Thread: Flight 370

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Yeah, I remember the whole Payne Stewart tragedy. In all seriousness, though, what if we never find out what brought down this flight? What's the average depth in that part of the sea? I heard some aeronautics expert on the radio yesterday making a very convincing argument that all current passenger planes should be fitted not with outdated black boxes (which have to be retrieved to be of any use), but with instruments that transmit flight data in real time. As we all know, that technology exists in thousands of applications; apparently it's a cost issue.

Actually - the ocean where they are looking is only about 250 feet deep. So not too bad.

But yeah, they might never find it!

Leaving Facebook...

They do have the ability to remote monitor aircraft functions but it is in limited use.

Malaysian plane sent out engine data before vanishing - tech - 11 March 2014 - New Scientist

Bob

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The classic case of explosive decompression was back in the 50s or 60s when passenger jets first came out. Dehavilland made the Comet and they started coming apart in mid air and the wreckage was so total there was nothing to look at. It was only after most of the fleet had self destructed the found they cause. The plane boasted big square picture windows and from take-off and landing cycles the frame began to tear at those big windows and then one day the whole thing blew out.

I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure they found out what caused the comet to die by running hundreds of static pressure checks on one. They were still flying right up until the one they were checking failed at the stress point of the window just as you stated. Also the resources and knowledge of how to reconstruct the aircraft in the days of the comet was, just like jet airliners, in its infancy. They didn't know how to figure out what they were seeing.

I find it EXTREEMLY unlikely that the 777 had this type of explosive decompression. They just don't have these kinds of issues. The plane has a spectacular safety record. Also even with an explosive decompression the transponder would keep functioning because the planes don't just disintegrate like the comet did. Too many have gone down to prove that one a la TWA 800. That one had a center fuel tank EXPLODE and it didn't completely disintegrate.

There was an instance of a windshield being blown off the front of a jet and that didn't cause this type of problem. I personally knew a guy who had a door blow off of a pressurized airplane in flight. He landed it safely. I never heard of the door being blown off of Payne Stewarts plane...

Don't jump to conclusions guys. There is a whole lot we don't know.

This all from a professional pilot. Just my $0.02.

This just gets worse and worse!

Officials: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have flown for hours - CNN.com

I really am starting to really believe that they will never find it and hence, we'll never know...

I am starting to agree with you, David. It just boggles the mind that a 777 could just disappear without a trace like that.

Originally Posted by earcutter

This just gets worse and worse!

Officials: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have flown for hours - CNN.com

I really am starting to really believe that they will never find it and hence, we'll never know...

Originally Posted by JBPilot

I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure they found out what caused the comet to die by running hundreds of static pressure checks on one. They were still flying right up until the one they were checking failed at the stress point of the window just as you stated. Also the resources and knowledge of how to reconstruct the aircraft in the days of the comet was, just like jet airliners, in its infancy. They didn't know how to figure out what they were seeing.

I find it EXTREEMLY unlikely that the 777 had this type of explosive decompression. They just don't have these kinds of issues. The plane has a spectacular safety record. Also even with an explosive decompression the transponder would keep functioning because the planes don't just disintegrate like the comet did. Too many have gone down to prove that one a la TWA 800. That one had a center fuel tank EXPLODE and it didn't completely disintegrate.

There was an instance of a windshield being blown off the front of a jet and that didn't cause this type of problem. I personally knew a guy who had a door blow off of a pressurized airplane in flight. He landed it safely. I never heard of the door being blown off of Payne Stewarts plane...

Don't jump to conclusions guys. There is a whole lot we don't know.

This all from a professional pilot. Just my $0.02.

As I recall after one crashed they found enough of it intact to find these strange cracks near the window and when they checked the remaining fleet they found all of them had assorted cracks near the windows.

Originally Posted by Splashone

Well I take offense to your comment.

When I consider that law abiding folk tend to have/use their own passports, it just begins to bother me more than a little bit. The next fact that the airplane has disappeared without any distress call seems to indicate something catastrophic happened inflight...quite possibly a bomb. I may not be Sherlock Holmes putting those two facts together point to reasonable suspicion. Now throw in the fact that they were Iranian and it certainly wouldn't be prudent to dismiss them without a serious examination.

But we have no information. They may have been terrorists, or they just might have been criminals wanting to get somewhere anonymous. It could have been terrorists. However, terrorists need publicity. The 911 hijackers didn't take the plane and then quitely made it disappear in the ocean or some desert. They did something they were sure would make the world watch. Letting a plane disappear quietly, not making any sort of statement and noone taking credit for it. That doesn't really sound like any sort of terrorist.

If you look at the aircrash investigations on national geographic, you see that sometimes planes disintegrate or break apart in an instant, before anyone can be contacted. The black boxes haven't been found yet, so nothing is known.

But someone turned off the transponder! That does not just "happen" and it is definitely non-standard procedure. The same as failing to check in with center when handed off to the next sector. Both are highly unusual but they would be things that knowledgeable terrorists/hijackers would know about and use to not "give away" what was going on.

They've got their best men cracking on this case;

SEPANG - A shaman, claiming to be able to locate the missing MH370 jetliner, offered his expertise to help the authorities in their search.

Datuk Mahaguru Ibrahim Mat Zin, known as Raja Bomoh Sedunia Nujum VIP and 1Malaysia Corporate Bomoh said he suspects the missing aircraft was hijacked by elves (buniyan).



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MAS plane missing: All the latest reports
"According to my vision,a large black figure believed to be an eagle was seen flying over the plane after which the plane plunged.

" I have been using my bubu (traditional fishing tool) and bamboo scopes to see the situation there, and I saw that the aircraft is currently suspended in mid air," he said.

Ibrahim who claimed to have solved cases like the highland towers, mystery of villa Nabila, Mona Fandy and others, attracted a large crowd during his 'seeing' demonstration at the international arrival hall in Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

As I recall after one crashed they found enough of it intact to find these strange cracks near the window and when they checked the remaining fleet they found all of them had assorted cracks near the windows.

You may be right, it's been a while since I studied the Comet. I do know they redesigned it with round windows but no one wanted them due to the history.

History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian look almost to the bottom of the page

Looks like we were both correct. They found metal fatigue in one they found and to discover the reasons they used water to pressurize and depressurize it.