Maldives 'witnesses' report seeing 'low flying jet' on morning that MH370 disappeared

The Telegraph ^

[bryan999]

Maldives 'witnesses' report seeing 'low flying jet' on morning that MH370 disappeared - follow latest updates on missing Malaysia Airlines plane

[Verginius Rufus]

The map shows the Maldives a little further south than it should--most of the chain is north of the equator (so even with Singapore or further north, not even with southern Borneo).

Of course Obama thinks the Maldives is an alternate name for the Falkland Islands.

[Blueflag]

DC —

IT’s easy to control cabin temperature from up front. The flight deck stays comfy while the passengers are quite, um, refrigerated.

Temperature lapse rate is roughly 3 degrees per thousand feet.

IF you are cruising at say 25,000, it’s generally below freezing outside the aircraft. Easy to keep the dearly departed chilled in the back.

[DCBryan1]

He could have been landing at GAN airfield. It is not very active, and CAN take a 777. Perhaps a couple of muzzie friends are in on it and stole a large tanker truck?

IMHO....way too sophisticated for our average death-loving muzzie terrorists.

Anyways:
View Larger Map

[Veto!]

This might take us back to the Somalia theory. The Maldives are straight west of that pirate country. On fact, you could draw a line pretty much straight west from Kuala Lumpur, and it would go through the Maldives and Somalia.

[outpostinmass2]

Kuda Huvadhoo atol is a few hundred miles north of Maldives airport. The people on this island wouldn’t have seen an airplane land on the airport.

[DCBryan1]

good point. I still don’t think its humanly possible to remove 200+ bodies with 2 guys without exhausting and fatiguing themselves. That would expose them to discovery.

[rxsid]

"I don’t care how beautiful it is, I’d never travel to a Muslim country."

Speaking of Maldives & muslim countries...

"January 16, 2014
Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen has refused to ratify a bill that seeks to partially criminalize marital rape, calling it “un-Islamic.”

The parliament voted 67-2 last month to limit a husband’s right to have non-consensual sex with his wife. The bill says a husband cannot force his wife to have sex if the couple have filed for divorce, dissolution or mutual separation, and if the intent is to transmit a sexual disease. […]

The Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago of about 330,000 people, claims to have a 100 percent Muslim population. Its constitution states that “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted.” …"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3113659/posts

[outpostinmass2]

If you read the article the Maldivians that reported the aircraft where on the atol of Kuda Huvadhoo. A few hundred miles away from any airstrip.

[Revolting cat!]

The Maldives ‘witnesses’ (why in quote marks?) are trying for their 15 minutes of fame on Entertainment Tonight. Details at 11.

[outpostinmass2]

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/18/flight-mh370-residents-on-remote-island-in-maldives-saw-jet-matching-missing-malaysia-airlines-planes-description-4640688/

The actual island of the witnesses is is Kuda Huvadhoo.

[rawhide]

“The news came as it emerged that investigators have discovered the runways of five airports near the Indian Ocean loaded into Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s home-made flight simulator.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/18/missing-plane-mh370_n_4986445.html

[Cyber Liberty]

I didn’t think Argentina was in the range of the plane.

(/Odumbobrain)

[outpostinmass2]

If the plane was going to land at an airport in this area then it would be headed in the direction of Gan International airport which is south-east of this island.

[jetson]

Being another plane was observed near the MH370 on radar,could the Chinese be testing a new cloaking device that worked?

[Meet the New Boss]

The engine pings put it a long way from there and engine pings are a lot more reliable than someone who claims he saw something.

I wonder if that's true. Initially we were told the information sent to the satellites had location data. Later that was corrected to say there was no location data sent in those transmissions, they were merely "handshakes" indicating availability for transmission.

If that's correct then to make a guesstimate of distance from the satellite at the time of a ping they must be doing analyses of the characteristics of the signal received to come up with distance. Wouldn't surprise me if there is a huge fudge factor in that analysis.

[dinoparty]

but what about pinger being turned off? Why?

[rxsid]

"If the plane was going to land at an airport in this area then it would be headed in the direction of Gan International airport which is south-east of this island."

Or, it could have headed to one of the "practice runways" found on the pilots simulator... the Male International Airport in Maldives

[Blueflag]

Two guys couldn’t refuel or flight prep the aircraft. Hard to get off a triple 7 without a jetway. If they deployed the chutes, that messes up a lot of checklists.

No, *IF* they landed, unloaded, refueled and took off ... they had logistical support.

[Meet the New Boss]

The pinger kept going until about 8:10 a.m. was the last info they gave on that. That's how they came up with these orange arcs on their map. I wonder how accurate these orange arcs really are. If the Maldives sighting is bona find, then not very accurate.

[Uncle Chip]

A handshake with a little fudge is better than nothing —