Flight MH370 mystery gets deeper and weirder

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Fox News: Malaysia's military investigating reports that missing plane changed course, made it to country's west coast​

Malaysia’s military says it is investigating reports that a missing Boeing 777 jetliner headed to Beijing changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of miles away from the last location reported by civilian authorities.

Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday that the western coast of the country, near the Malacca Strait, is "now the focus" of search efforts. That is on the other side of peninsular Malaysia from where Flight 370 was reported missing by civilian authorities, meaning if the plane went down there it would have had to fly over the country, presumably undetected. No debris from the plane has been found.

Civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said expanding the search area didn't imply authorities believed the plane was off Malaysia’s western coast.

"The search is on both sides," he said.

But local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner at 2:40 a.m. on Saturday near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the strait, a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Loved ones of passengers have apparently been reporting since Saturday that the cell phones belonging to the passengers continued to ring a full day after the plane disappeared, the calls placed to those phones resulting in five or six rings instead of going directly to voicemail as would happen if the phone was destroyed or the battery had expired. That is something that would be impossible after an explosion or a plunge into the South China Sea or the Malacca Strait. It is also a fact that major news outlets were apparently not aware of until today.

This follows days of speculation that two stolen passports were used by purported terrorists to hijack or destroy the Boeing 777-300, but earlier today, Interpol and U.S. intelligence agencies released information indicating both were merely Iranians trying to reach political, religious or social asylum.

Again, I have to wonder, wouldn't apparent asylum-seekers be the perfect cover for terrorists? And also again, perhaps this plane is on the ground somewhere in Southeast Asia, the passengers now being held for political or monetary ransom or some other concept that makes sense only in the mind of a terrorist?

Deeper, and weirder.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

This is potentially becoming a cause for grave concern.

Fox News: US investigators reportedly believe missing Malaysia Airlines jet flew for hours after losing contact​

U.S. aviation investigators and national security officials now believe that a missing Malaysia Airlines plane remained in the air for hours after it lost contact with air traffic controllers and disappeared from radar screens.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that investigators think the plane flew on for between four and five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent from the plane's engine to its manufacturer as part of a routine maintenance agreement. If true, the plane could have flown hundreds of miles away from where it was last seen over the Gulf of Thailand, where the multinational search effort has been concentrated.

Malaysia's acting Defense Minister denied the report Thursday, claiming that both engine maker Rolls Royce and airplane manufacturer Boeing had said that the Journal report was incorrect.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are exploring the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after turning off the plane's transponders to avoid radar detection, a person tracking the investigation told The Journal.

The plane could have easily reached Pakistan, India, even North Korea, though the last destination would have been a stretch. The obvious question is what the supposed terrorists who hijacked the plane and its 239 passengers intend to do with it, and them?

Forty-nine minutes after takeoff, the plane's transponders are turned off, though the aircraft continued to be shown on radar screens as making a sharp port turn and heading backing to the southeast, finally dropping off radar about and hour and a half after the transponders were switched off. What the hijackers did not know was that the Rolls-Royce engines in the aircraft were continuing to send data bursts to the airline and the plane's manufacturer, Boeing in Seattle. It is this data stream that tells U.S. intelligence officials the plane was in the air for at least four more hours, which was just about the limit of its fuel supply. The data stream from the power plants provides no information on the attitude, altitude, or vector of the aircraft, only information that proves to intelligence officials the plane was still flying.

I don't believe the following scenario is at all classified as "wild guess speculation," though what I'm about to say is nothing more than a guess, based on some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence.

The plane then turned to the northeast and cruised below radar over the ocean and eastern India until it reached the borders of Pakistan. The low altitude would have limited its fuel range, but that would still be sufficient to reach the east regions of the country. The plane then set down at an abandoned air base in Pakistan, the passengers killed or worse (speculate as you wish on "worse") and the plane pulled into a former military hanger where it is being repainted either as an international freight carrier -- UPS, FedEx, etc. -- or as an Israeli Airlines jet. It is going to be packed with explosives, or perhaps even a crude nuclear weapon, and will be flown to Jerusalem where it will be crashed into the Knesset or to Tel Aviv where that potential nuke will be detonated at 5,000 feet over the city.

This all likely means that the two "asylyum seeking" Iranians on board were actually MINS agents using a known underground exit route for defectors out of Iran and Malaysia to cover their real purpose. It likely also means the pilots were in on the plot, and probably at least four or five other passengers as well, if not more.

Do you think the whole thing sounds implausible? Not so much.

 

[kyredneck]

.....
I don't believe the following scenario is at all classified as "wild guess speculation," though what I'm about to say is nothing more than a guess, based on some pretty compelling circumstantial evidence.

The plane then turned to the northeast and cruised below radar over the ocean and eastern India until it reached the borders of Pakistan. The low altitude would have limited its fuel range, but that would still be sufficient to reach the east regions of the country. The plane then set down at an abandoned air base in Pakistan, the passengers killed or worse (speculate as you wish on "worse") and the plane pulled into a former military hanger where it is being repainted either as an international freight carrier -- UPS, FedEx, etc. -- or as an Israeli Airlines jet. It is going to be packed with explosives, or perhaps even a crude nuclear weapon, and will be flown to Jerusalem where it will be crashed into the Knesset or to Tel Aviv where that potential nuke will be detonated at 5,000 feet over the city.

This all likely means that the two "asylyum seeking" Iranians on board were actually MINS agents using a known underground exit route for defectors out of Iran and Malaysia to cover their real purpose. It likely also means the pilots were in on the plot, and probably at least four or five other passengers as well, if not more.

Do you think the whole thing sounds implausible? Not so much.

....whew

....and you call me anti-Semitic for stating known historical fact. What's the descriptive term for this sort of neurosis? Disseminating unsubstantiated fear mongering Iran/Islamaphobic propaganda?

 

[InTheLight]

Do you think the whole thing sounds implausible? Not so much.

Sounds like a great Mitch Rapp novel. Unfortunately, it's not implausible, but it is improbable.

Don't you think the pilots know about the engines sending out data bursts indicating an "on" status? Of course, they may have known but not cared.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Sounds like a great Mitch Rapp novel. Unfortunately, it's not implausible, but it is improbable.

Agreed, but not so much as one might think "implausible" either. The terrorists have great financing. If they'd put their fund-raising efforts into, say, building houses in the Midwest, or funding small independent masters-level counselors, who knows ... ? :laugh:

Don't you think the pilots know about the engines sending out data bursts indicating an "on" status? Of course, they may have known but not cared.

Doubtful. Most flight crews aren't mindful, if even aware, of such things, given it isn't germane to flight operations. They don't like to think about the "after the crash" systems available to investigators.

 

[Melanie]

This is big news in my neck of the woods....it sure is a mystery. Malaysian Airlines does have a pretty good record overall. My first thoughts were had North Korea anything to do with the disappearance....but I would expect North Korea can no break wind without the West being all over it, then again if it was "terrorists" surely they would be trumpeting the fact all over the world.....

 

[righteousdude2]

This is getting a little hinky, so here....

Fox News: Malaysia's military investigating reports that missing plane changed course, made it to country's west coast​

Loved ones of passengers have apparently been reporting since Saturday that the cell phones belonging to the passengers continued to ring a full day after the plane disappeared, the calls placed to those phones resulting in five or six rings instead of going directly to voicemail as would happen if the phone was destroyed or the battery had expired. That is something that would be impossible after an explosion or a plunge into the South China Sea or the Malacca Strait. It is also a fact that major news outlets were apparently not aware of until today.

This follows days of speculation that two stolen passports were used by purported terrorists to hijack or destroy the Boeing 777-300, but earlier today, Interpol and U.S. intelligence agencies released information indicating both were merely Iranians trying to reach political, religious or social asylum.

Again, I have to wonder, wouldn't apparent asylum-seekers be the perfect cover for terrorists? And also again, perhaps this plane is on the ground somewhere in Southeast Asia, the passengers now being held for political or monetary ransom or some other concept that makes sense only in the mind of a terrorist?

Deeper, and weirder.

....is something to add to the ongoing suspense and rumors - 'You're traveling to another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but also of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose bounderies are that of the imagination. At the sign post up ahead, your next stop, the twilight zone.'

Actually, I am praying, along with thousands of others, that the plane turn up for the sake of the loved ones. Maybe it will even turn up to be ok, and simply hijacked and sitting in some dark jungle, with the passengers and crew being held as prisoners. That might be the best case, but for the sake of the families held in pain, I pray someone, somewhere, find that plane!

 

[kyredneck]

Latest:

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: US pushes search towards vast expanse of the Indian Ocean

"...The “pings” sent by the plane provided information about the speed at which it was travelling and its altitude but not its precise location. The last ping was apparently sent when the plane was above water. ABC News reported that Pentagon officials believed there was an indication that the plane had crashed into the ocean.

Mr Carney, the White House spokesman, did not specify the information that the US had received and that was pushing the search westwards...."

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

This is big news in my neck of the woods....it sure is a mystery. Malaysian Airlines does have a pretty good record overall. My first thoughts were had North Korea anything to do with the disappearance....but I would expect North Korea can no break wind without the West being all over it, then again if it was "terrorists" surely they would be trumpeting the fact all over the world.....

Unless they are planning on using the aircraft in some sort of far-fetched scenario like the one I painted yesterday, in which case they don't want anyone to known the plane hasn't crashed, and likely want to encourage the idea that it did so, though how they might go about that is beyond me.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

" ...ABC News reported that Pentagon officials believed there was an indication that the plane had crashed into the ocean.

"Mr Carney, the White House spokesman, did not specify the information that the US had received and that was pushing the search westwards...."

Check the date/time stamp on your link. It was put up much earlier, before the WSJ report was published. It is talking about the time during which the plane was still on course. The data stream reported by U.S. intelligence has since convinced the Pentagon to use U.S. military assets in the Indian Ocean to search for the plane, and Pentagon officials are not confident about anything regarding the whereabouts or condition of the aircraft today.

Malaysian officials are just as confused:

[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/14/malaysia-airlines-search-heads-toward-indian-ocean/]Fox News: Investigators reportedly eye 'sabotage' in Malaysian jet disappearance[/URL]​

Investigators trying to solve the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner are looking at ‘sabotage or hijacking’, after examining military radar data reports suggesting the plane was purposely flown hundreds of miles off course.

Reuters is reporting that analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the Boeing 777, carrying 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and instead flew west, using airline flight paths normally taken to the Middle East and Europe.
---
A source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News that flight 370 continued to send "periodic pushes" of data after the transponder went dark, suggesting the jet continued to fly. This was described to Fox News as signals data that, in isolation, would not provide location data.

If the plane had disintegrated during flight or had suffered some other catastrophic failure, all signals — the pings to the satellite, the data messages and the transponder — would be expected to stop at the same time.

I'm not promoting the nefarious theft of an aircraft and it's passengers. I believe it is more likely that hijackers trying to pull off some far-fetched scenario like that failed, crashing in the Indian Ocean. But there's always the remote possibility they actually got the plane to where they wanted it, and ... now what?

 

[kyredneck]

Check the date/time stamp on your link. It was put up much earlier, before the WSJ report was published....

???

six hrs ago - Friday 14 March 2014

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

???

six hrs ago - Friday 14 March 2014

It's still out of date. It quotes ABC from yesterday. That's old news. Here is what ABC News says today.

Two U.S. officials tell ABC News the U.S. believes that the shutdown of two communication systems happened separately on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. One source said this indicates the plane did not come out of the sky because of a catastrophic failure [Emphasis added].

The data reporting system, they believe, was shut down at 1:07 a.m. The transponder -- which transmits location and altitude -- shut down at 1:21 a.m.

This indicates it may well have been a deliberate act, ABC News aviation consultant John Nance said.

 

[kyredneck]

Conspiracy theories abound:

Iranian lawmaker: U.S. ‘kidnapped’ missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Parliamentarian Hossein Naghavi Hosseini suspected the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane was part of a dastardly plot to undermine Iran’s relations between China and Southeast Asia.

"..."The fact that two Iranians were traveling on the plane using stolen passports was part of “the plot,” Hosseini reportedly said.

“Documents published by the Western media about two Iranians getting on the plane without passports is psychological warfare,” he said Tuesday, according to The Times.

“Americans recruit some people for such kinds of operations so they can throw the blame on other countries, especially Muslim countries.”

The same day Hosseini made the farfetched statement that Interpol and Malaysian officials revealed the identities of the two Iranians traveling with false documents and all but ruled out they were terrorists...."

 

[kyredneck]

This is a good article that updates every 90 seconds to give the latest on this, it sounds like they are seriously considering air piracy now:

Malaysia Airlines MH370: investigators' top theory is someone with aviation training deliberately flew jet west

Unnamed sources say tracking evidence suggests 'foul play' now suspected as US-led search spreads to India's Andaman Islands

Latest post:

"17.12 BREAKING: Investigators are increasingly certain that someone with aviation skills was responsible for the change in course, a Malaysian government official has said

A US official said investigators are examining the possibility of "human intervention" in the plane's disappearance, adding it may have been "an act of piracy." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it also was possible the plane may have landed somewhere."

 

[kyredneck]

How much room would the missing Malaysia Airlines flight need to land?

"If MH370 made it to the Andamans, is there anywhere it could have landed?

The short answer is yes—there are several airports long enough to land a Boeing 777. But doing so covertly would probably require the complicity of the Indian armed forces (or perhaps those of Myanmar), which makes it extremely unlikely.

According to Boeing’s specifications for 777 aircraft (pdf, pg. 16), the plane would need between approximately 1,160 to 1,600 meters (3,800 and 5,200 feet) to land at sea level, depending on its weight at the time..."

Missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 ‘Deliberately Diverted’ Towards Andaman and Nicobar Islands: List of Unused Airports Where the Plane Possibly Landed [Photos]

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Do you think the whole thing sounds implausible? Not so much.

Looks like TND was ahead of the game on this one - fair play to you.

 

[kyredneck]

On the civil aviation forum 'pilot suicide', or acting under duress, is a growing consensus with the plane turning about (two left turns, 180 degree change in direction) and crashing into the deep waters of the South Indian Ocean. This coincides with the possible southern route established from SATCOM data and the plane running out of fuel after 7.5 hrs of flight.

 

[kyredneck]

Flight MH370 mystery gets deeper and weirder

I've always thought postal workers going 'postal' and senselessly killing their comrades was weird. What is it about these pilots that would drive them to such senseless acts? What's the term for pilots who have gone 'postal'?

Egyptair 990:

"The co-pilot of EgyptAir Flight 990, which crashed off New England in 1999, killing 217 people, deliberately crashed the plane as an act of revenge, according to a source close to the investigation.
Gamil el-Batouty had earlier been reprimanded for sexual misconduct and the executive who told him he would not be allowed to fly US routes again was on board the plane."


Silkair 185:

"SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled SilkAir passenger flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore, which crashed into the Musi River near Palembang in southern Sumatra, Indonesia on 19 December 1997, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew members on board.....The American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) utilized computer modeling to conclude that the crash was the result of deliberate flight control inputs, most likely by the captain."


LAM 470:

"The captain of the LAM Flight 470 that crashed in Namibia on November 29 intentionally caused the accident, according to preliminary data from the investigation.

LAM Flight TM-470 operated on a scheduled passenger flight from Maputo, Mozambique to Luanda, Angola. It was flying at FL380 when the airplane entered a sudden descent. All 33 on board were killed as the Embraer 190 jet impacted the ground in the Bwabwata National Park in Namibia."


MH 370:

"Najib was briefed on the new data by investigators from two U.S. agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board. It showed with a “great degree of certainty” that its system known as Acars, which sends data and text messages to and from the ground, was turned off just before the plane passed Malaysia’s east coast, he said.

A short time later, when the jet reached the area where air traffic control passes from Malaysia to Vietnam, its transponder was also disabled, he said. Without a transponder, radar can’t identify a plane and has difficulty locating it precisely.

The pilot also commanded the plane’s flight-management system to make a turn to the west. That turn was reported to the airline by some of the final data sent by the Acars system, the person familiar with the investigation said.

Disabling Acars transmissions is a multi-step process that can require even an experienced aviator to consult flight manuals, said Kenneth Musser, a retired Delta Air Lines Inc. 777 pilot who later flew and helped train crews at Asiana Airlines Inc.

That move, combined with the disabling of Flight 370’s transponder, indicates intervention by “someone who knows the system on the airplane,” said Bill Waldock, professor of safety science who teaches accident investigations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona....

“That has to be the crew or someone who’s intimately familiar with how a 777 operates,” Waldock said."

 

[pinoybaptist]

I'll wait for what Jesse Ventura might say.

 

[kyredneck]

It may take some time, but I'll wait to see what the search in this area reveals. IMO, Australia may not be publically revealing radar data that they have: