Malaysia Airlines Flight Vanishes

[RoyGBiv]

According to Fox News this morning, data received from the plane's systems show that the turn was preprogrammed into the navigation system and was not performed manually. It may have even been programmed into the system while it was still on the ground.
Another link http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/908028.html

Need to be careful about not falling victim to intentionally vague words used to invoke emotional responses...

In this case "preprogrammed" very simply means that the pilot did not grab the yoke and turn the aircraft manually. Even the linked article later says that "preprogrammed" could mean.... (emphasis mine).

Rather than manually operating the plane's controls, whoever altered Flight 370's path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer situated between the captain and the co-pilot, according to officials.

If your ship was failing and you needed your hands free to deal with the crisis, the best way to start heading immediately back to land would be to type a few keystrokes into the autopilot and get back to fighting the fire (perhaps literally in this case). I read somewhere earlier (possibly the article I linked above?) that the heading chosen would have put the aircraft on a course towards a 13,000 foot runway on Langkawi.

Impossible to know for sure until more is known about actual events, but there's nothing inherently sinister about "preprogrammed" in this case, except for the medias intent to cause alarm where none is yet justified.

[strider67]

Here is what I think happened:
1) Transponder is turned off
2) Aircraft is descended in spiral mode to 300 ft above see level to avoid long distance radars.
3) Aircraft is flown to a remote island with enough runaway to land, fuel is available for another trip.
4) All electronics on board (including cellphones) are off.
4) Purpose of the hijack is criminal in nature.

If you take some of this...

[strider67]

Just heard on the news that the tracking signals aboard the plane stopped sending information sequentially. They said that means that they had been turned off on purpose...

I heard that too, but I am surprised that a pilot would be able to turn off the signals on purpose.

Pilots have to be able to turn any system off, if for no other reason than to help deal with electrical problems.
Which, come to think of it, might've been what happened.

I just picture everyone onboard, except the 2 pilots, in some remote location wearing shackles and blindfolds, with a bunch of armed guards standing around. The pilots got their money and drove their mopeds into the night...

And sprinkle in some of this...I think you have two key ingredients for a mystery resolution recipe. Just my opinion...

[jmra]

According to Fox News this morning, data received from the plane's systems show that the turn was preprogrammed into the navigation system and was not performed manually. It may have even been programmed into the system while it was still on the ground.
Another link http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/908028.html

Need to be careful about not falling victim to intentionally vague words used to invoke emotional responses...

In this case "preprogrammed" very simply means that the pilot did not grab the yoke and turn the aircraft manually. Even the linked article later says that "preprogrammed" could mean.... (emphasis mine).

Rather than manually operating the plane's controls, whoever altered Flight 370's path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer situated between the captain and the co-pilot, according to officials.

If your ship was failing and you needed your hands free to deal with the crisis, the best way to start heading immediately back to land would be to type a few keystrokes into the autopilot and get back to fighting the fire (perhaps literally in this case). I read somewhere earlier (possibly the article I linked above?) that the heading chosen would have put the aircraft on a course towards a 13,000 foot runway on Langkawi.

Impossible to know for sure until more is known about actual events, but there's nothing inherently sinister about "preprogrammed" in this case, except for the medias intent to cause alarm where none is yet justified.

I'm a big boy - not falling victim to the media. I posted this in response to the article you posted which stated that the first thing the pilot would do in case of a fire is to shut down all of the automated systems (the authors reason for the transponders going offline). If that was the approach the pilot was taking he certainly would not take time to program/activate an automated system that he was going to immediately shut down.
I find it extremely unlikely that in an emergency situation a pilot would look up the code that he needed to enter for an airport that wasn't on the flight plan before attempting to communicate a mayday.

[mamabearCali]

I am not a pilot or any thing else that has anything to do with flight. Just a plain sort of girl.

I see two possibilities

#1 The plane is under water probably in the indian ocean.......which is tragic and unexplainable at the moment.

#2 The plane is not under water and flew somewhere else and is in one piece.................which considering it's range of 7,000-10,000 miles on one fill up is terrifying and the cause of much speculation.


imagine a plane with that sort of radius carrying a dirty bomb.....Dear God! Have mercy on us all.

[nightmare]

I just picture everyone onboard, except the 2 pilots, in some remote location wearing shackles and blindfolds, with a bunch of armed guards standing around. The pilots got their money and drove their mopeds into the night...

I think a fire or other inflight emergency is the most likely explanation but if it's foul play, I don't imagine them keeping the passengers alive this long. I also don't think they let the pilots live unless they're players in Act 2.

[philip964]

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh ... ical-fire/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Simple explanation by a pilot, a fire, no time to communicate, head immediately for the nearest airport, flip the breakers shut off power to try and solve the problem, take the plane to 45,000 to put it out. Stall recover and then pilots overcome by smoke. Plane runs till its out of fuel. Source of fire, front tire on fire from blowout on takeoff, hot day, heavy load, underenflated. Same as the Swiss Air flight, takes about an hour for the tire to go into flames.

More plausible than a hijacking. Article gives you places to look on Google Earth.

[jmra]

So much for an emergency causing the change in flight path.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/18 ... ourse-was/
"The Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished nearly two weeks ago was already 12 minutes into its diverted course when the plane's co-pilot calmly told air traffic controllers that things were "all right," former FAA spokesman Scott Brenner said Tuesday on The Kelly File."

[strider67]

I just picture everyone onboard, except the 2 pilots, in some remote location wearing shackles and blindfolds, with a bunch of armed guards standing around. The pilots got their money and drove their mopeds into the night...

I think a fire or other inflight emergency is the most likely explanation but if it's foul play, I don't imagine them keeping the passengers alive this long. I also don't think they let the pilots live unless they're players in Act 2.

I just hope this whole thing is bazaar enough that they do locate the passengers still alive...

[Dave2]

I was playing table tennis with a few friends today, and one of them had an interesting theory. He thinks whoever stole the plane knew about the satellite thing, landed the 777 right after a "ping", transferred said satellitey bits to a drone, and flew that out over the ocean to crash.

Dunno how much that antenna weighs, or how much a drone can lift these days.

[baldeagle]

After days of utter confusion I have a theory. There was a fire in the cockpit that took out the electronics that control communications. The pilot turned the plane around to fly to the nearest airport in Malaysia. The pilot and the copilot were overcome by smoke and became unconscious. The plane, on autopilot, kept flying in the direction the pilot had programmed in until it ran out of fuel. Then it plunged into the Indian Ocean.

They'll be lucky if they ever find it.

[RoyGBiv]

So much for an emergency causing the change in flight path.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/18 ... ourse-was/
"The Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished nearly two weeks ago was already 12 minutes into its diverted course when the plane's co-pilot calmly told air traffic controllers that things were "all right," former FAA spokesman Scott Brenner said Tuesday on The Kelly File."

I've been seeing this all morning... before I believe it, I'd like to know exactly how they know this.
Strangely, all the reports on this new "fact" fail to explain how they made this determination or why it took 11 days to figure it out.

Color me skeptical...

Although, if this is true it makes it pretty clear that the disappearance was not an accident.

[Dragonfighter]

I was playing table tennis with a few friends today, and one of them had an interesting theory. He thinks whoever stole the plane knew about the satellite thing, landed the 777 right after a "ping", transferred said satellitey bits to a drone, and flew that out over the ocean to crash.

Dunno how much that antenna weighs, or how much a drone can lift these days.

The FMS (computer) is tied in through ACARS, that's how they know the course change was entered in in the first place. Depending on the system a heading and altitude can be entered in in a few strokes, so no "codes" really needed. The ACARS is also how the satellite telemetry is sent and received and can also transmit voice messages. The "satellitey" bits (love that BTW) are too expansive and interdependent to be transferred to anything.

I am not a pilot, but I play one on computer.

[jmra]

Could this be it?
http://www.voanews.com/content/sobbing- ... 74987.html

Objects seen on satellite are off the coast of Perth. Would put the plane way off course if true.

[Jumping Frog]

If I wanted to take a 777 and land it somewhere to prepare to use it in a terror attack, a handful of people controlling a plane full of people is a problem to solve in the post-9/11 "Let's Roll" world.

Put the participating pilot(s) on oxygen, turn off the cabin oxygen, make a quick climb to 49,000 feet, and de-pressurize the cabin. Passenger problem solved in a total "hand's off" manner. Beats walking through the cabin with a package cutter and slitting hundreds of throats.