Radar Data Suggests The Missing Malaysia Plane Was Flown Deliberately Toward India's Andaman Islands

BI - Reuters ^ | 3-14-2014 | Niluksi Koswanage and Siva Govindasamy

[blam]

Radar Data Suggests The Missing Malaysia Plane Was Flown Deliberately Toward India's Andaman Islands

Niluksi Koswanage and Siva Govindasamy, Reuters
Mar. 14, 2014, 5:16 AM

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Military radar data suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course, heightening suspicions of foul play among investigators, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said.

The last plot on the military radar's tracking suggested the plane was flying toward India's Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.

Waypoints are geographic locations, worked out by calculating longitude and latitude, that help pilots navigate along established air corridors.

A third source familiar with the investigation said inquiries were focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight.

POSSIBLE SABOTAGE OR HIJACK

"What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards," said that source, a senior Malaysian police official.

(snip)

[LRoggy]

“There’s also the fake orgasm scene in the restaurant in When Harry Met Sally...”

That’s a chick moment, not a Men moment . . . turn in your Man Card right away!

[LRoggy]

“It’s actually further than than. The plane had 7 hours worth of fuel onboard. It could have easily made it to Pakistan, Iran or Somalia. (And no, I still can’t post a pic. I’m hopeless, but here’s the graphic.)”

---

Now you are getting close. I personally would be focusing satellites over Somalia. And the big worry for me is that you load an explodable nuke on it and try to trigger it over Tel Aviv. Make Tel Aviv uninhabitable and Israel ceases to be viable as a Jewish state.

[Uncle Chip]

This seems to be the most likely scenario given what we now know.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Suddenly now they have radar data. I’m starting to get the feeling this is like the old joke about the cats on the roof and we can’t get it down. :-)

[dfwgator]

[Fitzy_888]

The Andaman Sea is as much as 8,000 to 8,500 feet deep. That’s where I’d say it was headed if in fact it was shot down elsewhere. Elsewhere, possibly very shallow where much of the wreckage might quickly be recovered. Elsewhere, like the last radar contact over the Sea of Thailand, a scant 200 to 300 feet deep at most.

[Fitzy_888]

The deepest point in the vicinity of the last known radar contact in the Gulf of Thailand is about 170 feet. Dangerous but doable even for a recreational diver. Quickly collect enough of the wreckage to befuddle any later investigation and this will remain “a mystery” forever. Let’s call it “inconclusive” in keeping with the greater good and all.

[Mike Darancette]

Nice place to head toward.

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

“You don’t need a runway. Just a long piece of highway. You could refuel and be on your way again”

I doubt it. Even though you might have a sufficient length of highway, I question whether the pavement can support the weight. Once the aircraft stops, it sinks into the pavement or crushes the concrete underneath it.

[Jane Long]

Here ya go....

[Raebie]

Thanks!!

[blam]

"The Andaman Sea is as much as 8,000 to 8,500 feet deep. That’s where I’d say it was headed if in fact it was shot down elsewhere. Elsewhere, possibly very shallow where much of the wreckage might quickly be recovered. Elsewhere, like the last radar contact over the Sea of Thailand, a scant 200 to 300 feet deep at most."

Yup.

I was dry land until about 7,000 years ago. The sea level rise 7,000 years ago opened up the Straits of Malacca and allowed sea travel to the west for the first time in few 100k years.

Sundaland