Planning could hold key to disappearance of Flight MH370

Reuters ^ | 3/17/2014 | Siva Govindasamy and Tim Hepher

[BuckeyeTexan]

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Whether by accident or design, whoever reached across the dimly lit cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines jet and clicked off a transponder to make Flight MH370 vanish from controllers' radars flew into a navigational and technical black hole.

By choosing one place and time to vanish into radar darkness with 238 others on board, the person - presumed to be a pilot or a passenger with advanced knowledge - may have acted only after meticulous planning, according to aviation experts.

Understanding the sequence that led to the unprecedented plane hunt widening across two vast tracts of territory north and south of the Equator is key to grasping the motives of what Malaysian authorities suspect was hijacking or sabotage.

[Uncle Chip]

Ping to the link at #9:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3134178/posts?page=30#9

[old curmudgeon]

Thank you for that.

It makes sense.

[blam]

What Pilots Think About The Crazy New Theory That The Missing Malaysia Jet Used Another Jet To Hide

[Ditter]

Seems reasonable, thanks for the link.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Cutting the datalink would not have been easy. Instructions are not in the Flight Crew Operating Manual, one pilot said.

Whoever did so may have had to climb through a trap door in full view of cabin crew, people familiar with the jet say.

Circuit-breakers used to disable the system are in a bay reached through a hatch in the floor next to the lefthand front exit, close to a galley used to prepare meals.

Most pilots said it would be impossible to turn off ACARS from inside the cockpit, though two people did not rule it out.

Am I being unnecessarily sensitive or this information something that should not be disclosed publicly to terrorists observing this incident through news reports?