Posted on 03/07/2014 9:28:46 PM PST by barmag25
UPDATE [12:37]: Tuoi Tre, a leading daily in Vietnam, reports that the Vietnamese Navy has confirmed the plane crashed into the ocean. According to Navy Admiral Ngo Van Phat, Commander of the Region 5, military radar recorded that the plane crashed into the sea at a location 153 miles South of Phu Quoc island.
When contacted, Malaysia Airlines declined to confirm or deny the reports, saying that the Malaysian authorities are working together with the Vietnamese government on the matter.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that China has dispatched two maritime rescue ships to help locate the missing plane.
(Excerpt) Read more at my.news.yahoo.com ...
Years ago when my dh was deployed, one of the harrier pilots launched off the deck during night ops. They were out in the Indian Ocean; a few other harriers launched to fly their sorties that evening. Within a few minutes of takeoff, the pilot and his a/c were gone.
Despite other planes overhead, other ships traveling in the ARG, search and rescue deployed, nothing was ever found. No debris, no oil rising to the surface and sadly no husband, son, squadron mate and friend to bring back to the U.S. to be laid to rest.
Still one of the saddest things I’ve ever gone through. It’s horrible to have nothing to show for where the a/c impacted. For about a month, his wife still hoped that he was alive out there somewhere, waiting to be rescued.
It’s possible nothing could be on the water’s surface. However, if we have a sub out there, and that’s my hope for these families waiting for word, we *will* hear the plane’s pings and locate it. Certainly, being given a miracle like finding this plane in a jungle somewhere with several survivors would be a blessing beyond measure.
take a look at this... http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/what-does-air-france-447-tell-us-about-missing-malaysian-n47846
Considering that China had a rather bad day last week with the muslim attack on the railway station there is I think a real chance those same Chinese muslims from Sinkiang, I think, are behind this. There are enough radical islamists of all colors and races who believe in jihad that it would be very possible to find two, maybe Chechens, who could use those stolen passports. A flight from Malaysia to China would not draw the same scrutiny as a flight from Jakarta to LAX. If this was terrorism I’d bet on the Chinese muslims being the architects if not the actual perps.
The worst thing in the world is not knowing.
Like you said...your friend’s family waited hoping he would be rescued and distraught that he might be alive.
Everyone that had a family member on that plane is doing the same. Talk about hell on earth.
“Assuming authorities are correct(the last signal being located 120 nautical miles (140 miles; 225 kilometers) southwest of Vietnam’s southernmost Ca Mau province)that’s only about 300nm from departure...early reports said contact was lost “2 hours” into the flight. Something there doesn’t jive.”
This is bothering me a lot more after looking at a map.
There’s no way the plane made so little progress in 2 hours unless it had been circling and circling senselessly after takeoff.
Or maybe the 2 hour figure reported is wrong?
Contact was lost with the plane after 40 minutes. From what I gather, the 2 hour number was an ‘official’ number. In other words, they tried to continue making contact with the plane for another hour+ before officially declaring contact lost. At least that’s my understanding.
Seeing all of the photographers in the airports hovering around the arriving family members is very disturbing. I could never stand there and take pictures of bereaved people. Let them alone.
If the plane was trying to return to the airport that would indicate maybe something was wrong with the plane but if that was the case, how come no one said anything?
Instead of ‘turned back’, why could it not instead read, ‘turned’?
Why don’t they release the exact information they have from the radar.
Honestly, ‘May have turned’?? Really?
Sorry if it seemed my sarcastic, condescension was aimed at you. It was not. ;) I’m very frustrated with the officials running the show over there. They send some 40+ ships, and 20+ aircraft to search an area, then say, ‘You know what? It might’ve turned back.’ Unbelievable.
The two people that had their passports stolen months ago in Thailand saw the manifest and said hey I’m alive.
The stolen passports worked for the people that used the stolen ones to travel.
Some media outlets are reporting the two person of interest with stolen passports could be common thieves and not hijackers ... I don’t know myself and wish a lead would be forthcoming.
What foolishness! ‘Common thieves’ snatch purses and boost motorbikes; hell would they be doing flying KL-Beijing?
Does anybody on here know if EU passport holders are still required to obtain their visa prior to arrival in PRC? I have not been to PRC since 2002, but at that time it was required to secure the visa before traveling. If so, odd that the PRC embassy/consulate issuing the visa did not check more thoroughly.
Latest info that I could find ... http://malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/282-main-tile/492200-updated-mas-kl-beijing-flight-mh370.html
No, and here is why. To begin with, a large percentage of Earth's atmosphere is full of clouds. Perhaps airplanes spend most of their flying time above clouds... but most crashes occur below them. Then satellites don't see anything at night.
But that's far from being the only reasons. The primary reason is that Earth is BIG. Surface of Earth is 510,072,000 km2. Let's say you want to resolve an airplane (100 m long) as one pixel. Not much good will it do to you, but we'll start there. One square kilometer will then require 100 pixels; the total pixel count will be 51,007,200,000 - or 51 BILLION pixels. That is per frame; but, of course, you want more than one frame. Let's say you are willing to settle on one frame per second. With each pixel requiring 3 bytes (RGB888) we then need just a trifle amount of 11.743 PETAbytes per day. Wirelessly, from the orbit.
Even if you go for this huge expense of filling the sky with satellites and equipping them with that much RF bandwidth, all that it buys you is a single gray pixel per aircraft, once per second. This is useless for just about anything. You cannot judge anything by a single pixel. If you want more resolution then you need data links and processing capabilities not of this world. Just 10 pixels per aircraft will increase the bandwidth by a hundred, and then it becomes 1100 petabytes per day. This is more than all the Internet traffic (wired, in fiber!)
But, you may ask, why do the spy satellites work? They work simply because they do not look everywhere. Most of the Earth is a boring place; nothing ever happens there. Spy satellites have telescopes; they may be able to read a license plate on a car; but they are not able to read it here and in 10 miles away, and at a time of your choosing. Their view area is limited by magnification of the telescope. The higher is the zoom, the smaller area they see. And that's why the zoom ring on a telescopic sight is the most valuable control - you can't see the area while zoomed in, and you can't see the target in detail when zoomed out. Go to a football game with a good Orion telescope. You will be able to see every blade of grass in the farthest corner... but you won't see the game.
https://twitter.com/yierzhou/status/442520582102327296/photo/1
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