Posted on 03/13/2014 5:02:50 PM PDT by mandaladon
Why would anyone hijack a 777, fly it 1/5 of the way around the world and crash it in the Indian Ocean?
WE don’t know who was in command of this flight, but we do know that he knows how to fly a 777 so it is not likely that he ran out of fuel over the ocean.
No nutcase gun slinger would even know how to turn off two transponders, much less manage the fuel systems, etc., for 5 hours.
One of the crew was involved and the Malaysian government or someone within the government was/is involved.
Again, who were the Chinese on board?
The “aviation geek” has his own 777 safely hidden somewhere. I just hope he didn’t harm the passengers.
This is Akums razor vs Akums shaving cream.
First misdirection was the Strait of Malarkey and now expanded the entire Indian Ocean. I think you’d sooner find Bin Laden’s bones in the Indian Ocean than this plane.
Personally I think they are drag netting the debris now just off Vietnam in just a couple hundred feet. The entire Sea of Thailand is at most 200-300 feet.
Diego Garcia is a base for (among other things) big ugly flying (errr) fellows ;)
In other words .... not a place where anyone can land with impunity.
;)
.
We are not talking about theoretical safe lengths of runways for the safety and comfort of the flying public.
We are talking about how short a runway could be used to land or take off a 777. The big factor would be the pilots ability.
Some pilots would land or take off in a much shorter distance.
If you use a formula like you suggested, for a 777 the runway would probably be about 10,000 feet long. - tom
If the transponder was turned off manually, it is virtually a certainty it was hijacked by one or both pilots.
If the plane was pinging automatically for up to 4 hours, then the plane was being purposely taken to a specific location because it didn’t fly until it was out of fuel nor was it destroyed early in the flight.
While there is a possibility the passengers and flight attendants figured out something was wrong after several hours and fought back, it is also likely they were mostly asleep. Also with the cockpit door locked, the passengers had no way to intervene. Being dark out, they wouldn’t have any landmarks as to where they were. Perhaps they only realized something was wrong when they didn’t land in Beijing. The passengers may even be alive and held as human shields.
If it was purposely flown to a specific location, it was intended to be flown out at a later time from that location.
If it was to be flown again, there has to be a source of sufficient jet fuel at the location.
If the plane was hijacked, the US likely has narrowed down the location and now has resources in place assessing the situation.
There was an oversized 747 that landed at the wrong airport in Kansas City last fall. They stripped it down, flew in some short takeoff experts and got it off the ground on a runway that IIRC was 1500-2000ft shorter than the ‘minimum’ recommended runway for that particular plane.
I’ll also note that the pilot on the Malaysian flight had his own 777 flight sim setup at home. Possibly to practice short takeoff and landings.
/tinfoil
Arrgh, left us hanging “.....adding it was unclear why the.....”
Somebody, post the rest of it :/
“The data reporting system, they believe, was shut down at 1:07 a.m. The transponder — which transmits location and altitude — shut down at 1:21 a.m.”
Being in the middle of the night pretty well takes away the “visual” aspect unless there was an explosion. I also believe the moon would have been in a lower phase and less moonlight. Sooooo, that would be easier for the plane to land in an undisclosed location without someone seeing it.
“...it was unclear why the transmissions stopped. One possibility one person cited was that the system sending them had been disabled by someone on board. “
When I take off in Atlanta on a 777 we always take off on the first south runway and I think it’s 11,000 feet long. Seems like we only ever need a little over half that though. When returning we land on whatever runway available and it doesn’t seem like it takes any longer to stop than any other plane.
Makes sense it was inside job, but who knows?
Pinging cyber liberty to this one!
What will terrorists do with an airplane? Assuming they safely landed the plane somewhere in Asia, who are they going to attack wth it?
Even if they loaded it up with fuel and explosives, even nukes, if they planned to attack the west, they would still have to fly it half way across the world under the radar.
Good timing hoosiermama!
I was pointing to your statement that runway length is influenced by passenger comfort.
It is not.
As for your comments about what is possible.....
Certainly.
Hell, I knew a captain for Eastern that regularly landed a 737 and turned off at an intersection that was not easy to do in a Bonanza.
If he had lost an engine and had to blow and go, he would have created a news event and a huge mess.
Someone turned him in for it and he got a lengthy vacation with no pay.
Many years later he killed himself and the son of a friend of mine while demonstrating his superior ability.
And of course there are the real pros that they send in to fly big iron off of the 3500 ft. runways that the crew mistook for their destination.
But none of that has anything to do with passenger comfort.
These long runways are a safety thing.
Hi-Jackers, drug smugglers or other expert pilots would not need anywhere near the length of a standard runway for a specific aircraft.- Tom
Many thanks for filling in that info!
Two actions twenty minutes apart?
Deliberate!
Figure the flight radius, given the amount of fuel.
See what refueling/landing points are within that radius.
And what countries within that radius might be “buddies” with the pilots’ countries....
( it sounds like an “inside job”)
Definitely not a place any uninvited guest would even dream of landing!
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