Malaysia Airlines 777 missing

I have been following with interest - thanks everyone - but had nothing to contribute as all I can confirm myself is that the flight disappeared off the FlightRadar24 monitor at approx 17:20 UTC because it stopped transmitting or flew below coverage - everything else is speculation or second or third hand - such as ATC or other Aircraft talking to the pilot at 17:30 UTC - there were a few interesting things about the search so far

1. A search where FlightRadar24 lost contact and/or 10 minutes further along the track and along any supposed debris drift path.
2. A search off the coast of Hong Kong - debris reported - right about where FlightAware put the last known position ( http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/08/article-2576087-1C1EA65300000578-948_306x858.jpg )
3. A new search in the Straits of Malacca - which is at least 300 miles west of the first search area - and the other side on Malaysia ( http://zeenews.india.com/news/world...o-strait-of-malacca-says-military_917165.html )

Search Area 2 would mean that the flight tracked up the whole length of Vietnam and across the South China Sea (+1000 miles) without detection and
Search Area 3 would mean that the flight re-crossed Malaysia effectively heading in the wrong direction and again undetected.

Of course we are all talking about a flight disappearing due to an incident - but if one wanted to make a flight disappear deliberately then I am sure it could be done deliberately - switch off the ADS-B transmitter - switch off IFF/Squawk - descend below radar cover - and go anywhere 6 hours fuel would take you.

Am not saying or suggesting that this happened but if ATC talked to the aircraft 10 minutes after it's FlightRadar24 disappearing act - then the information from FlightRadar24 is useless. I did note on one of the search maps that the red area was not at the right turn point on the flight path but at the subsequent expected left turn point - maybe 10 minutes ahead - kinda suggesting that 17:30 or 17:40 time rather then the 17:20 time is the ATC loss time. Also reports that it turned back or onto a track of 333 would put the aircraft back over land and back over water an the northern end of the Straits of Malacca....
 
Just curious...if you were to "fly below radar", wouldn't it take you quite some time to decend that low from 35,000?? Wouldn't the last few radar hits show a decent? Or even a dive?
 
mikecweb said:
I contemplated posting this as I think it's pretty messed up they are going public with this but apparently two girls have come forward saying the copilot invited them up to the cockpit during a previous flight. The media is going to be on this like gulley on animal style fries.

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/w...rnational-flight/story-fnj3ty5y-1226850952131
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I was under the impression that this is pretty common on non-american carriers during cruise. I have had a few friends travel on Asian carriers (and even European) and be able to visit the cockpit and take pictures during the flight.
 
jgheggie said:
Just curious...if you were to "fly below radar", wouldn't it take you quite some time to decend that low from 35,000?? Wouldn't the last few radar hits show a decent? Or even a dive?
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No

I very much doubt there is any prime radar coverage where they turned off their transponder/lost the transponder.

Without a transponder or ADS-B if you're outside of PSR coverage, you vanish.

The military might have had PSR coverage there, but I seriously doubt it at that specific point that a PSR radar would have the range.

In North America we have other technology to cover outside of normal PSR (Military) and that's not public information.
 
jgheggie said:
Just curious...if you were to "fly below radar", wouldn't it take you quite some time to decend that low from 35,000?? Wouldn't the last few radar hits show a decent? Or even a dive?
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Absolutely agree... but I do not know the amount of Radar cover in the area, nor do I have access to that data - all I have is the FlightRadar24 data which their site says does not pick up ADS-B below approx 30,000 and that they were receiving data at (if memory serves me correctly) one or two relays per minute - so what I was suggesting was that the flight could still have been on radar just not visible to Flightradar24 if the ADS-B transmitter were switched off deliberately - and trying to understand how Malaysian ATC talked to the aircraft at 17:30 or 17:40 and Military radar is supposed to have tracked the aircraft turning onto a heading of 333.

I have tried to find a map with aircraft radar cover in the area.... but no expert.. am sure they exist - just did not try hard enough suppose.

I am also trying to understand why people with more information than we have (maybe) can search in the most unexpected places - that would mean the Aircraft had flown for more than an hour after "last contact" and in the wrong direction - and over land and back out to sea again....
 
After a review of the Malaysian military's radar tapes, the primary search grid has been shifted to the Malacca Straight, West of Malaysia, and indicative of the aircraft having executed a course reversal.

In a strange twist, Malaysia's military believes it tracked the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control over the Gulf of Thailand.

A military source confirmed with Reuters that the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 on board changed course and made it to the other side of the Malay peninsula.

"It changed course after Kota Baru and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the military official, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.
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http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/...w-reveals-it-tracked-mh370-to-malacca-straits
 
jgheggie said:
Just curious...if you were to "fly below radar", wouldn't it take you quite some time to decend that low from 35,000?? Wouldn't the last few radar hits show a decent? Or even a dive?
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not if the transponder was turned off or at least the mode C
 
queeno said:
YEA DUHHHH, but can you tell if an aircraft is climbing or decending with a SSR only target?
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No... but they would have contact with the airplane for a lot longer than they did. From reports they were at FL350 then vanished.
 
canadian_atc said:
No... but they would have contact with the airplane for a lot longer than they did. From reports they were at FL350 then vanished.
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I was answering the question in a very narrow way, untill the OFFICAL radar and voice tapes are released every one is just peeing in the wind.
 
canadian_atc said:
WTF... this should have been Day 1!!!
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Agreed - but for the military to release it's information also shows it capabilities and I wonder if it was the Malaysian Military or some other un-named military and we are bring told it was Malaysian to hide it's source - it would explain the delay - but it is idle speculation - except I think I saw the turn around and/or descent was first postulated by a Chinese Radar Expert as was the 333 degree course... right to the current search zone!!!

P.S. I did find this interesting, if incomplete http://www.blindbatnews.com/2014/03...just-50-minutes-after-takeoff-not-2-hou/29143
 
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