Mystery Malaysia flight may have been hundreds of miles off course (CNN Breaking)

CNN ^ | 3-11-2014 | Michael Pearson and Jethro Mullen

[tcrlaf]

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was hundreds of miles off course, traveling in the opposite direction from its original destination and had stopped sending identifying transponder codes before it disappeared, a senior Malaysian Air Force official told CNN Tuesday.

If correct, these are ominous signs that could call into question whether someone in the cockpit might have deliberately steered the plane away from its intended destination, a former U.S. aviation investigator said.

"This kind of deviation in course is simply inexplicable," said Paul Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

(snip) The Malaysian Air Force lost track of the plane over Pulau Perak, a tiny island in the Straits of Malacca -- many hundreds of miles from the usual flight path for aircraft traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, the official said.

[steve86]

I believe the plane was lost/gone as soon as the transponder quit.

Why? Pilots turn off xpndrs all the time. So can hijackers.

P.S. I attained fixed wing in 1985 and glider add-on in '91.

[SandwicheGuy]

Your chapter 3 Aircraft Antenna Installation reference is NOT a Boing document, so it doesn’t apply to the 777. Oxygen tanks are turned off and on only for servicing and there is a cockpit indication of oxygen pressure that the pilots verify before departure according to their checklist. These crew oxygen tanks are not accessible from the cockpit.

Look, I am not trying to be disagreeable and I trust you to work on mu avionics anytime, What you post is entirely correct but not germaine. I am talking about errors made by people using technology, not the technology. All I am saying is that this scenario I laid out is the simplest explanation and entirely consistent with human behaviour.

[PotatoHeadMick]

Indonesia is not a “Muslim” country, it is a republic that happens to have a majority-Muslim population, there’s a huge difference. If one is going to post ideas on a political website it helps if you have a basic grasp of global political concepts.

The country with the world’s biggest Muslim population is another republic that starts with “Ind”, it’s called India and has a much, much worse problem with terrorism than Indonesia, but Indonesia is a big scary country for some FreeRepublic members because they think, well, it just is kinda scary somehow and Barack Obama once lived there.

I have absolutely no idea what the connection between a nightclub bombing in Bali eleven years ago has to a missing Malaysian airliner today.

I am fairly confident that we will find no connection whatsoever between the two, no connection other than in your fevered imagination that is.

[Insigne123]

Two muslims were in the cockpit - flying the plane

[crazycatlady]

I was going to guess a venereal disease.

[USAF80]

The black (orange colored) box has an underwater beacon that is water activated. There is also an emergency beacon that can be picked up by other aircraft, ships etc if not submerged. The batteries have to be good though. Not sure is the airline in question has good maintenance practices.

[Jack Hydrazine]

The 727 that vanished without a trace in 2003
http://boingboing.net/2014/03/11/the-727-that-vanished-without.html

[Jack Hydrazine]

Still Report: Malaysia’s Disappearing Aircraft
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=228843

[tcrlaf]

I remember this...
American took the plane to avoid repo, or as a repo, if I remember right.

Inexperienced pilot in way over his ability, in a complicated airplane, a sure recipe for disaster. They likely went down in the deep jungle near South Africa, or somewhere around the Seychelles.

[tcrlaf]

“I believe the plane was lost/gone as soon as the transponder quit.”

I agree. Remember Swissair 111?

[leakinInTheBlueSea]

WSJ quoting anonymous U.S. investigator stating engine maintenance reports were received by Rolls from the aircraft for four hours after loss of ATC contact. That is a looooong time. Why is Malaysian Air not commenting on the ACARS reports (which presumably include more than just engine maintenance data)? Are they concerned one or both pilots might be implicated in a hijacking?

[USAF80]

Maybe the transponder was switched with another aircraft like in the movie Con Air. Always get a chuckle out of that.

[Jack Hydrazine]

We don’t know exactly how much fuel is on board. For all we know they might have had the tanks topped off instead of getting their 6 hours worth they might have been allotted which could take it up to 9,400 nautical miles depending on the model.

I suspect it could have gone to Somalia, Yemen, or somewhere in that general vicinity.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

This is what I thought also, on the amount of fuel, but why, now, are they saying it could have flown for another 8 hours? This is getting really odd, no?

[grobdriver]

There are a lot of talking heads I've seen that don't know the first thing about aviation.
As usual networks are more interested in being first than being accurate.
It's possible that the aircraft could have been fully fueled at Lampur but that implies complicit pilots, ground crew and some of the airline's staff (gotta pay for all that gas).
If they took on a full load on a trip they would not normally, too many people would know about it.

Personally, I think they are somewhere within the range of the distance to their original destination - and not much further (45 minute reserves to dry tanks).