In the early hours of the morning I watched streaming of the Malaysian Prime Minister's press conference, after which I decided not to post the non-relevant material I'd prepared for the weekend.
The Prime Minister first summarised what had unfolded since flight MH370 disappeared from radar a week ago. He then revealed, or confirmed, that radar "pings" discovered by British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat, while not able to pinpoint exact positions of the lost plane at various points in time, did indicate that it had continued to fly for many hours after its last "proper" radar communication, which had taken place just as it passed from Malaysian to Vietnamese air traffic control space. At that time, it appears the plane's transponder was manually switched off, which indicates to researchers that it was a deliberate action rather than, as many had thought, disabled by some electrical or electronic fault or a fire in the cockpit.
The last communication between the missing plane and satellites (and this was merely a kind of "handshake"), was at 8.11 am Malaysian time, nearly seven hours after disappearing from air traffic control screens.
The Prime Minister said that "Despite media reports the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate." He said analysis of the plane's last communication with satellites placed it somewhere in one of two corridors: a northern corridor stretching from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. The plane did not necessarily follow the corridor, but was at some point along its path at the moment the signal was sent.
Authorities involved are sure to be in possession of more information than is being given to the public. Investigation of crew and passengers is ongoing, probably has intensified. It shouldn't be difficult to discover whether there was anyone present, other than the captain and his first officer, with anywhere near capablity of flying a Boeing 777. Failing that, it would seem that the captain or first officer had to have been involved, possibly under duress, or possibly on some errand of their own.
I guess there's still an outside chance that there was, indeed, an electrical fault or small fire on the plane around the time the transponder went quiet. If not brought under control quickly the fault or fire might have harmed further controls. Rather than putting the plane, by then perhaps fatally damaged and likely to crash over highly populated areas, the captain diverted to a route certain to be mainly over sea or small islands. Pressure loss could have killed all on board rapidly, but the plane could have carried on flying the route set until no further fuel was available. I have not seen anyone suggest this yet. Maybe it's out of the range of possibilities.
Hopes for better news, with even a shred of hope involved. Thoughts remain with crew's and passengers' families and loved ones.
The Prime Minister first summarised what had unfolded since flight MH370 disappeared from radar a week ago. He then revealed, or confirmed, that radar "pings" discovered by British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat, while not able to pinpoint exact positions of the lost plane at various points in time, did indicate that it had continued to fly for many hours after its last "proper" radar communication, which had taken place just as it passed from Malaysian to Vietnamese air traffic control space. At that time, it appears the plane's transponder was manually switched off, which indicates to researchers that it was a deliberate action rather than, as many had thought, disabled by some electrical or electronic fault or a fire in the cockpit.
The last communication between the missing plane and satellites (and this was merely a kind of "handshake"), was at 8.11 am Malaysian time, nearly seven hours after disappearing from air traffic control screens.
The Prime Minister said that "Despite media reports the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate." He said analysis of the plane's last communication with satellites placed it somewhere in one of two corridors: a northern corridor stretching from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. The plane did not necessarily follow the corridor, but was at some point along its path at the moment the signal was sent.
Authorities involved are sure to be in possession of more information than is being given to the public. Investigation of crew and passengers is ongoing, probably has intensified. It shouldn't be difficult to discover whether there was anyone present, other than the captain and his first officer, with anywhere near capablity of flying a Boeing 777. Failing that, it would seem that the captain or first officer had to have been involved, possibly under duress, or possibly on some errand of their own.
I guess there's still an outside chance that there was, indeed, an electrical fault or small fire on the plane around the time the transponder went quiet. If not brought under control quickly the fault or fire might have harmed further controls. Rather than putting the plane, by then perhaps fatally damaged and likely to crash over highly populated areas, the captain diverted to a route certain to be mainly over sea or small islands. Pressure loss could have killed all on board rapidly, but the plane could have carried on flying the route set until no further fuel was available. I have not seen anyone suggest this yet. Maybe it's out of the range of possibilities.
Hopes for better news, with even a shred of hope involved. Thoughts remain with crew's and passengers' families and loved ones.
Beginning to look deliberate, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIf someone decided to steal a 777 passenger jet, what are they going to do with it?
Chop it and sell the parts on eBay? Not likely.
Start their own airline? Not likely.
What could be worth endangering so many passengers?
With so many countries and governments involved, somebody will turn something up eventually. Its sheer size will make it difficult to hide.
The airplanes that were hi-jacked during the 9-11-2001 events were piloted by terrorists disguised as passengers, so the same scenario could be in play here...or threats made to these two official pilots to coerce them to turn-off the tracking transponders and follow directions. The passengers may be viewed as valuable hostages for exchange or achieving goals. Too many potential possibilities to entertain right now without knowing more information.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that tomorrow's full moon in Virgo will provide or expose additional details. This is a very Neptune type of event! No outcome is a good outcome for this incident, but I hope the cause is accidental as opposed to intentional at this point.
anyjazz ~ "What are they going to do with it?"........Perhaps it wasn't the plane they were after but its cargo. No information on what it was carrying has yet been made public, as far as I know. Think gold, military components, precious metals, etc etc etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's if the plane has made it to some well-hidden landing place. It could have been the motivation though, whether plane has landed or crashed.
mike ~ Right, yes, too many possibilities at present, and probably lots that we are not being told (for good reason).
ReplyDeleteYes, it's pure Neptunian - even has me addicted to following the news and commentary online. Can't bear to watch talking heads on it though, saw about 3 minutes of it last evening and that was more than enough.
I hope you're right about tomorrow's Moon.