Disappearing Aircraft 5652


I had fairly well concluded that the most likely cause was a fire disrupting the electrical and control systems, when CNN now say the sharp left turn was pre-programmed 12 minutes before sign off from Malaysian Air Traffic control, which was followed fairly quickly by that left turn.

CNN claim to have this from an US official, from data sent back before the reporting systems went off.  It is hard to know what to make of it: obviously there are large economic interests that much prefer blame to lie with the pilots rather than the aircraft.  But if it is true then the move was not a response to an emergency.  (CNN went on to say the pilot could have programmed in the course change as a contingency in case of an emergency.  That made no sense to me at all – does it to anyone else?)

I still find it extremely unlikely that the plane landed or crashed on land  I cannot believe it could evade military detection as it flew over a highly militarized region.  Somewhere there is debris on the ocean.  There have been previous pilot suicides that took the plane with them; but the long detour first seems very strange and I do not believe is precedented.  However if the CNN information on pre-programming is correct, and given it was the co-pilot who signed off to air traffic control, it is hard to look beyond the pilots as those responsible for whatever did happen.  In fact, on consideration, the most improbable thing is that information CNN are reporting from the US official.


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5,652 thoughts on “Disappearing Aircraft

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  • James

    The Strange Saga….
    …..of the Plane Part That Was Supposed to Solve the MH370 Mystery

    Tomorrow marks one month since a piece of a Boeing 777 washed up on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion, but French investigators are no closer to confirming that the part came from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. In fact, leaks from within the investigation suggest that the part might not have come from the plane at all.

    Such a conclusion, if confirmed, would constitute a shocking reversal. At the time of the discovery, it was generally accepted that the wing segment, a so-called “flaperon,” could only come from MH370: Boeing engineers confirmed that the part was from a 777, and MH370 was the only 777 to have gone missing. Aviation experts declared that serial numbers on the flaperon would allow it to be definitively linked to the missing plane within 24 hours. When that deadline passed, news outlets told readers that the ID should be nailed down within a few days. Then by the following week.

    What was holding things up, it turned out, was that the ID plate that should have been attached to the inboard edge of the flaperon was missing. And that was not the only problem. According to the New York Times, Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board found that the object did not match Malaysia Airlines’ maintenance

    The waters were muddied on August 6, when Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, announced that experts examining the flaperon in France had “conclusively confirmed” that it was from the plane. Minutes later, the French prosecutor in charge of the case, Serge Mackowiak, contradicted Najib and stated that confirmation would require further tests. Around the world, however, many prominent news outlets, including CNN and the BBC, went with Najib’s more confident-sounding claim.

    The story briefly faded from the public eye. Then, on August 21, the French news outlet La Dépêche ran a report citing sources within the investigation who indicated that the technical examination of the flaperon had ended without the hoped-for evidence being found. A few days later, Le Monde ran a report that echoed the Times’ earlier reporting: “[M]aintenance work that Malaysia Airlines has indicated it carried out on the flaperon does not exactly match that observed on the discovered piece.”

    It’s not clear exactly how one should interpret such language. Airplane parts are engineered precisely, and any changes made to them must be meticulously logged by maintenance personnel. If a part has four holes instead of five, it doesn’t just “not match exactly” — it doesn’t match.

    But if the part didn’t come from MH370, where could it have come from? In recent weeks the internet has been abuzz with speculation that the part might have been a replacement part not yet put into service or a spare part pulled off a scrapped airframe.

    How the part found its way to a beach on La Réunion is another issue. The Dépêche article contained a tantalizing hint. “According to a Toulouse aeronautics expert who requested anonymity,” the article stated, “the element of the wing would not have floated for several months at the water’s surface but would have drifted underwater a few meters deep.”

    It’s not yet known why investigators reached this conclusion, but one clue might be that the flaperon found on La Réunion was encrusted on every edge with goose barnacles. These animals are a type of crustacean that attaches while young to a floating object and spends its entire adult life affixed to the same spot. Since they obviously can only survive underwater, their distribution around the object suggests that the entirety of it must have spent at least several months submerged.

    Therein lies the mystery. While it’s easy to imagine a submarine or a scuba diver hovering peacefully 10 or 20 feet under the surface of the water, this is not something that inanimate objects are capable of doing on their own: Either they are more buoyant than water, in which case they float, or they are less buoyant, in which case they sink. “My experience is that things will go up or down — they will never stay statically neutral,” says famed ocean-drift expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer, professor emeritus of oceanography at the University of Washington.

    So, how could a six-foot-long chunk of airplane remain suspended beneath the ocean surface for a long period of time? At this point, there aren’t any simple, common-sense answers; the range of possible explanations at this point runs from as-yet-unidentified natural processes to purposeful intervention by conspirators. The implausibility of it all is quite maddening — but, then again, when it comes to MH370, maddening and implausible are par for the course.

  • Q

    Remembering Jeff Wise’s theory about Kazakhstan, I wondered if part of his reasoning had to do with Najib Razak’s wife (the “Imelda” of Malaysia). I think JW has discarded that theory now, but the financial scandal continues in Malaysia.

  • James

    HOLD EVERYTHING !

    The flaperon currently being tested in France to see if it is actually a part from MH370 (9m-MRO) is on hold….as the Spanish sub-contractor (singular ?) is on his holidays !!!!

    It’s a specialist job…looking for a part number.

  • michael norton

    Another huge blast at a chemical facility has reportedly occurred in the CHINESE province of Shandong. The explosion, located in an industrial zone in Lijin, Dongying City, happened late on Monday, CHINA’s People’s Daily reported.

    The blast was so massive it could be seen and heard from a great distance. A chemical factory is believed to have been in the area. According to People’s Daily, the blast happened at around 11:30pm local time (3:30pm GMT).
    https://www.rt.com/news/313933-china-factory-blast-new/

    The plant in Shandong province which caught fire on August 22 produced hundreds of thousands of tons of adiponitrile – a toxic colorless liquid which releases poisonous gases when it reacts with fire, local media reported.

    CHINA has been hit by a wave of massive blasts at its chemical facilities this month. Earlier in August, nearly 160 people were killed and around 700 injured in explosions at a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals in Tianjin port. Fifiteen people still remain missing following the tragedy, authorities said on Monday. Cleanup crews are still struggling with cyanide contamination in the area.

  • michael norton

    A suspected stowaway who miraculously survived an 11-hour flight from Johannesburg to London two months ago is still in hospital fighting for his life.

    He travelled illegally with another man, who fell to his death, landing on a rooftop in Richmond, southwest London, on June 18.

    According to new information obtained by Scotland Yard, the two men met a “short time” before risking their lives to enter Britain.

    The survivor, believed to be in his 20s, was found shortly after the flight had landed at around 8:30 a.m. Emergency services were called immediately and he was taken to hospital.

    An hour later, the deceased man was discovered lying on top of an electrical box with both of his legs in the air. A post-mortem examination found he had died from multiple injuries.

    Police said an inquest had been opened and adjourned. Authorities believe they know the identity of the man, but are awaiting formal identification.

    Officers have been liaising with the South African authorities and British Airways over the incident.

    A British Airways spokesperson said at the time it was working with authorities to “establish the facts surrounding this very rare case.”

    https://www.rt.com/uk/313739-stowaway-critically-ill-plane/

    If two persons can get into the wheel gear of an aircraft and travel undetected for thousands of miles, a terrorist could plant a bomb, with the same ease.

  • michael norton

    Keep in mind all the aircraft falling since Lockerbie
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103

    and ask a simple question, if two persons can get into the wheel gear of
    a British Airways aircraft flying in to Heathrow, then is any aircraft safe?

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/19/stowaway-fell-to-death-plane-london-shop-heathrow-richmond

    David Learmount, an aviation expert and consulting editor of Flight International magazine, said the fact that one of the two men survived the long flight suggests he may have been able to get into the baggage hold section of the aircraft, which would raise serious security questions. “If these two were neither airline nor airport staff and somehow managed to get on a flight, then it becomes a serious security issue. Just how did they get [on the restricted] airside at the airport?

    “Then there’s the question of just where on the plane these two were. If a person was in the wheel well of a plane on an 11-hour flight there’s really very little chance of surviving. You are either going to be frozen to death by temperatures of -50C or you are going to die through lack of oxygen with the plane flying at 35,000ft.”

  • michael norton

    “How long before someone falls on a resident?”

    Richmond councillor calls for assurances after stowaway death

    http://www.swlondoner.co.uk/how-long-before-someone-falls-on-a-resident-richmond-councillor-calls-for-assurances-after-stowaway-death/
    A Richmond councillor is demanding reassurances from airlines that residents will be safe from stowaways falling from aircraft and landing on them.

    Councillor Tony Arbour called on all airline carriers, particularly Heathrow, and the government to tighten up their security and ensure residents’ safety after a South African stowaway plunged to his death in Richmond last Friday.

    This is the third tragic incident to happen since 2012 – the last was two years ago when a man again concealed himself in the aircraft’s wheels before take-off and his body fell in East Sheen, landing in a residential area and on a car.

    Councillor Arbour, Richmond Council Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: “If this is really the case, that someone could be so unhappy with their life that they had to get away, then it really is a tragic situation.

    “With a possible expanding Heathrow, and more flights coming in and out of the airport, someone really needs to take responsibility.

    “I demand reassurance from the government, Heathrow and all airline carriers that they are going to sort out their clear security issues.

    “How long will it be before someone falls onto a resident?

    “Three incidents in three years is three too many. Someone needs to take responsibility for this breach and guarantee the safety of people in Richmond upon Thames, before any more tragic deaths occur.”

    The police are still investigating the incident.

  • michael norton

    A University of Southern California study of publicly traded Chinese companies in hazardous industries found that workplace death rates between 2008 and 2013 were two to three time as high at companies with political connections—that is, with at least one executive who had previously held a high-level government post—than at unconnected ones.

    “If you have good connections, you can save on costs,” said study co-author Yongxiang Wang, an assistant professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. “You can try and bypass regulations and you don’t have to build such safe facilities.”

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/deadly-explosions-highlight-china-workplace-dangers-1441100168

    This is a good article.

  • michael norton

    I am unable to understand this mumbojumbo.

    Le fragment d’aile trouvé en juillet à La Réunion provient «avec certitude» du Boeing 777 de la Malaysia Airlines disparu en mars 2014 avec 239 personnes, lors d’un vol entre Kuala Lumpur et Pékin, a annoncé jeudi le parquet de Paris.

    Les expertises permettent «d’affirmer avec certitude que le flaperon découvert à La Réunion le 29 juillet 2015 correspond à celui du vol MH370», selon un communiqué du parquet.

    Les autorités malaisiennes avaient déjà assuré début août que cette pièce provenait du vol MH370. Le parquet de Paris, qui avait immédiatement ouvert une enquête car quatre victimes sont françaises, s’était montré plus prudent, évoquant de «très fortes présomptions».

    Les expertises effectuées depuis au laboratoire de la direction générale de l’armement du ministère de la Défense (DGA TA), près de Toulouse, ont permis de relever «trois numéros à l’intérieur du flaperon» qui ont conduit à une société sous-traitante de Boeing, l’entreprise Airbus Defense and Space (ADS-SAU) à Séville (sud de l’Espagne), note le parquet dans son communiqué.

    Le juge d’instruction et l’expert en aéronautique en charge du dossier se sont rendus jeudi au siège d’ADS-SAU. Des données techniques et «l’audition d’un technicien de l’entreprise» permettent «d’associer formellement l’un des trois numéros relevés à l’intérieur du flaperon au numéro de série du flaperon du MH370», conclut le parquet.

    La disparition du Boeing 777 avait entraîné de colossales opérations de recherches et nourri toutes sortes d’hypothèses dans ce qui est l’un des plus grands mystères de l’histoire de l’aviation civile.

    http://www.ledauphine.com/france-monde/2015/09/03/le-debris-d-avion-retrouve-a-la-reunion-appartient-avec-certitude-au-vol-mh370

  • michael norton

    The piece of wing found on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has been formally identified as part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, the Paris prosecutor said on Thursday.

    The part, known as a flaperon, was found on the shore of the French-governed island on July 29 and Malaysian authorities have said paint colour and maintenance-record matches proved it came from the missing Boeing 777 aircraft.

    The FRENCH prosecutor, who had until Thursday’s statement been more cautious on its provenance, said a technician from Airbus Defense and Space (ADS-SAU) in Spain, which had made the part for Boeing, had formally identified one of three numbers found on the flaperon as being the serial number of the MH370 Boeing 777.

    “It is therefore possible to confirm with certainty that the flaperon found on the FRENCH island of Reunion on July 29, 2015 corresponds to the one from flight MH370,”
    the prosecutor said in a statement.
    The plane disappeared in March last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board, most of them Chinese.
    http://www.france24.com/en/20150903-france-says-debris-found-reunion-island-definitely-mh370

    I do wonder why the FRENCH prosecutor needs to tell the WORLD<
    Surely it should be a representative from Boeing.
    The FRENCH prosecutor only knows because Boeing have told him.
    IS This to do with politics and if so what are the politics behind this?

  • michael norton

    So if the flaperon is now to be accepted as having been detached from MH 370,,

    does that mean that the flaperon was attached for a considerable period, long enough for the barnacles to start their life cycle on both top and bottom surfaces.
    If this is the case, why did it much later become detached?

  • Q

    I have long assumed that the reason we have had a shortage of truth and disclosure about MH370 since it vanished was entirely political.

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