It’ called an opinion bigdaddy...which I believe I plainly stated.
The basis for that “opinion,” bigdaddy, is reports that the aircraft’s transponder, while still communicating, indicated that the aircraft dropped precipitously, over a 600 ft., in a few seconds, and veered sharply off course. Then...went dead completely, before any voice communications could be heard.
I watched them talk about this on Fox News late last night.
Having been involved earlier in my career with aircraft design at Vought Aeronautics, and knowing about the 777’s excellent redundancy, safety record, and design...and also knowing that mid flight at 35,000 feet is far and away statistically the safest part of the flight (ie no landing or take-off stresses, no flocks of geese that high, etc.), it is clear to me that there was a catastrophic failure of the aircraft which happened so fast that the crew was unable to transmit any warning or indication of it. Which is what that transponder report also indicated.
So, that failure was either induced from something other than the aircraft (ie. explosion, gross pilot error, etc) or induced as a result of the aircraft itself failing.
Since this aircraft had so few hours on it, and since the 777 has been designed and built the way it has with an excellent safety record...I arrived at my “opinion,” bigdaddy, that it was most likely an external cause.
And, if that is the case, again, in my “opinion,” bigdaddy, the most likely cause would be terrorism in this day and age.
So, that is how I arrived at my OPINION...bigdaddy.
You can have whatever opinion you wish, or none if it suits you.
Whatever the various opinions, I readily admit that we will all wait for a final determination. Capiche?
Have a great day.
America at the Crossroads of History
http://www.jeffhead.com/crossroads.htm
I'd start to suspect possible criminal acts if both the CVR and FDR suddenly stops recording data--like what happened to Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. If the CVR and FDR continue to record data up till time of crash, then we have to consider some sort of mechanical failure.
Just my two cents, of course, but I think some attention might be paid to the possibility of a wing root failure of the wing damaged in 2012. I heard one expert, on the television, say that the impact in that incident was enough to knock the vertical stabiliser off an A340. The B777 wing tip was, I am sure, repaired to the satisfaction of BOEING engineers, underwriters, and the Malaysian authorities. Presumably, the entire wing and root structure were exhaustively examined and pronounced OK.
But is it not possible that the impact caused a molecular separation or hot spot in the root that was not visible or detected using dye penetrants, or whatever process the inspectors would use for that purpose? If the root were not re-inspected on a continual basis, a crack may have developed and expanded from this hot spot.
Do you know how many spars the B777 wing uses? Could a crack in the leading edge of the wing root eventually cause the spars to fail?
Losing an entire wing at 500 knots could be so tumultuous as to preclude the pilots’ getting off any transmission, as they would be overwhelmed with trying (in vain) to stabilise the ship.