Malaysia Airlines 777 missing

AVHerald won't load for me either. Here's the summary from The Guardian, and the report now about nine hours old (09:30Z). Debris in the water.

The Aviation Herald has another possible lead on the crash site. It reports a sighting of debris 50 miles off the Vietnamese coast.

Hong Kong’s Air Traffic Control Center reported on Mar 10th 2014 around 17:30L (09:30Z) that an airliner enroute on airway L642 reported via HF radio that they saw a large field of debris at position N9.72 E107.42 about 80nm southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, about 50nm off the south-eastern coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea and about 281nm northeast of the last known radar position. Ships have been dispatched to the reported debris field.
 
AVHerald won't load for me either. Here's the summary from The Guardian, and the report now about nine hours old (09:30Z). Debris in the water.

The Aviation Herald has another possible lead on the crash site. It reports a sighting of debris 50 miles off the Vietnamese coast.

Hong Kong’s Air Traffic Control Center reported on Mar 10th 2014 around 17:30L (09:30Z) that an airliner enroute on airway L642 reported via HF radio that they saw a large field of debris at position N9.72 E107.42 about 80nm southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, about 50nm off the south-eastern coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea and about 281nm northeast of the last known radar position. Ships have been dispatched to the reported debris field.

It's 2am over there so I imagine we won't know anything more until later tnoight.
 
Pretty much, but they also include the ship's radar feed, which is all primary returns. Remember, unlike us, ships use the radars for TRAFFIC avoidance, so there is a good chance they would pick up any primary returns off the aircraft in the area also.

Problem is, unless they're a warship, they're using surface search radar only, not air search radar (they're not watching for air threats against their ship). Worth checking out, I agree; but the chance of seeing something, even if at-near the potential water impact of the 777 (ie- at surface level or very low level), would've also been seen visually if that were the case, more than likely.
 
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Avherald is probably overloaded since they are the only ones that were hosting that picture of the suspected debris field.
 
I got the AVHerald site to load + 1 image. Here's the text:

Crash: Malaysia B772 over Gulf of Thailand on Mar 8th 2014, aircraft missing

By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Mar 8th 2014 01:10Z, last updated Monday, Mar 10th 2014 17:12Z


An Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration 9M-MRO performing flight MH-370 from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China) with 227 passengers and 12 crew, was enroute at FL350 about 40 minutes into the flight about 90nm northeast of Kota Bharu (Malaysia) over the Gulf of Thailand in contact with Subang Center (Malaysia) just about to be handed off to Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control Center (Vietnam) when radar and radio contact was lost at about 01:22L (17:22Z Mar 7th). Subang Air Traffic Control Center officially told the airline at around 02:40L (18:40Z Mar 7th) that the aircraft was missing. The aircraft would have run out of fuel by now, there have been no reports of the aircraft turning up on any airport in the region.

The airline confirmed on their website the aircraft is missing, a search and rescue operation has been initiated. Subang Air Traffic Control reported at 02:40 local Malaysian time, that radar and radio contact with the aircraft had been lost. The last radar position was N6.92 E103.58. There has been no distress call, no ELT or other signal was received from the aircraft. The focus is currently to locate the aircraft, as of 11:20Z Mar 8th search teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have failed to find any evidence of the aircraft. On Mar 9th 2014 14:43L (06:43Z) the airline added, that still no evidence of the aircraft has been found more than 24 hours after last contact with the aircraft and corrected the time of last contact with the aircraft to 1:30L. The airline stated, they are fearing for the worst, depending on where the aircraft will be found a command center will be set either at Khota Baru or Ho Chi Minh City.

In a press conference the airline stated, the last contact with the aircraft had been about 120 miles (90nm) northeast of Kota Bharu (Malaysia), over the Gulf of Thailand. The aircraft was piloted by an experienced captain (53, 18,365 hours total) and a first officer (27, 2,763 hours total). The aircraft carried 154 Chinese citizens, 38 Malaysians, 7 Indonesians, 6 Australians, 5 Indian, 4 French, 3 citizens of USA, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Ukrainians, 2 Canadians, 1 Russian, 1 Italian, 1 Dutch and 1 Austrian.

Search missions have been launched along the estimated flight track of the aircraft from Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos to China (South China Sea).

At about noon local time Vietnamese search personnel reported they have detected an ELT signal about 20nm south of the coast of Ca Mau. Vietnam officials subsequently stated that they have not yet detected flight MH-370.

In the afternoon local time an Admiral of the Vietnamese Navy was understood to indicate that the crash site of the aircraft has been located about 130nm south of the Vietnamese Island Tho Chau (110nm southwest of main land Ca Mau), the Navy later said that the admiral only referred to the position of last radio/radar contact with the aircraft, the aircraft has not yet been found.

China reported that the aircraft did not enter Chinese airspace (editorial note: which effectively discounts rumours and false reports by a Malaysian outlet of the aircraft having landed in Nanning (China)).

Nanning Airport stated the aircraft did not arrive at the airport.

The NTSB reported that a go-team has been dispatched to Asia to assist with the investigation into the missing flight MH-370. The NTSB wrote: "Once the location of the airplane is determined, International Civil Aviation Organization protocols will determine which country will lead the investigation."

In the evening of Mar 9th 2014 local time Malaysia's Transport Ministry reported, that no trace of the missing aircraft has been found at dawn Mar 9th after two days of search. The oil slicks as well as debris found so far are not related to the aircraft. Rumours like other crew establishing contact to the accident flight after radar contact was lost, phone contact to a mobile phone of one the passengers of the missing flight or the aircraft having landed in China or Vietnam, are false.

In the night of Mar 9th 2014 Vietnam's Search and Rescue Control Center released a photo of a part floating in the Gulf of Thailand, that despite darkness was discovered by a Twin Otter Aircraft of Vietnam's Coast Guard at position N8.792 E103.374 about 31nm southsouthwest of Tho Chu (editorial note: 114nm north of the last radar contact position) and is believed to be a part of the aircraft. The Control Center stated, the part is definitely made of composite material. Forces will be dispatched to the part after daybreak Mar 10th 2014. Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation said later that this part is unrelated to MH-370, it was not recovered.

Hong Kong's Air Traffic Control Center reported on Mar 10th 2014 around 17:30L (09:30Z) that an airliner enroute on airway L642 reported via HF radio that they saw a large field of debris at position N9.72 E107.42 about 80nm southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, about 50nm off the south-eastern coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea and about 281nm northeast of the last known radar position. Ships have been dispatched to the reported debris field.

Vietnam's Headquarters for the Search and Rescue operation of MH-370 confirmed receiving the report by Hong Kong's Air Traffic Control Center stating that a Hong Kong based airliner reported a large field of debris while enroute on airway L642. A Thai cargo ship in the area was asked for assistance and has set course to the area but did not find anything unusual so far. A second vessel asked for assistance did find some debris. Following this finding Vietnam's Maritime Search and Rescue Services (MRCC) dispatched a ship to the debris field.

Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department confirmed a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur spotted large amount of debris while enroute off the coast of South East Vietnam.

According to The Aviation Herald's radar data the aircraft was last regularly seen at 17:22Z (01:22L) at position N6.9 E103.6 about half way between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) at FL350 over the Gulf of Thailand about 260nm northnortheast of Kuala Lumpur and 90nm northeast of Kota Bharu 40 minutes into the flight, followed by anomalies in the radar data of the aircraft over the next minute (the anomalies may be related to the aircraft but could also be caused by the aircraft leaving the range of the receiver).

Aviation sources in China report that radar data suggest a steep and sudden descent of the aircraft, during which the track of the aircraft changed from 024 degrees to 333 degrees. The aircraft was estimated to contact Ho Chi Minh Control Center (Vietnam) at 01:20L, but contact was never established.

Italy's Foreign Ministry said, the Italian citizen is alive and was not on board of the aircraft other than the passenger manifest suggests, the man called his parents from Thailand. The foreign ministry later added, that the passport of the citizen had been recently stolen in Thailand.

Austria's Foreign Ministry stated in the afternoon (European time) that the Austrian listed on the passenger manifest was not on board of the aircraft. The foreign ministry later added, that the passport of the Austrian citizen had been stolen about two years ago when the citizen was touring through Thailand.

According to the states run Chinese news agency Xinhua Chinese police established that one of the Chinese passengers listed on the manifest never left China, is still at home and in possession of his passport, therefore was not on the accident flight. The passenger's passport had not been lost or stolen, the numbers on his passport and the passport number noted on the manifest are identical however.

Malaysia's Defense Ministry said, that as result of the verified discrepancies between passenger manifest and people on board of the aircraft, the Austrian and the Italian, the entire manifest is under scrutiny. At least 4 names are suspicious and are being investigated with the participation by the FBI from the USA.

China Southern Airlines, code share partner of Malaysia Airlines, reported that they sold a total of 7 tickets for the accident flight, amongst them the tickets for the Italian and the Austrian as well as one Dutch, one Malaysian, two Ukrainians and one Chinese.
 
I saved the image of the debris field but can't post it. Can somebody else give it a try?

It appears to be a large number of small, white objects widely-dispersed on the surface, with streams of a filmy residue.
 
I save the image of the debris field but can't post it. Can somebody else give it a try?
BiYPj_QCUAA2dXl.jpg


This one?
 
Is it still a word? Or is it a local colloquialism?
There's a wikipedia page for Flotsam no Floatsam.


In maritime law, flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage:[1]

  • Flotsam is floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo
  • Jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment, or its cargo that is purposely cast overboard or jettisoned to lighten the load in time of distress and that sinks or is washed ashore
  • Lagan (also called ligan[2]) is cargo that is lying on the bottom of the ocean, sometimes marked by a buoy, which can be reclaimed
  • Derelict is cargo that is also on the bottom of the ocean, but which no one has any hope of reclaiming (in other maritime contexts, derelict may also refer to a drifting abandoned ship)
 
Seriously a jet this size doesn't just vanish. Is there a possibility this plane was stolen and flown somewhere to be used for something criminal?
 
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