Is It Just Me Or ...

[silverscreenselect]

... does anyone else think that the search for this missing airliner bears a striking resemblance to the TV show Lost?

[Bob Juch]

... does anyone else think that the search for this missing airliner bears a striking resemblance to the TV show Lost?

Yep, exactly.

[jaybee]

I'm waiting for the hijacking by Elvis assisted by Michael Jackson theory - since current known facts do not disprove it.

I don't know what happened to flight 370, but I think there is as much or more of a chance that there were just some strange set of circumstances that caused it to crash as there are all the hijacking theories. Right now there are very few verifiable facts and a lot of speculation.

[elwoodblues]

Is this what happens when you don't turn off your phone?

[Beebs52]

Someone was playing Words with Friends for sure.

[Bob78164]

I wouldn't know. I never watched it. --Bob

[MarleysGh0st]

The show didn't show us any details about the search, so it's impossible to say.

But if the passengers now find themselves on a mysterious island, they best stay away from the smoke monster!

[ghostjmf]

I was gonna say it, but "thought better" of it because people on this list like to accuse me of heartlessness. Glad somebody did (say it).


In real life, unless we really want to buy an "island out of time/space" solution, this thing went down in the ocean somewhere. If it had crashed on land it would be hard to hide in most areas; if its safely landed after being hijacked, you'd think there's be a press release by now. Though of course the relatives of the passengers are still hoping that's exactly what happened.

[Bob Juch]

Let me sum up why they think the plane was hijacked:

The plane's ACARS system had been disabled prior to the final communication from the plane's cockpit. That would have taken someone who knew which circuit breaker to flip. The pilots did not indicate any trouble on board, suggesting a possible intent to mislead ground control.

Fourteen minutes after ACARS was turned off the transponder was shut off which can easily be done.

Authorities believe that "pings" from another system were transmitted to satellites for four to five hours after the transponder stopped sending signals. The company Inmarsat has said they might be able to determine how far away the plane was at the time of the pings but not its precise location.

[Spock]

Biggest surprise to me (admittedly, I have seen very little TV news and have not read much on the web) is that there is not an AWACs type system keeping track of every plane in the sky in the sky-so you could play the tape back, so to speak.

Maybe the equivalent of security cameras.

For some reason,I find it heartening that planes can still evade radar and disappear in this day and age.

[DevilKitty100]

My very own crystal ball, says the plane and its occupants are in a third world country tucked away somewhere being held for some major, advantageous hostage situation that will arise. There will be no winners.

[tanstaafl2]

Quite the little mystery. Seems like it might be time to put an independently powered and inaccessable transponder device of some sort on all commercial aircraft.

Well, past time really. While not clear if they are involved here it seems pretty clear that pilots can't be fully trusted any more than anyone else.

I am inclined to think it would have been tough (but perhaps not impossible) to fly the plane north over land where there were many chances somebody would "see" it, either visually or on radar of some sort. Unfortunately that leaves mostly the vast Indian Ocean as the most likely location for the plane. Not much radar coverage out there I would guess.

[SportsFan68]

Quite the little mystery. Seems like it might be time to put an independently powered and inaccessible transponder device of some sort on all commercial aircraft.

Well, past time really. While not clear if they are involved here it seems pretty clear that pilots can't be fully trusted any more than anyone else.

I am inclined to think it would have been tough (but perhaps not impossible) to fly the plane north over land where there were many chances somebody would "see" it, either visually or on radar of some sort. Unfortunately that leaves mostly the vast Indian Ocean as the most likely location for the plane. Not much radar coverage out there I would guess.

I thought it was the case -- I thought the infamous "black box" was inaccessible unless the plane was on the ground or in the water. Stationary, anyway.

I'm coming around to the horrific idea that it's somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean under thousands of feet of water.

[jarnon]

I thought it was the case -- I thought the infamous "black box" was inaccessible unless the plane was on the ground or in the water. Stationary, anyway.

I heard on the news that pilots (or whoever's flying the plane) can turn off the voice recorder, and it only records two hours anyway. I think this disaster will spur some changes.

[BackInTex]

No one has tried this yet. I'm surprised.

Spoiler

Olly olly oxen free!

[jaybee]

Things that were facts yesterday are no longer facts today. Timelines from the slim amount of evidence they have are changing all the time. Odds are that some of the information that is considered 'factual' from satellite pings or distant radar sightings are in error too.

With a search area that is now almost the size of the continental United States it could be years before any bits of wreckage are found. Someday, somebody will stumble across the crash site (if on land) or some floating parts will eventually wash up on shore and be discovered, but we'll probably never know what really happened.

The only scenario that I can see where the whole story will be known is if they find that the captains personal flight trainer program has stored plans to make a large passenger jet disappear.

Or maybe if the passenger manifest has someone listed as "B.D. Cooper".

[BackInTex]

Or maybe if the passenger manifest has someone listed as "B.D. Cooper".

True. But you'd of thought he'd learned something from his brother D.B.

[mrkelley23]

I prefer this explanation, as it is less "10-impossible-things-before-breakfast"-ish.

[andyrinny]

The word so far seems to be that the Inmarsat information is reliable. Namely, (i) the Inmarsat satellite sent a transmission to the plane once an hour; (ii) the plane's antenna sent back a ping each time for several hours, the last time at 8:11 a.m., when the plane was somewhere on a circle that includes the two red arcs that have been publicized; and (iii) the plane would send that type of ping whenever it was powered on, and not if it had crashed, or landed and powered down.

For some reason, the possible circle of the plane's location at 5:11, 6:11, 7:11. etc. has not been released. That would help determine the plane's flight path throughout that period.

In any event, while I have not heard the experts put it this way, it seems inescapable from the above supposed facts that the plane either crashed within an hour's flight of the red circle, or landed within an hour's flight of the red circle (conceivably refueling and taking off again).

So, unless I'm missing something, the search should focus on landing strips within an hour's flight of the red circle, excluding the areas the plane could not possibly have reached in that period of time. Right?

[Bob Juch]

I prefer this explanation, as it is less "10-impossible-things-before-breakfast"-ish.

The experts have debunked that.

[Bob Juch]

The word so far seems to be that the Inmarsat information is reliable. Namely, (i) the Inmarsat satellite sent a transmission to the plane once an hour; (ii) the plane's antenna sent back a ping each time for several hours, the last time at 8:11 a.m., when the plane was somewhere on a circle that includes the two red arcs that have been publicized; and (iii) the plane would send that type of ping whenever it was powered on, and not if it had crashed, or landed and powered down.

For some reason, the possible circle of the plane's location at 5:11, 6:11, 7:11. etc. has not been released. That would help determine the plane's flight path throughout that period.

In any event, while I have not heard the experts put it this way, it seems inescapable from the above supposed facts that the plane either crashed within an hour's flight of the red circle, or landed within an hour's flight of the red circle (conceivably refueling and taking off again).

So, unless I'm missing something, the search should focus on landing strips within an hour's flight of the red circle, excluding the areas the plane could not possibly have reached in that period of time. Right?

They have published a map of two arcs based on the pings. One going north and the other south.

Caution, video and audio start playing automatically: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/world/asi ... nes-plane/

[mrkelley23]

No, an expert who writes for Slate.com has debunked it. Andyrinny's information is similar to that debunking, but if a plane can spoof one set of electronic information, why not others.

In any case, it is clear that not enough information is being made public (to anyone!) to have any reasonable certainty about anything yet. Until that happens, everything is going o be guesswork, and not very good guesswork, at that.

When all is said and done, I prefer simpler explanations to intricate conspiracy theories.

[Bob Juch]

Things that were facts yesterday are no longer facts today. Timelines from the slim amount of evidence they have are changing all the time. Odds are that some of the information that is considered 'factual' from satellite pings or distant radar sightings are in error too.

With a search area that is now almost the size of the continental United States it could be years before any bits of wreckage are found. Someday, somebody will stumble across the crash site (if on land) or some floating parts will eventually wash up on shore and be discovered, but we'll probably never know what really happened.

The only scenario that I can see where the whole story will be known is if they find that the captains personal flight trainer program has stored plans to make a large passenger jet disappear.

Or maybe if the passenger manifest has someone listed as "B.D. Cooper".

This morning the news said they've discovered that the captain deleted files from his flight training system in February. They're attempting to recover them.

[mrkelley23]

I think Putin ordered it hijacked so he can pose naked while sitting atop it.

[Bob Juch]

No, an expert who writes for Slate.com has debunked it. Andyrinny's information is similar to that debunking, but if a plane can spoof one set of electronic information, why not others.

In any case, it is clear that not enough information is being made public (to anyone!) to have any reasonable certainty about anything yet. Until that happens, everything is going o be guesswork, and not very good guesswork, at that.

When all is said and done, I prefer simpler explanations to intricate conspiracy theories.

Actually the problem is that they're releaseing too much information before it's vetted.