MH 370

[David E]

However tragic the final answer to this puzzle is, it is of some relief to be reasonably sure that the Aircraft went down some 1550 miles West of Perth.

Our home has been filled with discussion of the  multitude of theories surrounding this horrendous loss of life.....from the improbable to the totally impossible and all points in between 

The sighting of wreckage which in the next day or so should be confirmed as from the Boeing 777.

It is of particular interest to us because Ming has a trip to Chengdu planned next week and in typical Chinese fashion was totally freaked out over the thought of flying...she was convinced that every airliner in the World was akin to a death sentence....and she will be flying in a Boeing 777 !!!!!

At least now, it becomes reasonably certain that the "accident" was not caused by mechanical failure of the 777 but is likely to be the act of a deranged Pilot/Crew.

But I am sure she will be very nervous as she boards the Flight...I think a Valium or two is in order !!!

[JustJim]

Whatever the cause is they are saying that this will be a watershed moment - and that they will improve the tracking of airplanes. 

To think that one of the largest, and most popular, airplanes can go "missing" is inconceivable.  The facts are that they have the technology, but something like this will push them to use it.

I have never taken a Valium, but it might be a good idea when I do go.  I hope your Ming is okay...

[JustJim]

I just wanted to add that they are using new techniques to pinpoint where the flight was.  The absence of other signals is causing them to dig deeper and come up with these new techniques.  Being given a challenge brings out these new ideas...

[JohnB]

When Flt MH370 was 'lost', I feared the worst. Modern airplanes do not just fall out of the sky.
The 777 has had commercial flights since 1995..almost 25 years. The 1st 'air- deaths' to  have occurred was last summer with the Asiana incident in SanFrancisco, the aircraft not to blame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777 

I think Wikipedia should be changing their definition of “CFIT” or Controlled Flight Into Terrain. “Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) describes an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, water....”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_flight_into_terrain
Because of the Malaysian incident, maybe it is time to bring back the Air Marshalls. But I suppose everything depends on what the 'black box' (orange) says...when they find it.

Although my Boeing background was 747 and later the 767 inauguration, my preference is the 777 by far. The composite floor beams are so forgiving...it is a very comfortable aircraft to travel.
Maybe not odd, I do not suffer 'jet lag' when I travel via the 777, my longest time, Vancouver to HongKong...+ 13 hours.

I see Hainan Air has been adding 787's planes from the U.S. to Beijing. Sweet!
+ I much prefer the foreign flagged aircraft to anything domestic.

[David E]

Yep...the 777 is the safest aircraft ever to go into service....and I agree, very comfortable to fly in.

I feel that the flight recorder will not be of much use, except to confirm the flight path of a perfectly serviceable aircraft and to actually record the moment when it ran out of fuel all that way from its intended flight path.

The CVR (cockpit voice recorder) operates on a 30 minute loop (as I undersdtand) so maybe this will not give us many clues as to the final few hours of the flight...but if it was Pilot/Crew related you can be sure they kept quiet to avoid evidence on the CVR...or maybe they recorded a full explanation of what they were up to

Who knows, maybe it will all come out one day...but they gotta find the wreckage first, and that wont be easy...it took 2 years to find the Air France Airbus that went down in the mid-Atlantic..and that basically was down to Pilot error.......

[maxx]

My wife was going to China to attend her sister's wedding. Now she said she wasn't going because of this incident. Even after I explained to her that this was a rare acourance she still wont go.

[Willy The Londoner]

I am flying to London in two weeks with my step daughter.

She has only ever been on a short haul trip to Thailand before.   All this talk over the recent couple of weeks has unnerved her a bit for the 13 hour impending flight. 

I have explained to her that she is actually putting herself in far more danger when she starts taking her driving lessons after we return.

Willy

[IrishGuy65]

What happened is tragic and a shame.

Lisa is flying out next month, and our twice a day talks have had conversations about this also.  I explained to her there are thousands of flights a day.  One incident out of hundreds of thousands of flights is a pretty safe method of transportation.  A few weeks before I flew out to China, the Asiana jet crashed... and I was flying Asiana!

[Arnold]

I also (like IrishGuy) only fly Asiana and the 777. I fell in love with that plane, much more compfortable then the 747 for long flights.

Anyway, I myself have my own theory about all this. I was thinking if the plane had a fire of some kind in the Cabin, thus the break-off with communications? Would the Pilot try by going to 45,000 feet and de-pressurize the Cabin trying to put out the Fire? Didn't work so he aimed the plane back (or tryed at best) to Kuala Lumpur onn Auto-Pilot, but all were overcome by Smoke and the plane just kept flying till it ran out of fuel.
This makes the most sense to me anyway.

[David E]

Arnold

Your theory is interesting...and probably as likely as any other theory going around right now.

Standard Operating Procedure requires that in the event of an emergency, the Pilot immediately "squawks 7700" which is the emergency code on the aircraft transponder...his lets Airtraffic Control know he has a problem.

Next, the Pilot is required to "Aviate, Navigate and Communicate"...and it must be in that order. So he will be busy attending to flying and navigation prior to verbally communicating the details of the emergency via a spoken message or an SOS...Mayday type comment.

Never ever would a Pilot knowingly depressurise an aircraft and climb to fatal altitudes, at 45,000 the cabin Oxygen masks would be useless for breathing, the Oxygen Partial Pressure is too low, all the passengers and crew would be brain dead in about 10 minutes...this is why he is required immediately to descend to "breathable" altitudes should depressurisation occur.

So...in the event of such a catastrophic event, we would normally expect the Pilot to do an emergency descent (did not), make a course change to the nearest airfield (maybe did), squawk 7700 (did not), call mayday on ATC frequency (did not).

Not much adds up does it ??

[Arnold]

Never ever would a Pilot knowingly depressurise an aircraft and climb to fatal altitudes, at 45,000 the cabin Oxygen masks would be useless for breathing, the Oxygen Partial Pressure is too low, all the passengers and crew would be brain dead in about 10 minutes...this is why he is required immediately to descend to "breathable" altitudes should depressurisation occur.

... 10 minutes , does it not put out an Fire in much less time with no Oxygen to burn? Say, the cockpit had a major fire to Radio/Communication/Instruments for whatever reason (including sabotage) but left it somewhat under manual control to do emergency measures. Still, there is the "all right and Good night".. maybe just a comment to the Co-Pilot which like said... do most of the flying anyways.