Lost Plane

At time of writing this, late yesterday afternoon, no concrete information on the fate of Malaysian airlines Flight MH370, lost since Saturday/Sunday, had emerged. First thoughts now go to relatives and loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew, still waiting in dread for what is almost certainly going to be the worst kind of news.

I've been following comments on a professional pilots' forum in the Rumours and News section. At least there, I suspect one has a better chance of commenters who actually know what they are talking about.

Astrology, at a time like this, always seems to me as akin to ambulance chasing, so I'll leave that alone.

Using Occam's Razor (simplest answer is usually the best one), I'd rely on the theory that some electronic/electrical fault in the flight's instruments, including the facility for pilot communication with ground staff, meant that the the pilot decided not to follow the plane's set route, while remaining unable to communicate the fault, decided to turn back and head for some place safe to land. After that, Occam's Razor becomes blunter...Did the original fault spread to other controls, maybe oxygen supply was cut off, so that the plane ditched and crashed either in an area of sea where full search has yet to be carried out, or in a jungle area of land?

Update: Recent news reports, though, indicate Malaysian military is now back-tracking on an earlier statement that it appeared the plane had altered course. All is confusion!

With technology at such an advanced level these days, it seems unlikely that a huge airliner could be allowed to simply disappear. Let us hope that efforts to produce new safeguards for ground communication methods in future airliners will be adopted.

As Martin Robbins wrote, in finishing his piece Cutting Through the Bullshit Surrounding Flight MH370

The irony is that, buried in this avalanche of speculation, there are some really interesting stories that have been largely ignored. How is it, for example, that for all the supposed increases in airline security in the wake of 9/11, checks at airports are so bad that people with stolen passports can apparently travel at will? And why is it that in an era of high speed 4G broadband, when 40-year-old technology can transmit data back from beyond the edge of the solar system, we still have to send ships and divers to retrieve data from a plane, rather than simply transmitting it in real time?

LATER: This article by Vijandren Ramadass has the best theory I've seen so far.

I'm not going to mention astrology again, other than to say that this situation is reflecting the worst side of Neptune.