, where's Qutch? Maybe he knows. Or this guy:

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How do you know he's not right here?








..





(just love feeding the conspiracy theory that people thought I was him)
 
Cptnchia said:
No other aircraft reported missing in that area though.
Unless,... umm, where's Qutch? Maybe he knows. Or this guy:
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Not sure some of the countries in the area would fess up if they were involved or even know they were missing an aircraft..

Unlikely yes.
 
Questions:

1) So was contact lost 2 hrs into the flight or much earlier?

2) If it was commandeered and descended to a lower altitude to avoid radar, how far could the 777 go with the higher burn? IIRC it departed with 7:00 fuel.
 
Minuteman said:
http://m.tuoitre.vn/tin-tuc/Chinh-t...n-vat-the-kha-nghi-cach-dao-Tho-Chu-100km.ttm

Here's where the Vietnamses are searching today (yesterday).

Quoting from the Google Translation of that page:
"In particular, the Malaysia has 6 planes, 6 ships, China has two aircraft, 14 ships, the Philippines has one plane, three ships ; Singapore has 1 C130 aircraft, and Vietnam have 3 planes, 6 ships."
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So..... 13 airplanes from 5 different countries cruising around there? That sounds like it would be super difficult to organize and keep safe.
 
canadian_atc said:
I'd bet a paycheque they don't have prime capability in that area.

Basically because it's almost impossible, standard PSR only has a range of 80-100NM
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You are probably right, but there are many areas overseas with better primary range, especially if you include military assets.
 
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