The oil rig worker said he thinks he saw the plane on fire in the air. Never heard any more about that.
Makes sense to a non-aircraft educated person.
Good article. Makes sense.
I am holding on to my SPACE ALIENS theory
cue the “aliens” guy
“that Flight 370 slipped in behind another commercial airliner for much of the route so as not to be noticed on radar. “
I don’t think that would help. If they were that close, someone would notice.
What on takeoff would cause tires to hit 500 degrees?
I think it tailgated a Portugal bound jet and landed in Pakistan a long time ago.
Excerpt:
And it’s one of the most plausible yet:
Shortly after takeoff, as Malaysia 370 was flying out over the ocean, just after the co-pilot gave his final “Good night” sign-off to Malaysia air traffic control, smoke began filling the cockpit, perhaps from a tire on the front landing gear that had ignited on takeoff
The captain immediately did exactly what he had been trained to do: Turn the plane toward the closest airport so he could land.
The closest appropriate airport was called Pulau Langkawi. It had a massive 13,000-foot runway. The captain programmed the destination into the flight computer. The auto-pilot turned the plane west and put it on a course right for the runway (the same heading the plane turned to)
The captain and co-pilot tried to find the source of the smoke and fire. They switched off electrical “busses” to try to isolate it, in the process turning off systems like the transponder and ACARs automated update system (but not, presumably, the auto-pilot, which was flying the plane). They did not issue a distress call, because in a mid-air emergency your priorities are “aviate, navigate, communicate” — in that order. But smoke soon filled the cockpit and overwhelmed them (a tire fire could do this). The pilots passed out or died.
Smoke filled the cabin and overwhelmed and distracted the passengers and cabin crew... or the cockpit door was locked and/or the cockpit was filled with smoke, so no one could enter the cockpit to try to figure out where the plane was, how the pilots were, or how the plane might be successfully landed. (This would be a complicated task, even if one knew the pilots were unconscious and had access to the cockpit, especially if most of the plane’s electrical systems were switched off or damaged)
With no one awake to instruct the auto-pilot to land, the plane kept flying on its last programmed course... right over Pulau Langkawi and out over the Indian Ocean. The engine-update system kept “pinging” the satellite. Eventually, 6 or 7 hours after the incident, the plane ran out of fuel and crashed.
I think that’s the lamest scenario I’ve read yet. It assumes that two pilots could not utter a simple phase: Ground control, smoke in the cockpit. Pilots can speak and do other tasks simultaneously.
The problem with this theory is that it doesn't appear to be supported by data from the satellite receiving the engine diagnostics.
If on auto-pilot with an incapacitated crew. . .why was it flown to 44,000 ft?
...smoke began filling the cockpit, perhaps from a tire on the front landing gear that had ignited on takeoff. The captain immediately did exactly what he had been trained to do: Turn the plane toward the closest airport so he could land...
Wouldn’t you think the pilots would have signaled a distress call. Come on.
Plausible, but (1) wouldn’t some wreckage, including the black box, have show up by now? and (2) isn’t it kind of a coinky-dink that the plane was carrying Iranians with stolen passports that were used last year to get into Muslim northern China on a very suspicious venture?
I can readily believe that an heroic pilot would have tried to deal with a hijack attempt by hooking a left toward the nearest airport in an effort to get his ship on the ground.
This was essentially my theory a few days ago....one of two theories..
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3133194/posts?page=224#224
The theory has merit. But (and I’m guessing here) wouldn’t something indicate an rise in temperature where tires would be burning even before the smoke got to the cockpit?
This theory could also explain the ghost phone calls relatives were getting from the passengers shortly after the plane vanished.
Neither theory explains the >45K flight altitude.