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.
Mangosteens transport frozen
Due to the extremely short shelf life of fresh mangosteen, it is usually necessary to export frozen mangosteen to overseas markets. Furthermore, most countries have strict controls and policies in place governing the importation of fresh fruits and vegetables in order to control potential problems caused by insects, molds and other contaminations. Unfortunately, these regulations combined with the very short shelf life make the shipment of fresh mangosteen impractical and prohibitive. Frozen mangosteen is a sensible alternative. All potential contaminants are killed in the freeze process, and the product can easily passthe most stringent government standards of the most demanding countries. An especially worthwhile benefit is that the shelf life is increased to one year when the frozen product is maintained at -18ºC, and an otherwise seasonal fruit can be enjoyed throughout the year. Typical mangosteen shipments that are sent to overseas markets are in frozen in their whole form; complete with the skin and the non-edible pulp. In conjunction with the Thai Department of Agriculture, we have discovered that peeled Mangosteen is an attractive and viable option to exporting the entire fruit. Mangosteen that has been peeled before freezing can be easily used in preparations for ice cream, fruit juice, wine or countless other recipes.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925521411000482
Pak One 1988 (ish).
BB
So Malaysian authorities contacting farmers and pickers to identify where they came from is wholly inaccurate. They have been in chilled storage since they the 2013 season or they came form Northern Australia and their early 2014 season.
Blue…
Someone set a “South Course” on that aircraft.
Up high, there are winds. You get blown. “Track” sets the course and compensates.
Somebody did that.
Fire….and you blow up. You don’t run out of fuel.
Hypoxia….you are “all over the show”.
Gas….. you’re dead.
James
Jumbled thoughts really:-
I dont really buy the Southern Indian Ocean search location as being accurate however if we take it as in the right ball park……
The aircraft seems to have been handled more ‘roughly’ than is usual from the point of the u-turn.
Maybe the person in control the pilots or a.n.other had manoeuvred the aircraft around Indonesia airspace on purpose and heading on the southerly route. While on that heading before making their next heading could the previous manhandling of the aircraft have put extreme forces onto a fuselage that already started to show cracks that the FAA had warned airlines about. Malaysia Airlines financial predicament wouldnt encourage early checks that would require work until they were forced to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261
This flight were trying to use a checklist to work out what the fault was with the aircraft instead of trying to land ASAP. The ground engineer was of little help and just said see you at the gate. The pilots had an aircraft they could barely control the pitch of.
If Malaysia arent being truthful was MH370 trying to return to KUL with an aircraft problem but requiring a fuel dump before landing, they would need to do so in the Malacca Strait.
I cant however see how this would leave them on a southerly route west of Indonesia.
“Shouldn’t advanced countries be investigating why their spies and military didn’t detect the plane and if they did why they haven’t announced where it came down?”
Management leaves the dirty details to the working man. It’s much easier to stand aside, then when nothing is forthcoming, or the information begins to have leakage from the well of truth, they can distance themselves and declare the commencement of a fact-finding commission like the Warren Report.
It’s a Win/Win, NR.
Straw
A very good point. The handling seems to have been done in a “rough” manner.
I can’t explain that. Other than a major issue.
The cracks, I understand, only concern a certain area and not on 200ER’s.
They could of course appear on the 200ER. They are about 20 years old.
My own “hmmmm” moment is the crash site. No debris.
That I think is very odd.
A “ditching” is pretty hard to do (and with under slung engines).
And “things” float. Normally bodies.
And Straw.
“I cant however see how this would leave them on a southerly route west of Indonesia”.
Fair point. And logical.
South African Airways, Swiss and Air France have all had difficult “fire onboard” crashes, in “mid ocean”. All had surface debris (and bodies recovered at a very early stage).
Here… nothing.
Air worthiness directives from FAA, including ‘fire’ and fuselage cracks on 777.
http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/861c904787d7706186257bea004f304c/$FILE/2013-18-09.pdf
http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/de6f1323255c144c86257c920050ed2f/$FILE/2014-05-05.pdf
http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/861c904787d7706186257bea004f304c/$FILE/2013-18-09.pdf
Thanks Ben
The 1st and 3rd directives include 777s but only 777-200 and 777-200LR but not the 777-200ER which 9M-MRO was/is.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/faa-warned-cracking-corrosion-problem-boeing-777s-n50591
You are correct and I stand corrected on this, Straw.
How much difference, one airframe from another? It seems there are similarities but the difference is daunting.
@Bluebird re: mangosteens.
Mangosteens or not, that is the question. Did anyone look in the crate or container? As we know, logistics companies don’t always have to verify.
If someone in Malaysia fumigated the plane incorrectly, imagine the consequences for the passengers and flight crew.
For the record to anyone who doesn’t know, mangosteens are entirely different from mangos. They’re banned in some hotels in Asia due to the purple staining they produce and their odor. Mangosteen, or garcinia, is a weight loss supplement in demand in western nations thanks to people like Dr. Oz. China also produces mangosteens, as does Australia. They are called “fruitaceuticals”:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/mangosteen-season-in-darwin/5197430
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/dining/09mang.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
It’s a craze bordering on mania.
@Bluebird: It’s reefer madness:
http://www.hapag-lloyd.com/downloads/press_and_media/publications/Reefer_Broschuere_A4_engl.pdf
That’s how frozen food is transported.
Helpful information on MASkargo, countries served, types of containers, etc.:
http://www.kkfreight.com/malaysia-airlines-cargo.html
http://www.kkfreight.com/cargo-to-china-middle-east.html
http://www.kkfreight.com/cargo-to-russia-cis.html
Now the pilot made a phone call before the plane disappeared, according to this:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/12/mh370-co-pilot-phonecall-malaysia
Haven’t we said all along that at some point on its journey, phones could have been used on MH370? The story keeps changing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2603075/Co-pilot-missing-flight-MH370-desperate-call-mobile-phone-AFTER-aircraft-lost-normal-communication-ground.html
What kind of cellphone was it, and which network was it using? Were any of the passengers phone used/reattached, etc.? More coverup?
All kinds of things have been smuggled in refrigerated units, including people, drugs and freon (a banned refrigerant). Makes you wonder. Always important to maintain the proper temperature for quality on arrival.
Already refuted
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-mh370-tragedy-font-hishammuddin-refutes-newspaper-report-co-pilot-made-phone-call-1.563728
“I cannot comment (on the newspaper report) because if it is true, we would have known about it much earlier…”
But these Malaysians are showing themselves as “crackers” and “claim” one thing one day, then “disclaim” it the next.
Mobile network operators in southeast Asia, including Malaysia and the Maldives:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_the_Asia_Pacific_region#Malaysia
“He said, he should have been aware of it (the phone call) earlier, if the claim by the newspaper was true.
“I cannot comment (on the newspaper report) because if it is true, we would have known about it much earlier,” Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, told reporters after performing a prayer (‘solat hajat’) at the Taman Sri Lambak Mosque here today.
Read more: MH370 Tragedy: Hishammuddin refutes newspaper report co-pilot made phone call – Latest – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-mh370-tragedy-font-hishammuddin-refutes-newspaper-report-co-pilot-made-phone-call-1.563728#ixzz2yigpqRIX
Well if the transport minister says it’s not true..hmmmm…..credibility notwithstanding.
No proper passport checks. Two stolen passport holders onboard.
F.O. operating an “open flight deck door” policy for certain female pax.
(Wasn’t he due to get married !)
Fly Malaysian Airlines.
If we crash….we’ll just talk “fruit” 🙂
I’ll give them one year. Then they’re out of business.
Refrigeration units have many uses:
http://www.examiner.com/article/after-2-years-guantanamo-released-pakistani-scholar-still-has-nightmares
Whatever is happening with illegal migrants down Malaysia/Australia way?
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/resolving-influx-of-illegal-immigrants-depends-on-who-is-heading-the-countr
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2011/08/24/understanding-the-australia-malaysia-refugee-swap/
“We can’t just throw them into the sea.”
“The Malaysia Solution”:
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2077279,00.html
Much talk of boats, but not of planes.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they find all the passengers and crew inside the aircraft…and another 50 “unknowns” in the Hold.
And a couple of hookers in the E/E Bay.
Hishammuddin is doing “Panto” this year.
He’s playing “Jack”, in “Jack And The Beanstalk” in Brighton.
That’ll be nice.
Spending Christmas on Christmas Island doesn’t sound so cheery any more. There is a category 4 international airport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Island_Airport
Following the busy period of non-stop air traffic during the Tampa Crisis, the Asia Pacific Space Centre started working on a satellite launch facility. Who knew the place was to be full of rocket scientists?
Epic fail:
http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/christmas/
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/questions-notice/asia-pacific-space-centre-christmas-island
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Asia_Pacific_Space_Centre
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12782424
Q; Economics are as important as power. The Big Five see the region surrounding India as the new global hotspot. But if assimilation of a culture jacked into the cultures they seek to dominate has a ballot in it’s hands, what disadvantages accrue for them politically?
It’s an interesting calibration for motive wrt the B5.
As an aside, there is something peculiar about the disconnect many see as to their own motives, which are generally substantiated by their own justifications, they seem quite pristine. Our Leaders are assigned to pandering to their electorate, and with apologies to any Aussies present, they are not the most racially tolerant of the Western bend. So the racial deterrent to welcoming immigrants seems an easy push for politicos.
I think it’s a phenomenon associated with mob psychology, but that’s an extreme example I confess, but necessary for punching through the crust. 🙂 of some who display an inordinate innocence. But I digress.
The point is that there occurs some sort of oversoul with people evidenced as mass response is influenced by patterns in behavior they observe in others and wishing to ‘fit in’ mimic those responses. Excuse my wordiness, but I am nursing some fine 18 year-old single malt, and she’s very distracting.
Human behavior is quite predictable.
@James 12 Apr, 2014 – 7:51 pm
“NR…. If you want a laugh (and a look into the real world) google….. “Turkish IFF system” IFF is “Id Friend or Foe””
There is a bunch of stuff, never paid attention before, but this is interesting. Suicides again:
“Turkey’s Military Electronics Industry (ASELSAN) has produced a new identification friend or foe (IFF) system for Turkish jet fighters, warships and submarines and the new software, contrary to the older, US-made version, does not automatically identify Israeli planes and ships as friends, a news report said on Tuesday.”
“Star also suggested that the new IFF system could be linked to a series of suspicious suicides in ASELSAN. Three ASELSAN engineers committed suicide in 2006 and 2007, but the media speculated that the engineers might have been murdered given the families’ testimonies that the suicides seem to come out of the blue with no warning signs. The report added that all three engineers had worked on the new IFF system to be used for F-16 fighters.”
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-256618-report-israel-no-longer-friend-for-turkeys-f-16s-warships.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/abbotts-hard-line-on-boat-arrivals-pays-off/story-e6frg76f-1226800135277#
SAS mentioned. Now that the Australian navy has stemmed the flow of boat people, what will happen if they switch gears and become plane people?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sovereign_Borders