It is basically the US launching point for anything in the region. It also is one of five control bases for GPS. Who knows what else important occurs there on a daily basis.Why target the Diego Garcia US Navy facility? That would be akin to hijacking an airliner in order to go crash it into Wake Island.
Trying to visualize what terrorism benefit there would be.
The NDTV article I quoted goes into considerable detail regarding the SATCOM handshake process and even explains it in layman's terms.
Why target the Diego Garcia US Navy facility? That would be akin to hijacking an airliner in order to go crash it into Wake Island.
Trying to visualize what terrorism benefit there would be.
It may seem far fetched to be a target, but are there any better US targets in the region?It would seem like a lot of effort for a low percentage shot while there are plenty of opportunities for high percentage shots.
Something Jim Nance said today is disturbing though. One reason he can think of for taking the aircraft above service level is to decompress the cabin and fly up there long enough until the PAXs' O2 runs out.
I think you are missing what I am saying. An explanation of how it works has almost nothing to do with how data is logged. What data is logged is a choice.
When good performance data is logged, we know there was two-way communication. My question is, when no performance data is being received is there a communications log that proves that two-way communication had taken place? The existence of a log file doesn't prove much other than a local device is capable of creating a log file.
I'm not making any claims, just a critical point if you are evaluating data.
It had 150+ Chinese pax on board maybe they were more interested in one of their military bases? Maybe they were trying to target another Asian country? Who knows? Its not always about the USA!It may seem far fetched to be a target, but are there any better US targets in the region?
There is no shortage of soft targets.It may seem far fetched to be a target, but are there any better US targets in the region?
When good performance data is logged, we know there was two-way communication. My question is, when no performance data is being received is there a communications log that proves that two-way communication had taken place? The existence of a log file doesn't prove much other than a local device is capable of creating a log file.
I'm not making any claims, just a critical point if you are evaluating data.
Very true, but that's kind of what I'm thinking. Something (base, city, etc) was the target and the Indian Ocean wasn't it which makes me think that someone not on the airplane ultimately brought it down.It had 150+ Chinese pax on board maybe they were more interested in one of their military bases? Maybe they were trying to target another Asian country? Who knows? Its not always about the USA!
I thought about that after I posted. The difference would be minimal. If it was a hijacking, I can see why they'd want to incapacitate the PAX, but beyond that, it's near impossible to figure out why they did what it's being reported what they did.I'm not buying that.
The 777 has chemical O2 generators installed in the passenger service units. Mot generators are good for 10 to 15 minutes of oxygen. Also, the difference in TUC between 35,000 and 45,000 is about 30 seconds max.
You don't understand the content of my post.In this case, yes. The critical information that investigators are operating on at this point is that the SATCOM transceiver on the aircraft was pinging and handshaking with Inmarsat satellite(s) for four hours after the ACARS and transponder were switched off. The fact that no ACMS/ACARS data was being sent to the SATCOM unit is inconsequential, because the SATCOM unit continued to operate as intended and try and maintain a link. The nature of wide area RF communications systems is that every time a subscriber unit tries to connect, be it to a communications tower on the ground or a satellite, a timestamped log is created at the telecommunications company headquarters. This creates a paper trail. Think about it like the call history on your cell phone bill, only you never placed any calls and didn't realize your phone was sending messages as you moved about.
As the aircraft proceeded to pass to new satellite coverage areas, automatic data transactions took place which were logged back at Inmarsat's headquarters - proving that the aircraft was in that general coverage area at that timestamped time. With a proper court order, law enforcement agencies can track the general movements of cell phone users (even with their GPS disabled) by going back through these timestamped affiliation log files kept by the service provider.