Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 01:20PM

irishmover wrote: »

2 people being confirmed having false passports and atleast two more investigated for false passports on the flight I don't believe to be a coincidence.

The first two people were stated as having bought identical flights with identical prices.

They could just have bought the 2 stolen passports off of a third party previously. It seems to be a common issue in this area. That doesn't give any real clue. They could be criminals. However, it is strange that a person would be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Bejing, onto Amsterdam and then going separate ways. People from these parts wouldn't be making a journey like that, unless business people. But they would hardly have fake passports.

fits · 09-03-2014 01:24PM

Falling darkness there again. Doubt there will be any further developments today.

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 01:25PM

From the Mirror......

"The Singaporean team may have found something in the water, Chinese state media is reporting.

Rescue teams are on route to have a closer look.

.................."

Also being reported that a relative made phone contact with person on plane but lost contact (as in the call connects but no one answers)
However, a lot of hoax stuff is going around so it may not be credible.

brandon_flowers · 09-03-2014 01:25PM

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

They could just have bought the 2 stolen passports off of a third party previously. It seems to be a common issue in this area. That doesn't give any real clue. They could be criminals. However, it is strange that a person would be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Bejing, onto Amsterdam and then going separate ways. People from these parts wouldn't be making a journey like that, unless business people. But they would hardly have fake passports.

It could be European criminals coming back in too not wanting to be noticed. In Thailand if you have the right contacts you can find guys with hundreds of stolen passports and you select one that looks like you. The only place that I can think of that passport theft is so bad is Central America.

brandon_flowers · 09-03-2014 01:26PM

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

From the Mirror......

"The Singaporean team may have found something in the water, Chinese state media is reporting.

Rescue teams are on route to have a closer look.

.................."

Also being reported that a relative made phone contact with person on plane but lost contact.

The piece in bold has been proven false, the number was given to the Malaysian authorities and there was no ring tone.

SpaceTime · 09-03-2014 01:28PM

The passport thing is looking a lot more benign in terms of its impact on the flight anyway. It looks more like regular criminal activity.

SpaceTime · 09-03-2014 01:32PM

Colser wrote: »

If this is what happened and was a total error/accident it might explain why there seems to be so little concrete info..would anyone want to admit that this had occured?

Not if they don't want consequences from China.

Bear in mind North Korea caused a near miss with a Chinese airliner recently. While I realise this is very far away from North Korea's likely sphere of military activity someone could have been carrying out something.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA260CV20140307?irpc=932

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 01:32PM

Colser wrote: »

If this is what happened and was a total error/accident it might explain why there seems to be so little concrete info..would anyone want to admit that this had occured?

We don't know. They are telling us though that the plane had turned.
However, there has been a lot of activity in the South China Sea area. There has been increasing tension in that whole area over territories and it only adds to the possibilities.

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 01:37PM

Malaysia Airlines is holding a press conference live.

"Finding the missing aircraft is the utmost priority for all of us."

"We are looking at the possibility tried to turn back."

The above from the Mirror feed looks likely to be the last news we will get for a while as nightfall has passed.

Calina · 09-03-2014 01:41PM

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

It seems that the plane did make an unscheduled turn from its flight path. If ACARS data was sent from the plane after this with no abnormality you have to wonder why. The authorities haven't told us how far the plane travelled after making this turn and whether this turn was before/after the communication with the second plane.

As I understand it, relevant reports suggest the plane may have made a turn; so I don't see it as certain. The choice of language is always worth noting. AF447 did a near 360 just before it crashed; this can be seen on page 23 of the final report in the accident. http://www.bea.aero/docspa/2009/f-cp090601.en/pdf/f-cp090601.en.pdf so the possibility of a turn is not excluded, but nor can it be definite that it was a deliberate navigational decision either.

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

It appears the plane had gone off the radar when ATC requested a plane ahead of MH370 to make emergency contact, so had the plane (MH370) turned at this stage, given that it was 10 mins after last radar contact when the other plane communicated. This could mean that MH370 had made a turn some 10/15 minutes before last contact on the plane.
You have to wonder why the crew would not have contacted ATC during that period of time.

If a plane disappears from radar contact, it's pretty standard for ATC to ask other aircraft and ships in the vicinity to attempt to make contact. Shannon did this with Air India in 1985, for example.

I'm aware that there are reports that contact was made subsequently but I am not really convinced by them at the moment.

Peregrine · 09-03-2014 01:47PM

Tigerandahalf, do you work for the Mirror or something?

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 01:49PM

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

Tigerandahalf, do you work for the Mirror or something?

I don't understand what people's problem is with the Mirror live feed.

People always complain if sources aren't quoted and it would be against board.ie rules to copy and paste without making reference, which is what I have done. Some people clearly have issues but that's your problem.

fits · 09-03-2014 02:51PM

Some object worth investigating found just before dark. Can't find good link to it but its on this twitter feed. https://twitter.com/PzFeed

je551e · 09-03-2014 02:51PM

A search plane has found suspected fragments of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 reported by The Wall Street Journal.

fits · 09-03-2014 02:52PM

WSJ Asia reporting same.

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 02:58PM

From the Mirror.........

"The first major breakthrough appears to have been made after a Vietnamese search team found what they believe is part of a door and an aeroplane tail.

The suspected fragments have been located around 50 miles from southwest of Tho Chu Island, according to the Wall Street Journal.

...."

Thrill · 09-03-2014 03:22PM

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-family-chinese-passenger-says-mobile-pho

A Chinese family successfully rang the mobile phone of a passenger on board Malaysia Airlines plane

Family members have asked Malaysia Airlines to use satellite technology to pick up the mobile phone signals of passengers before their phones run out of batteries.

How deep would a phone have to be before a signal became impossible?

Sully · 09-03-2014 03:23PM

Thrill wrote: »

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-family-chinese-passenger-says-mobile-pho

Reported earlier but someone replied saying the airline tried to call the mobile but it didn't ring out.

L1011 · 09-03-2014 03:30PM

A ringing tone does not guarantee a phone is on for starters.

SpaceTime · 09-03-2014 03:39PM

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

From the Mirror.........

"The first major breakthrough appears to have been made after a Vietnamese search team found what they believe is part of a door and an aeroplane tail.

The suspected fragments have been located around 50 miles from southwest of Tho Chu Island, according to the Wall Street Journal.

...."

It was mentioned on Marian Finucane's radio programme by the French guest they had on. I think she had heads up from the French diplomatic corps or something.

I'm not sure who she was as I only caught end of show.

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 03:45PM

From Mirror.....

"Source tells Reuters India the investigation is centring on the possibility the jet disintegrated in mid air.

It feels as if this mystery is finally about to unravel.

........."

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 03:47PM

Here's the full story from Reuters who say they have got it from a "senior source" close to the investigation in Malaysia.

"The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet," said the source.

If the plane had plunged intact from such a height, breaking up only on impact with the water, search teams would have expected to find a fairly concentrated pattern of debris, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the investigation.

The source was speaking shortly before Vietnamese authorities said a military plane had spotted at sea an object suspected to be part of the missing airliner.

Asked about the possibility of an explosion, such as a bomb, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical issues.

Malaysian authorities have said they are focused on finding the plane and have declined to comment when asked about the investigations.

Tigerandahalf · 09-03-2014 03:49PM

So I wonder were the oil slicks a separate issue? If it did break up at that altitude there would be no oil.

The terrorist angle is still very much alive. A small bomb onboard could have penetrated the fuselage and caused it to disintegrate yet it doesn't explain the turn back the plane apparently made. Unless the pilots lost control and the plane went into a turn. But the authorities haven't informed us re that.

BorneTobyWilde · 09-03-2014 03:55PM

Could it not have landed on sea and then sink intact .

eatmyshorts · 09-03-2014 03:57PM

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

So I wonder were the oil slicks a separate issue?.

I take it you've never been to that part of the world? There's probably more oil in the Gulf of Thailand than there is water.

Thrill · 09-03-2014 03:59PM

Two China warships rushing to suspected site of missing MH370 plane, one expected to arrive in hours

SpaceTime · 09-03-2014 04:12PM

Hopefully, they get information quickly. It's a very very odd situation given the complete lack of information. With modern telemetry we should know something.

Everything suggests that it was incredibly sudden and catastrophic.

Sully · 09-03-2014 04:51PM

Parts that were found won't be confirmed until light, according to theJournal and Guardian Live Blog. It's too dark, but the location has been noted and they will return to the area a first light. The debris in question isn't in the same location as the oil.

SpaceTime · 09-03-2014 05:06PM

MYOB wrote: »

A ringing tone does not guarantee a phone is on for starters.

Actually, in most cases it does. You'd occasionally get a burst of one ring before the call might go to voicemail.

If this is true, the investigators would want to immediately check it out while the device still has power.

It's also possible the person lost their mobile in a hotel room somewhere and it's pure coincidence that it's ringing.

The other possibility is that the person has calls forwarded to their office phone or something like that.

It could even be ringing under water if it's not wet e.g. in an air pocket in an overhead bin or something like that. But, it would certainly be a huge help in finding the aircraft and would indicate it must be quite close to a coast as there is no mobile coverage in the middle of the ocean.

Some recent smartphones from Sony and Panasonic are also water resistant and would quite likely still work if dropped into the sea. The could be floating somewhere too.

They should absolutely investigate it though and the person involved should immediately provide phone numbers to the investigating authorities.

In fact, it would be no harm in providing the investigating authorities with a list of all available mobile numbers so that they could maybe look at what transmitters they 'pinged' should some of them have been accidentally switched on during the flight.
Plenty of phone must get accidentally left on despite the requests to switch them off.

Any extra information's a good thing.

I certainly wouldn't write it off as 'nonsense'. It's perfectly possible that a phone has survived the crash and is ringing (even in the sea), particularly if it's one of those water-resistant Sony, Panasonics etc

Kavs8 · 09-03-2014 05:10PM

If I see another mirror quote on this forum, which tigerandahalf keeps bringing up I may throw myself out to sea. All these mirror posts do is throw out the same information brought up by reputable sources.

With regards this possible turn-back it's bull I'm afraid. Talking to one of my friends today at EI and what he said fits, mid-air desintigration for whatever reason and the largest section would show up on radar until it disipated, that could be any section. The lack of ACARS messages which showed no abnormalities usually indicates the feeder lines have been severed i.e. the cockpit section has broken-off.

Some people are questioning the lack of communication - Pilots first and formost do what they do best, they fly the plane make control stable and then would in a critical situation once control is regained call mayday (come help me).

Regards the family of a passenger ringing the presumed deceased passengers mobile, has it crossed anyone's mind they could have left that phone behind?

In my own opinion the authorities are withholding information from us for 3 reasons;

1) The body language of the "generals" giving the press conference, they only speculated on a turn-back when a smart CNN journalist grilled them.

2) The defensive nature of these "generals" when questioned about Malaysia's security.

3) Nobody from Malaysia or Vietnam has yet to confirm ridiculously this late now whether or not it was actually in control of eithers airspace.

Here's food for thought, the Minister for Transport of Malaysia is also the Defense Minister and get this he has authority over passport control. Talk about conflict of interest.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-Updates and Discussion

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