Malaysian 777 enroute to Beijing missing!

[polarjet205]

I don't know how good the radar coverage is in that part of the world, but here is a thought.. How far could a fully fueled 777 fly if it had literally descended to nap of the earth / Ocean altitude? and assuming this high fuel burn, could it reach a terrorist haven supporting Iran etc...

It just seems to me that there would be wreckage in any crash scenario, even a crew suicide, stuff would eventually float up to the surface..

Or there is a very small vertical whole (like Shanksville) somewhere in the heavy wet jungles out of sight.

Even if the transponder was off, ATC would have it as a primary target that would suddenly disappear.

 

[Dan Roman]

How about a high altitude decompression, crew too slow to go on O2 and the plane wanders off to who knows were. Just thinking out loud and to be honest I've not followed the news on this that closely.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

Most of these "what if's" would have sent a fault message to the company.....!

 

[Dan Roman]

Most of these "what if's" would have sent a fault message to the company.....!

Good point

 

[scoreboardII]

So it either blew up or someone turned off all the electrical systems faster than the messaging system could have forwarded faults.

Based on history, I vote blew up. Which, does not bode well for anybody claiming to be accomplishing a search.

 

[scoreboardII]

Shepard Smith save the day!

He says the Chinese say they have a satellite photo of what's left pretty much under the last known position.

What I see does not look like what's left of a jet.

 

[Caddaddy]

Planned controlled ditching.

 

[sniper]

hijacked

 

[dalad]

It's the newest reality show "Lost".

 

[Ty Webb]

It seems that if it blew up (or broke up) there would be a large debris field that would have been spotted by now.

It seems more likely that it went down vertically into the water, or made landfall somewhere.

Either way is terrible for the families. I can't imagine what they are going through.

 

[Old School 737]

Could they have ditched .. And then it sank .. ? Without breaking up ??

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

Catastrophic break up would still have some kind of explosion with the fuel and engines, electrical etc. So far all of the Sat shots of the last know pos show no flash or fire. Also with the above there would be massive amounts of stuff floating in the area, ala TWA. Although this scenario would account for the loss of COM/ACARS data at the same time. My guess - just that - planned takeover by one of the crew or both with possible help from cabin, TXP goes to OFF ACARS CB pulled and head to open ocean and dive in..hours away from the LOS...Andaman Sea or Bay of Bengal...well within range.
Another scenario kicking around is it was taken somewhere and put on the ground due to possible gold or cash onboard. They have never answered questions about what was aboard cargo wise.....3000 mile range with the fuel aboard. That one seems a bit less likely though possible.

 

[Erlanger]

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_...4579434653903086282-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMzExNDMyWj

 

[Bringupthebird]

Could they have ditched .. And then it sank .. ? Without breaking up ??

No, that would be the movie Airport 77

 

[Old School 737]

No, that would be the movie Airport 77

I was think that as well... Didn't the people live underwater for days !!!

 

[Tripower455]

I was think that as well... Didn't the people live underwater for days !!!

Yeah, they could breath because the airplane was pressurized!

 

[scoreboardII]

I'm not seeing how it was stolen and landed, 200 plus folks with cell phones and nobody managed to get a call out? Only other option is they killed everyone, except pilots I suppose possible, depressurize, stay at altitude beyond oxy system limits for passengers. But that's a tight game, not much extra for pilots beyond what it takes to descend.

So has anyone flown the flight path all the way to China and actually looked down?

Two airlines midair in the 50's near the Grand Canyon, no radar control, they find them that afternoon.

 

[LJ45]

I'm not seeing how it was stolen and landed, 200 plus folks with cell phones and nobody managed to get a call out? .

Cellphone jammers are cheap.

 

[redflyer65]

I doubt there are many cell towers in the vicinity of the South China Sea, or the Andaman Sea if they turned 90 degrees left. I'm still in the hijacking/landing elsewhere camp vs. explosion.

 

[waveflyer]

I'm praying for that Red-
Just a better hope than the alternative