Missing Jet Update: Plane crashed in Southern Indian Ocean

[JohnnyTheFox]

http://news.yahoo.com/oil-slicks-found-hunt-missing-malaysia-jet-135232226--finance.html

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Vietnamese air force planes on Saturday spotted two large oil slicks close to where a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing earlier in the day, the first sign that the aircraft carrying 239 people had crashed.

The air force planes were part of a multinational search operation launched after Flight MH370 fell off radar screens less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early Saturday morning.

The oil slicks were spotted late Saturday off the southern tip of Vietnam and were each between 10 kilometers (6 miles) and 15 kilometers (9 miles) long, the Vietnamese government said in a statement. There was no confirmation that the slicks were related to the missing plane, but the statement said they were consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the two fuel tanks of a crashed jetliner.


Given the 777's very good flight record im guessing this was something violent sudden and catastrophic that happened at 35,000 ft.
Prayers go out to all involved.

 

[CashMan]

Given the 777's very good flight record im guessing this was something violent sudden and catastrophic that happened at 35,000 ft.
Prayers go out to all involved.

Like what?

 

[Hoofbite]

So where's the plane?

Don't they have a locator attached to the black box?

 

[ologan]

Reporting now that two on board were there on stolen passports.

 

[Tabascocat]

No debris or anything but two slicks. Something is a miss here and if it was hijacked, it would be out of fuel by now and landed somewhere.

 

[CyberB0b]

So where's the plane?

Don't they have a locator attached to the black box?

They should have an ELT (emergency locator transmitter), but not every aviation authority in the world requires it. Even still, it would be easily damaged, compared to a black box, which has protection for crash/fire damage. It is crazy to think that the crew didn't have time to contact their dispatch, squawk emergency or hijack on the transponder, or make any radio calls. They will likely never know what caused the problem.

 

[Hoofbite]

They should have an ELT (emergency locator transmitter), but not every aviation authority in the world requires it. Even still, it would be easily damaged, compared to a black box, which has protection for crash/fire damage. It is crazy to think that the crew didn't have time to contact their dispatch, squawk emergency or hijack on the transponder, or make any radio calls. They will likely never know what caused the problem.

That seems really counterproductive. Have a transponder for crashes that can be damaged by crashes.

They gotta find something.

Hard to imagine they'll wouldn't.

 

[Hoofbite]

No debris or anything but two slicks. Something is a miss here and if it was hijacked, it would be out of fuel by now and landed somewhere.

You would think something would be floating. Lots of space but if you see oil slicks, why wouldn't there be other stuff.

Aliens hijacked it. Somehow dumped some fuel over water and shut off transmitting data, landed it at a small airport and awaited the mothership.

That's my conspiracy and I'm sticking to it.

 

[joseephuss]

That seems really counterproductive. Have a transponder for crashes that can be damaged by crashes.

They gotta find something.

Hard to imagine they'll wouldn't.

It is easy to imagine an explosion or falling from 35,000 ft could damage a transponder.

They will probably find something. It is still relatively early in the search. It is amazing what they have been able to find and determine with past incidents.

 

[CyberB0b]

That seems really counterproductive. Have a transponder for crashes that can be damaged by crashes.

They gotta find something.

Hard to imagine they'll wouldn't.

I would think in about 99% of the cases, there is at least some sort of radar contact, radio contact, and transponder information before an aircraft goes down. This is really strange. All it takes is one button push in my aircraft to go from a normal transponder code to 7700 (emergency) or 7500 (hijack), especially at cruising altitude. Like I said, I am not even sure if Malaysia requires an ELT.

 

[Hoofbite]

Article I read says the have a signal 153 miles out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576087/Malaysia-Airlines-says-plane-missing.html

 

[Hoofbite]

One thing I've noticed on a lot of these articles is all the pictures with people trying to shield themselves from the camera.

Does that happen here? I can't think of any tragedies where so many people were avoiding the camera. I can't think of any really. Seems like you usually see the more candid type where the person is unaware the picture is being taken.

Maybe that's just something I've never paid attention to or what but it only took like one or two articles for me to think, " whoa, enough with the pictures of people who obviously want no part of this".

I dunno if the media in the US doesn't like those shots or if they've somehow retained a little bit of moral fiber regarding pictures even though their overall reporting credibility has tanked but I'm glad I really can't think of seeing pictures like that from the US.

Doesn't appear to be a problem over there though. Kinda sad really. Tragic events turning into a photo session for the media to just spam the shoot button in hopes of capturing that one moment they're all looking for to post and distribute.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Like what?

Well you do the math.....
At this point a terrorist attack is a valid option as to what happened.

Its odd that have found the oil slicks but nothing else *edit* just heard on the radio that its possible that the jet may have turned around.

 

[Hoofbite]

Sounds like they're leaning towards terrorism or pilot suicide. Just reading a couple things it might be terrorism.

I guess like 9% of airline accidents happen at cruising altidue.

777s have longer trips and are subjected to less stress on the plane. I think they said this was because the stress form pressurizing and depressurizing is less over time due to few takeoff a and landings.

One quote I saw was about how structural failure is less likely because this isn't like a Southwest plane that will fly 10 times per day. Additionally the plane was inspected just 10 days ago.

The difficulty in finding the plane or debris may be in part because it fell apart or was blown apart at altitude which would widen the debris field. This would seem to lessen the likelihood of intentional crashing.

And as the OP and another poster pointed out the lack of distress call would suggest an event so sudden that one wasn't possible. I read one estimate that total engine failure would have given the pilots about 20 minutes of gliding time

If it was a bomb, seems like it would have to be good sized to prevent any sort of communication. Maybe not. I guess I don't know the bang for your buck on explosives and how much would do what damage.

Just a really suspect situation. I guess there may be up to 4 people with questionable identities who were on board.

Doesn't sound good.

 

[Hoofbite]

Well you do the math.....
At this point a terrorist attack is a valid option as to what happened.

Its odd that have found the oil slicks but nothing else *edit* just heard on the radio that its possible that the jet may have turned around.

Turned around, huh?

Wonder if it was a hijacking and someone took the controls over, preventing communication.

Not sure why you'd hijack simply to blow it up when you could just blow it up. Not sure how you get into the cockpit either.

Maybe the passengers called their bluff on having a bomb and started to go after them. If it was hijacked its possible they were going to land somewhere and detonated when they started losing control of the situation.

Be interesting to see how it unfolds. Lots of questions.

 

[Hoofbite]

Looks like the 2 suspect passports purchased their tickets together.

Not sure this is shocking.

 

[Hoofbite]

Mystery floating object apparently just garbage of some sort.

Alien theory looking better by the hour.

 

[17yearsandcounting]

Same thing happened to the Brazil-France flight a few years ago, right?

Just gone. In the ocean.

 

[TwoCentPlain]

I think it took 5 days to finally find some pieces of the wreckage for the Air France flight from Brazil. And I think it took several years to finally locate the black box.

Had it been terrorism, there most likely would be many pieces floating around since it would have most likely blown up in mid air. Unfortunately, it appears this plane, like the Air France one, is sitting at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. The plane probably hit the water intact and then sunk.

Lightning strike doesn't seem like much of a probability since the weather was pretty clear in that region. While turbulence could be the culprit, there wasn't any reported in the region and it was pretty smooth flying at that time. The only other possibilities left are 1) sudden and total loss of all power or 2) pilot suicide.

 

[Tabascocat]

News out of Vietnam is that they have found 17 survivors. I can't seem to find any articles about it though. I imagine it is hogwash or it would have been reported by now.


Whatever happened(terrorist or not), the plane most likely took a nosedive into the ocean and stayed intact.....somehow. That still doesn't explain the "no distress" signal or lack of radio contact. If it blew up in the air, then there is a good chance there would be no distress call but there would be debris.

Another possibility is total loss of electronics and they glided it down, crashed with minimal destruction and it sank.