Posted on 03/14/2014 5:04:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
One intelligence community source told me the other day that he believed it was possible that Malaysian flight 370 would be found, intact because the plane had not crashed but had been hijacked for unknown reasons.
He may have been right. From MarketWatch:
U.S. counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after intentionally turning off the jetliner’s transponders to avoid radar detection, according to one person tracking the probe.
And:
But the huge uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it continued flying so long without working transponders, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for a reason that appears unclear to U.S. authorities. Some of those theories have been laid out to national security officials and senior personnel from various U.S. agencies, according to one person familiar with the matter.
But here’s where it gets really interesting…and scary:
At one briefing, according to this person, officials were told investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted “with the intention of using it later for another purpose.”
Another purpose? Perhaps as a giant, human-guided, suicide missile?
At the time of my conversation with my intel source I advised him to keep it to himself and we both laughed, nervously.
I’m more nervous now.
After this story came out, Malaysian officials of disputed the fact that the plane continue transmitting data, and the story was corrected as to the exact nature of the data. Still they insist the data was still available. American officials still believe that it's possible that the plane could've disappeared to be used for other purposes. They are still pursuing all angles, and have not ruled out the plane was diverted.
In part that's because two of data transmitters were turned off at separate times, which would indicate that there wasn't some sort of critical malfunction or catastrophic break up in midair. And if the plane continued to fly for 4 to 5 hours, it might've made 2500 to 3000 miles. Frankly it could be anywhere from the Australian desert to somewhere in Pakistan, although practically speaking that might've been difficult.
Interestingly, I spoke with one political official late last night who told me that his sources in the defense community are being unusually tight lipped about the plane.
He called them "a stonewall."
Again, this is all just informed speculation on my part.
But given the finger-pointing that's going on between Malaysia, China and the United States there seems to be more than mild disagreement about what this could possibly mean.
That could mean something sinister is afoot. Or it could just be a case of plain old bureaucratic incompetence.
I would like to say that the bureaucratic incompetence case would be somewhat reassuring. But one thing that we've learned from 9/11 through the Boston bombing is that even in something sinister, bureaucratic incompetence is usually at play.
What would motivate 10 plus countries NOT to find the plane in any hurry? => 2, 3 maybe 5 colluded in a decision to shoot down a rogue plane. Bad news for every country in the world because the first question at every press briefing world wide will be: “Does the government have a periodical/contingence plan for shooting down a high jacked plane?”
Let the wreckage soak good and long, it’s serves the greater good. The alternative, the admission that a small group of governments decided to shoot down a rogue airliner, represents a paradigm shift historically/economically.
Let the debris soak good and long, we can investigate and effectively deny the reality for at least a decade to come.
Does anyone really think the shoot down of an airliner wouldn’t happen sooner or later...really?
I’m going to make a really speculative remark that they know precisely where that plane is and are trying to figure out what to do about it. All this running around from one ocean to another is a stall tactic. The whole thing is bizarre.
Thanks for the info, 4everontheright!
Another pingout to all y’all!
” If it was ransom why hasnt there been a ransom note and where did it land?”
OK, so maybe the motive is ransom and they landed on some island and are now shuttling the rich Chinese to a secret location so that the military can’t intervene.
“fight to regain control ensues”
That could be it. If passengers knew there was a take over, they had hours to figure out a plan to respond. Like Todd Beamer.
“OK, so maybe the motive is ransom and they landed on some island and are now shuttling the rich Chinese to a secret location so that the military can’t intervene.”
So the plan is
1- Hijack a jumbo jet in flight.
2- Secretly fly it to a hidden location and somehow land it at a 3rd world dirt runway (undetected).
3- Hide the plane and hostages from Satellite/ radar/ electronic survellence from several major govts.
4- Blackmail the Chinese govt for money.
Yeah, that could work.
Hijackers tried to fly under the radar, but failed to account for the huge increase in fuel consumption due to high tropical temperatures at low altitude. Ran out of fuel and crashed.
Maybe a couple of rogue pilots decided to make a play and “graduate” to a better option than 72 virgins.
Those islands have a population density slightly more than Pennsylvania and slightly less than Florida. They cover a total land area only slightly larger than the state of Delaware, are dense jungle where not densely populated and have a very limited number of places where a jumbo jet could even consider landing.
Obama will send a 777 to the Ocean coordinates and blow it out of the sky so a debris field will shut off all the questions making a lot of spooky dudes very nervous.
Will the hijacked passengers held captive have to pay for their bag of seven pretzel sticks and half a can of coke?
Sample sales meeting:
Hi there, my name is Ahmad, I am with the Pakistan Al Qaeda Peace Ministries. We are interested in purchasing a retired 747 for our annual awards dinner in Las Vegas.
Can you show me a few models?
That’s it. Now we wait for their story, and try to infer what we can.
There’s no reason for engine maintenance data to include time or position; more likely it would include altitude, temperature, throttle position, airspeed, engine speeds and temperatures. Time is mostly irrelevant, but could be added when the data packet is received.
GPS receivers need an antenna that has a clear view of the satellites.
If you’ve got a hand-held GPS receiver, try using it inside a building, away from the windows.
There may be no reason for time/lat/lon, and that is precisely why it “shall” be included. I’m just picturing the requirements for a DO-178-A or B compliant device including this stuff. No real good reason, just regulations.
If there’s requirements for superfluous data, then those requirements have to be implemented and tested, and space for them allocated in the transmission time schedule.
I don’t think they’re transmitting anything that they don’t have to.
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