MISSING MH370: Pilot: I established contact with plane

New Straits Times ^ | 3/9/2014 | Unattributed

[mojito]

SEPANG: A BOEING 777 pilot, who was flying 30 minutes ahead of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft, said he established contact with MH370 minutes after he was asked to do so by Vietnamese air traffic control.

The captain, who asked to not be named, said his plane, which was bound for Narita, Japan, was far into Vietnamese airspace when he was asked to relay, using his plane's emergency frequency, to MH370 for the latter to establish its position, as the authorities could not contact the aircraft.

"We managed to establish contact with MH370 just after 1.30am and asked them if they have transferred into Vietnamese airspace.

"The voice on the other side could have been either Captain Zaharie (Ahmad Shah, 53,) or Fariq (Abdul Hamid, 27), but I was sure it was the co-pilot.

"There were a lot of interference... static... but I heard mumbling from the other end.

"That was the last time we heard from them, as we lost the connection," he told the New Sunday Times.

[mulder1]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/11/africa.terrorism

[stevie_d_64]

On Guard Freq. 121.5

Everyone should have heard that...

If this story is true...

I’m still holding judgment, because of all the extraneous information coming out of the woodwork...

When they find this aircraft, that’s when we will see the real BS begin...

Just like TWA 800...

[mulder1]

http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=wmkk

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

You realize how dumb you sound, right? Malaysia is a Muslim country.

[lwoodham]

Speaking of a Tom Clancy novel, I have a theory that is nearly that wild. I think the plane was stolen and is in one piece somewhere on land. It involves curvature of the Earth, radar horizon versus altitude, line of sight, target distance from radar, and a slight of hand. At enough distance from the radar sight you only have to lose a little altitude to drop below the radar horizon. At 35,000 feet the radar should be able to detect a target out to 228 miles minus a little due to ground clutter. The formula is Horizon Distance In Miles = 1.22*(square root of target altitude in feet). If the plane was flying a little lower than indicated( this is the part I'm working on ) then at the range reported for MH370 of 120 miles a short quick descent could take him off radar. Turn off transponder and any telemetry that transmitted from the plane. (Note that there would be no cell phone coverage over open water at this range.) Drop lower and turn out to sea. With 5 hours of fuel left the plane could go a long way, theoretically about 2500 miles. Jets operate at lower efficiency at lower levels so would be less than 2500 but still a long way. Avoid radar to some obscure site, land, park, and hide. Plane stolen. The mystery stolen passport people may have been brought on board to police and confiscate phones and electronics while out of cell range.

There is more to my theory, but I will resist the "who" and "why" parts right now and try to work on numbers. I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theory nutcase, but when I thought of this and the possibility it could be real, I realized it needed critics to pick it apart and disprove it if possible because those passengers may still be alive. I'm trying to break it myself so fire away.

[okie01]

Muslim pilot and copilot. Probably just a coincidence.

Nope. Probably the norm. Malaysia is a Muslim country.

[lwoodham]

I see now that others have posted ideas very similar to mine so here's the rest. The captain of MH370 has around 18,000 flying hours and according to what I've read knows the 777 inside and out. He seems like a great guy and has a social following. The Ft Hood shooter was also a likeable guy with a clean record. The thing that got me thinking about this was the Captain's elaborate and expensive flight simulator in his home. Doesn't he get enough flying by being in the air every day doing long hauls? Why would he want more at home? Then it hit me that maybe he was training others on his simulator. All he would need to do to simulate other planes is load up the software and select the type plane. If the Captain was in on this other crew members may have been too. This guy may have been training terrorists to fly planes. That's the part. The part should be clear. All very scary. I hope those passengers are alive somewhere and can be found.

[lwoodham]

Ok the last part got garbled (breaks off typing finger and beats with hammer)

....That's the WHO part. The WHY part should be clear....

[Husker24]

I wonder why pilots even have the ability to shut off the transponder in the first place.

[AliVeritas]

?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/vanished-malaysia-airlines-flight-leaves-relatives-with-anger-and-phantom-phone-calls/2014/03/10/fdb78642-a862-11e3-b61e-8051b8b52d06_story.html

[Rockitz]

It’s reported that BHO said, “If I had a plane, it would be MH370.”

[mojito]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3131927/posts

“Malaysian authorities have previously said flight MH370 disappeared about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital Beijing.

“It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait,” the senior military officer, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.

That would appear to rule out sudden catastrophic mechanical failure, as it would mean the plane flew around 500 km (350 miles) at least after its last contact with air traffic control, although its transponder and other tracking systems were off.”

Lots and lots of islands in the Indonesian archipelago. Good place to hide a plane, even a pretty big one, if that's what you wanted to do.

[Elsie]

Flight 19

[Elsie]

I understand that "reporters" are science and technology imbeciles, generally, and are incapable of asking the critical question when a "fact" is reported.

Why such a narrow range?

[Elsie]

They had the tallest building in the world for a while.

So did we...

[Elsie]

And even if the transponder stopped, the plane can still be seen and tracked by radar.

And there are NO military satellites looking down at the waters in this part of the world...

[Elsie]

http://www.flightradar24.com/6.28,105.14/8#/13.08,79.8/4?&_suid=139455755499005597380211211476

[Elsie]

The United States extensively reviewed imagery taken by American spy satellites for evidence of a mid-air explosion, but saw none...

That's ALL they were looking for?

[white_wolf]

It seems to me that it would be far easier to scheme to steal an empty plane from an airport (disguised pilots, bribery) than to have to deal with over 200 uncooperative passengers with families and governments trying to find out what happened to them.

[mulder1]

Hide a plane? who has a runway big enough to handle a plane that big?