• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours[W:92]

Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

j-mac said:
This event will make a great made for tv movie in 2020.
Click to expand...

Funny you should say this; last night as I watched a rerun of Megyn Kelly's show and listened to various aviation experts and their comments, I thought about the fiction that's going to be written based on this mystery.

It's just a notion so far, but the idea of snuffing out the lives of hundreds of passengers and flying around with them all dead is...chilling.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

nota bene said:
Funny you should say this; last night as I watched a rerun of Megyn Kelly's show and listened to various aviation experts and their comments, I thought about the fiction that's going to be written based on this mystery.

It's just a notion so far, but the idea of snuffing out the lives of hundreds of passengers and flying around with them all dead is...chilling.
Click to expand...

The cabin pressurization dump has a safety valve that will limit cabin altitude to 14,000 feet. I'm not sure you can force the plane to depressurize all the way to 45,000 feet without putting a hole in the plane.

edit: at least not in any rapid fashion. I suppose you could turn off the bleed air and it would slowly leak pressure.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

I know nada about airplanes/aviation and so am depending on what I read, and I do realize that the news and theories are changing by the hour and are various. But here's what the NY article that's been frequently referenced has said:

Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appeared to show that the missing airliner climbed to 45,000 feet, above the approved altitude limit for a Boeing 777-200, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar and turned sharply to the west, according to a preliminary assessment by a person familiar with the data. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=1

And just because it's interesting, here's some Slate speculation: MH370 disappearance: Could the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have been stolen?
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

This is looking more and more like a stolen airplane. US investigators are suggesting it may have flown for seven hours, which could place it as far as Pakistan or eastern Iran.

Who knows where this plane is, but it is a very real possibility it landed.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Deuce said:
A major electrical problem can cut communications.

And the fact that nobody has made demands or taken credit pretty much proves it's not terrorism or hostage taking.
Click to expand...

Nope. Terrorists would most likely discreetly negotiate for favors, if they could.

However, for this to be an act of terrorism, one or more of the passengers on the plane would have to be a major VIP, someone w/extensive connections, very wealthy, influential. Otherwise, organizations or govts. may not grant the terrorists favors in exchange for his release.

And chances are, if someone like that were on the plane, some measures would've been taken to ensure that the public or other passengers would not know about it. So the terrorists would've have to get that info beforehand.

Deuce said:
And, seriously, how many places are there in the world where you can land a plane of this size without anybody noticing? You can't put this thing down on some dirt strip.
Click to expand...

No, but the govts. and security forces guarding airports (including military airports) can be bribed. Obviously, if the plane landed, a bribe had to have taken place.

Deuce said:
The plane is in pieces at the bottom of an ocean. They haven't found it because it's a big ass ocean and they don't know where it was when it went down.
Click to expand...

The evidence currently being reported by the Malaysian govt. and the media (which may or may not be accurate, depending on the agendas of the various media outlets or the Malaysian govt.) suggests that a complex flight plan was programmed, meaning that this was not a suicide, which would've implied a simple ditching of the plane into the ocean.

If this were a hijacking, it had to be pre-programmed into the FMS, by either the pilot (who could've been complicit in the hijacking) or by someone else who previously had possession of the plane and programmed it along w/hacking its flight and com systems. Obviously, if a hack took place, whoever hacked the plane programmed it w/the aim of making it avoid radar as much as possible along its flight path.

OTOH, a primitive in-flight hijacking against the pilot's will would've caused the pilot to send out a distress call.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

PW4000 said:
Are you guys clear on what Ada is used for in aviation at this point? Or, do you need more clarification?
Click to expand...

I pity anyone who has to program in Ada for a living.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Last thing I saw they suspect itt might have gone to Kzyrgistan (sp?) near the Chinese border. The Uighurs are acting up again.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

nota bene said:
Funny you should say this; last night as I watched a rerun of Megyn Kelly's show and listened to various aviation experts and their comments, I thought about the fiction that's going to be written based on this mystery.

It's just a notion so far, but the idea of snuffing out the lives of hundreds of passengers and flying around with them all dead is...chilling.
Click to expand...


I GOT IT! Snakes on a plane.....ooops.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Seems to be a growing suspicion that the pilots are behind this. Their homes are being searched, including a flight simulator one had.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

nota bene said:
I know nada about airplanes/aviation and so am depending on what I read, and I do realize that the news and theories are changing by the hour and are various. But here's what the NY article that's been frequently referenced has said:

Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appeared to show that the missing airliner climbed to 45,000 feet, above the approved altitude limit for a Boeing 777-200, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar and turned sharply to the west, according to a preliminary assessment by a person familiar with the data. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=1

And just because it's interesting, here's some Slate speculation: MH370 disappearance: Could the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have been stolen?
Click to expand...

The altitude from a (less modern) military radar at the extreme edges of its range should be taken with a grain of salt. The margin of error becomes quite large.
 
Last edited:
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

solletica said:
Nope. Terrorists would most likely discreetly negotiate for favors, if they could.

However, for this to be an act of terrorism, one or more of the passengers on the plane would have to be a major VIP, someone w/extensive connections, very wealthy, influential. Otherwise, organizations or govts. may not grant the terrorists favors in exchange for his release.
Click to expand...
Is that how they've operated historically? They tend to want attention, to show off how powerful and dangerous they are.

No, but the govts. and security forces guarding airports (including military airports) can be bribed. Obviously, if the plane landed, a bribe had to have taken place.
Click to expand...
It's certainly possible, but a lot of people are going to see a plane with Malaysian markings on it in a weird location, and then that very day see a ton of news coverage about a missing Malaysian plane. Somebody is going to connect the dots. Or if a military airfield were secured from prying eyes while the plane came in, on the same day the plane went missing, that too would raise eyebrows.

The evidence currently being reported by the Malaysian govt. and the media (which may or may not be accurate, depending on the agendas of the various media outlets or the Malaysian govt.) suggests that a complex flight plan was programmed, meaning that this was not a suicide, which would've implied a simple ditching of the plane into the ocean.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it a complex flight plan, but it did take at least some basic flying skill. I don't think it was a suicide, but I also don't think the plane actually got to where it was trying to go. I think they crashed in the ocean because they failed at whatever task they were attempting.

If this were a hijacking, it had to be pre-programmed into the FMS, by either the pilot (who could've been complicit in the hijacking) or by someone else who previously had possession of the plane and programmed it along w/hacking its flight and com systems. Obviously, if a hack took place, whoever hacked the plane programmed it w/the aim of making it avoid radar as much as possible along its flight path.
Click to expand...

You don't have to "hack" anything to get an airliner to change its course. To cut radio communications, you just stop using the radio. The transponder can be turned off, and the autopilot can be told to do whatever you want by just pushing buttons. "Hacking" the FMS with a new destination isn't really harder than programming your car's GPS with a new destination.

OTOH, a primitive in-flight hijacking against the pilot's will would've caused the pilot to send out a distress call.
Click to expand...

We found out on 9/11 that this isn't always the case.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Threegoofs said:
This story makes sense to me:
Flight 370 disappearance: Why I think the missing airliner could be in Central Asia.
Click to expand...

Others are saying this morning that the most likely scenario is that it went southwest and perhaps landed in Indonesia if it didn't crash in the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia's government is muddying the waters for everyone. They're semi-dictatorial to begin with, and they're highly embarrassed. The last thing they want is for Americans to come in and solve this for them.

My gut says this thing landed somewhere, and it's being equipped for explosives. Perhaps, if this pilot was hell-bent with the incarceration of his political leader, he intends to attack Malaysia?

This gets cloudier with every new "fact" we learn.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Erod said:
Others are saying this morning that the most likely scenario is that it went southwest and perhaps landed in Indonesia if it didn't crash in the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia's government is muddying the waters for everyone. They're semi-dictatorial to begin with, and they're highly embarrassed. The last thing they want is for Americans to come in and solve this for them.

My gut says this thing landed somewhere, and it's being equipped for explosives. Perhaps, if this pilot was hell-bent with the incarceration of his political leader, he intends to attack Malaysia?

This gets cloudier with every new "fact" we learn.
Click to expand...

Yes it does.

Here's another thought, if the fifth dimension theory doesn't prove correct: A 777 would make an outstanding bomber. It would carry a lot of ordinance, and could fly into most country's airspace disguised as an ordinary passenger plane.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Dittohead not! said:
Yes it does.

Here's another thought, if the fifth dimension theory doesn't prove correct: A 777 would make an outstanding bomber. It would carry a lot of ordinance, and could fly into most country's airspace disguised as an ordinary passenger plane.
Click to expand...

And Indonesia offers plenty of opportunity to disguise it as such. In fact, that faction of al-Quaida is perhaps the most scary out there.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Made for TV movie after the saga of the missing airplane is over: Passenger plane approaches La Guardia. CIA believes that the plane is actually the missing airplane and is now carrying a nuke, perhaps from North Korea, but no one is sure. The president scrambles the F 22s, ready to shoot it down. The press gets the story from an unknown source, and the country is riveted: Do we take the chance and shoot down what might possibly be an innocent passenger plane, or do we take an even greater risk and allow this suspect plane to fly into NY? Lives hang in the balance, and the president and his close advisers are having a heated debate as to the best course of action. Meanwhile, panic ensues in NY and eight million people try to leave the city at the same time. What a plot!

Or, could it really happen?

And, if it's a movie, who should play the president?
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

What if someone on board really was experimenting with cloaking technology and it worked? Satellites might still be able to pick up those "pings" but that data is generally reported after the fact and doesn't provide precise tracking, as we can see from the information we're being shown now. But some type of cloaking technology, if it's possible, might work to block all radar, and then perhaps the northern route becomes more feasible.

Of course, another option could be that the Chinese actually shot the plane down as it was flying over their territory and not responding to communication, before they realized what it was, and then they decided to cover it up and not admit that they shot down a passenger jet with a whole lot of Chinese citizens on board.

But, other than those options, the northern route seems very unlikely. On the other hand, the southern route only makes sense to me if the plane essentially flew itself there, probably after an attempted turn back to KL which failed because all on board fell unconscious or died before the pilots were able to get the plane fully turned around and back to KL. I just simply don't believe in the suicide angle, as there's no evidence to support it and Malaysia has the 5th lowest suicide rate in the entire world. And there's no "terrorist" angle that makes any sense flying the plane into the southern Indian Ocean.

And yet another possibility for what happened, other than a cascading event of electronic malfunctions which effected tracking and oxygen supply, could be a failed attempt to try to take over control of the plane remotely; so rather than successfully flying the plane through radar infested territory it actually incapacitated everyone on board and resulted in the plane flying to a watery burial in the Indian Ocean.
 
Last edited:
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Dittohead not! said:
Made for TV movie after the saga of the missing airplane is over: Passenger plane approaches La Guardia. CIA believes that the plane is actually the missing airplane and is now carrying a nuke, perhaps from North Korea, but no one is sure. The president scrambles the F 22s, ready to shoot it down. The press gets the story from an unknown source, and the country is riveted: Do we take the chance and shoot down what might possibly be an innocent passenger plane, or do we take an even greater risk and allow this suspect plane to fly into NY? Lives hang in the balance, and the president and his close advisers are having a heated debate as to the best course of action. Meanwhile, panic ensues in NY and eight million people try to leave the city at the same time. What a plot!

Or, could it really happen?

And, if it's a movie, who should play the president?
Click to expand...
Kim Kardashian.

Unless she IS the next president, of course.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Has anyone seen any reports about the plane carrying a gold shipment? I heard, someone citing a European news report, I was unable to confirm what news agency, that the plane had a large gold shipment on board.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

They're all with the fishies right now.
 
Re: U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours

Dittohead not! said:
Yes it does.

Here's another thought, if the fifth dimension theory doesn't prove correct: A 777 would make an outstanding bomber. It would carry a lot of ordinance, and could fly into most country's airspace disguised as an ordinary passenger plane.
Click to expand...

Any airliner could be outfitted this way and wouldn't require an elaborate and risky plot to steal an airliner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom