Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

(01-04-2014 18:19 )Tumble_Drier Wrote:  

(01-04-2014 15:48 )admiral decker Wrote:  It's a big deal because it took over 3 weeks to find this out. Who's in charge of the investigation, Inspector Clouseau?

It may be a big deal but it's not even remotely surprising.

Think back the the Japanese Earthquake / Tsunami and how Tepco behaved over Fukushima. They aren't accustomed to being open with information in that part of the world, it's all about "saving face".

Or they'd have to commit Hari -Kari or whatever they call suicide round those parts!! I'm beginning to suspect the Malaysian Government had a hand in the planer's disappearance after all but also they seem keen on covering up something that is connected to the flight.

(01-04-2014 17:49 )circles_o_o_o Wrote:  But tests over the weekend had confirmed that "neither an explosion nor a plane crash on land or on water had been detected

Does this mean they don't accept that the plane crashed after all?

(01-04-2014 19:21 )elgar1uk Wrote:  Does this mean they don't accept that the plane crashed after all?

It just means they have no evidence that it did, yet.
But as the saying goes - 'absence of proof is not proof of absence'.
I'm sure an agency dealing in nuclear weapons checking won't make any rash proclamations.

HMS Tireless has arrived in the search area. We wouldn't be committing a Sub unless the info from Inmarsat/AAIB was solid.

Think of the sub as another search vessel, not something that can search the ocean floor. Unless it gets within a few miles it wouldn't even detect the black box pinging away. What it can do is help search the surface and eliminate tracts of sea.

(01-04-2014 18:19 )Tumble_Drier Wrote:  They aren't accustomed to being open with information in that part of the world, it's all about "saving face".

I agree that Malaysia doesn't have the most open and transparent government. Let's say that someone on the plane was affiliated to the opposition party and this misguided individual developed a plan to take control of the plane and commit an act of mass murder to turn the international spotlight on the Malaysian government. Is it possible that this individual would have written a letter explaining his actions to have been received by the Malaysian government shortly after the event. My question is that if such a letter was received would the government have released this information or not being accustomed to being open with information they withheld it?

Almost everyone in this thread seems to be assuming that there are 2 possibilities about the flight south. Either the plane was out of control and simply flying until fuel exhaustion, or it was a deliberate act by someone to ditch the plane in a remote place. But what if there's an obvious third possibility not being given much consideration, that the plane was on that route because it was GOING SOMEWHERE. Whether it arrived or not is another matter. I'm not saying it didn't ditch in the southern Indian Ocean, in accordance with Inmarsat satellite pings, but perhaps ditching wasn't the intention and the plane had been following a planned heading to a planned destination but simply didn't make it there for whatever reason.

Another day with no real news. What I can't understand is if it was suicide by either of the pilots it's odd that there was no note left behind explaining the reasons for doing it. If it was hijacking the terrorists would readily claim responsibility, because these organisations feed on the publicity generated, but there's been nothing at all. I think that someone somewhere knows a great deal more than they're letting on and perhaps misguided national pride is preventing us from knowing more about what really happened.

The only 'significant' news today is that the film director Peter Jackson's private jet has joined in with the search operations.
It may be simple altruism but there's definitely a film to be had out of this.

(01-04-2014 19:41 )Tumble_Drier Wrote:  We wouldn't be committing a Sub unless the info from Inmarsat/AAIB was solid.

I think the plane went south but I base this view on the balance of evidence. I think it's going too far to claim that the info is solid. In fact it's the Inmmarsat data alone that pushes many of us to thinking it flew south. The lack of debris prevents us from making this a definite conclusion. The last known radar sighting saw the plane flying northwest, so without the satellite data we would feel that it probably continued in that direction. If MH370 flew south then where are the radar sightings from Diego Garcia and Australia? On balance I find the satellite data analysis argument persuasive, but I wouldn't understand the calculations myself even if I'd seen them, so I'm relying on the authority of Inmarsat's innovative technique, and for me that lacks the certainty of hard evidence.