Malaysia Airlines loses contact with B777-200 / MH370 enroute from KUL to PEK

FWIW --

French satellite image also shows possible plane debris | Reuters

 

At the risk of taking a step back from the latest news/speculation about possible debris in the Indian Ocean, has anyone else wondered why the only information made available so far about satellite "pings" is about the last one that occurred at 8:11 AM?

My understanding is that these are supposed to occur automatically and hourly assuming the plane (or at least one of its engines) is still operational. If the last one occurred at 8:11 AM and the last previous contacts occurred at around 1:30 or 2:00 AM, what about the other 5 or 6 "pings" that would or should have also been received? Wouldn't these give some information about a possible heading given its location along possibly several different concentric circles?

Here's a source that more less sums this issue up and even suggests we "...apparently have" them, but doesn't go any further into reasons why they are not being generally discussed or pursued by the media:

Here?s what?s odd about that map of MH370?s final satellite ping

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

Regarding the pings, I too would think there would be more of a bread crumb trail.

 

The pings don't contain geolocation data. There are efforts to triangulate the position using the pings, but without three receivers for each ping, it's an exercise in pointlessness.

 

My understanding is they give an accurate distance from a geostationary satellite at a point in time along a circular radius, but not speed, direction or exact location. But if other pings showed a different distance from the same satellite, I would think that would at least narrow down the range of possible headings during that hour, e.g. given a maximum speed, if at 7:11 AM it was located on a larger radius then it's heading would have to be somewhere in the range of northwest to southwest or if on a smaller radius then something like northeast to southeast during that hour for it to then be located on the subsequent radius one hour later, etc. etc.

Seems like it would narrow things down a bit, but maybe that puts it in Pakistan or some other politically "sensitive" area and no one wants to "go there" just yet!

;-O

 

you are confusing "pings".... ACARS is the data transmitted from the engines, which was shut down early in this saga...

the 8:11AM ping ( very last contact ) is from a satellite that could not be shut down...I don't recall the description about this piece equipment... it was explained early on that the satellite, that made the ping, was much like making a call to a cell phone with no answer... the equipment made the call but NOT a connection ( no answer / missed call )... which is different from equipment being shut down... thought they were going to offer more on that, but it got shut down with no further comment...

 

Today's update:

The malaysian minister of transportation announces that the australian ship "HMAS Success" will be on zone in a few hours and that he hopes that the first piece of debris could be catched and aboard this ship in a few hours. Wishful thinking or real hope?
The link goes to a french newspaper, but I guess it must be announced pretty everywhere right now:

Vol MH370 : l'Australie devrait récupérer des débris d'ici à quelques heures

Rgds

 

There was an interesting bit on TV last night about ValuJet 592 where oxygen generators being transported caught fire in the cargo hold. Scary stuff.
ValuJet Flight 592 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Breaking news: a statement is expected from the Malaysian Prime Minister Naji Razak at 14:00 GMT.

BBC News - LIVE: Hunt for flight MH370

Rgds

 

Official declaration (summarized) ---

AAIB, Inmarsat, Malaysian PM all concurring and confirming --- MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, Southwest of Perth, no where close to any possible landing sites......conclusion = no possible survivors.

 

Exactly:

BBC News - Flight MH370 'crashed in south Indian Ocean' - Malaysia PM

Rgds

 

text messages...great form. Classy

 

Sad day...I just hope no one suffered. And it ended in a split second. Sigh...

 

Perhaps true, but I cannot believe their story based on some "new math".
So terrible for all.

 

Suicide on the table?

Hijacking off the table?

 

I wouldn't dismiss it as pointless at all. One reading from one receiver is underdetermined for instantaneous trilateration, but multiple readings over time, further constrained by a known starting position and a probable velocity, could be a very tractable problem. Assume the aircraft is flying straight, and/or add doppler to the mix, and the solution space could be substantially smaller.

I assume the press didn't ask about the previous pings because it simply didn't occur to them. I'm sure it occurred to the folks at Inmarsat.

 

the new analysis by Inmarsat of the handshake pings from the airplane using doppler frequency shift analysis over the weekend, led Inmarsat to conclude (with confirmation from others on that analysis) that the airplane followed the southern track. Since the southern track leads to a location where the airplane could not reach land after the last signal with how much fuel they had on board.... it had to end up in the water.

That is why MAS made their announcement.

 

I don't know. Why would he wait so long to commit suicide? Why not just dunk it in the drink off the coast of Malaysia? Second thoughts for hours?

Was the copilot suicidal too or did the pilot subdue him? Maybe it was the other way around?

If it was a fire/failure/etc., why didn't they tell someone? The plane obviously didn't free fall and leave them no time to communicate, and I doubt they'd pass out THAT quickly (though I suppose it is possible). Hadn't they just signed off before the turn to the southwest?

Forgive me if I'm asking previously answered questions.

 

Perhaps for, maybe life insurance or other reasons, he didn't want it to be an obvious suicide. Believe I read that his wife and daughter (pilot's) left him the day before this flight.

 

Who knows why it happened-- my guess is that we'll never know. However, given that this information comes from Inmarsat and the UK AIB, I think it's what did happen.

Even if they find the "black boxes" (which, at this point, doesn't seem likely), the CVR won't have recorded more than 2 hours.

Who is going to pay for the underwater search and recovery? In the case of AF447, I believe Air France, Airbus, and the French government covered the cost. Somehow I don't see Malaysian Airlines, or the Malaysian government, coming up with that sort of money. And, given that it's doubtful that the airplane was at fault, Boeing won't have much motivation either.

 

Few questions..

1) It takes 2 mins to turn the plane around. If it was an emergency, why the pilot didn't call Mayday?

2) The communication was shut off. Someone on board must have known how to do this. an expert.

3) The plane was flying just above 5000 ft to avoid radar detection. Again, someone must have known how to fly the plane like this, to avoid radar detection.

4) Then, why again avoid radar detection?

5) It's definitely not an emergency, ie, fire, etc. Why? Because the plane went down in the deepest section of the Indian Ocean. Furthest away from any landing point. It has to be terrorism, or suicide.

6) I find it weird if any of the crew had anything to do with this. I mean, i doubt the entire crew planned to commit suicide at the same time. Why there were no reports or distress call from either of the crew if the pilot acted weird and diverted the plane?

7) If it's terrorism, why there were no demands or accountability.

I just have a feeling, a gut feeling, it's either been hijacked by one of the passengers, and flown to it's death, or, pilot suicide.

 

I recall that in one of the pilot-suicide cases, the perpetrator waited for his counterpart to head to the lavatory, and then locked him out. With the fortress-like doors used now, that would work quite well at keeping the other guy out.

 

They have had teams of engineers working on this for over a week. Hasn't produced diddly squat. Window for finding the plane's remains is shrinking fast at this point.

 

It seems that all this shows is our military is full of it. We claim to have some of the most sophisticated radar and surveillance around. Diego Garcia is suppose to be a fine example of that. How is it that a plane flew through its airspace, than crashed into the ocean with out a sound. If we supposedly can detect large impacts on the water, how did this go unnoticed?
Showing a pallet with ribbons does not give me adequate confirmation that there is fragments of a plane in the water.
There is much left to come to light.