Airliner Missing

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Missing Malaysian jet may have disintegrated in mid-air: source

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140309


Man, that would be a shitty way to go. Having your plane come apart at 35000 ft then falling ... too much time to reflect on your life, all the things you would not get to do, those left behind ...

Best wishes to all the families. RIP all those on board.

[Gusington]

If it disintegrated in mid-air, wouldn't a large amount of debris still make it to the ground from 35k feet?

[skeptical.platypus]

If it disintegrated in mid-air, wouldn't a large amount of debris still make it to the ground from 35k feet?

I would think so. A lot of Columbia made it to the ground. I don't recall at what elevation she broke up, tho. 

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

If it disintegrated in mid-air, wouldn't a large amount of debris still make it to the ground from 35k feet?

Of course, it wont float in air. I guess they are saying the reason they do not find a big wreck together is it scatters further from higher up. Wind is stronger the higher up you go.

[MikeGER]

i once  heard those black boxes activate a kind of pinger when underwater

when modern subs und fixed installed sensor lines in the ocean can locate a cruising Typhoon 'half an ocean' away they should be able to triangle the blackbox real fast ... and secretly channel the information to some SAR - vessels with less sensitive more civilan sensor equipment.... which 'by happenstance' looked in the right area when starting its search pattern of 100 000 square miles for the blackbox pingers    ...?   

[Gusington]

Ok so have tbey found any pieces yet? Maybe it crash landed into the water whole somehow and sunk...

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

i once  heard those black boxes activate a kind of pinger when underwater

when modern subs und fixed installed sensor lines in the ocean can locate a cruising Typhoon 'half an ocean' away they should be able to triangle the blackbox real fast ... and secretly channel the information to some SAR - vessels with less sensitive more civilan sensor equipment.... which 'by happenstance' looked in the right area when starting its search pattern of 100 000 square miles for the blackbox pingers    ...?

The Black box should survive, it would be designed to handle a collision. Along with no emergency call it makes me wonder if someone tested an EMP weapon.

[GDS_Starfury]

I dont know the track of the flight but there are some pretty deep spots around those parts of the ocean.

[skeptical.platypus]

i once  heard those black boxes activate a kind of pinger when underwater

when modern subs und fixed installed sensor lines in the ocean can locate a cruising Typhoon 'half an ocean' away they should be able to triangle the blackbox real fast ... and secretly channel the information to some SAR - vessels with less sensitive more civilan sensor equipment.... which 'by happenstance' looked in the right area when starting its search pattern of 100 000 square miles for the blackbox pingers    ...?

Yes, I caught on the news this morning that it is an audible ping that runs for 30 days. Other soft news updates included  a mention that the US presence now includes a frigate (2 helicopters, I assume an asw platform), a reconnaissance plane from Japan, and "soon" a submarine. I'm guessing our subs are pretty good at hearing audible pings, especially if it can between the bottom and a layer. I don't know how deep it is in the area, but I assume that's possible.

Also, neither of the spotted oil slicks are from the plane.

I think perhaps the most mind blowing bit about this to me is the whole ignored-Interpol-database-of-stolen-passports thing.

[skeptical.platypus]

Ok so have tbey found any pieces yet? Maybe it crash landed into the water whole somehow and sunk...

No debris. A liferaft turned out to be a cable wheel. Two large oil slicks test negative (I'm guessing that just means it's not avgas). One flight spotted what looks like a door, but now it can't be found again. There are apparently 30 ships and some serious airpower working the area, so it's a bit of a mystery as to what happened. I guess in the lack of obvious debris or crash field, even a hijacking has not been completely ruled out, but if that's the case, it's got to be one of the worst hijackings ever.

Here's a question for you knowledgeable types: why don't the black boxes stream data live to a satellite, bounce to a ground server, and then saved. Clearly the technology exists -- how different can the data in black boxes be from the data streamed to fly a drone?

[MikeGER]

why don't the black boxes stream data live to a satellite, bounce to a ground server, and then saved. Clearly the technology exists -- how different can the data in black boxes be from the data streamed to fly a drone?

the answer is just money :'(   
they will argue: its to seldom a plane get lost including the box, and the blackboxes survive an abuse like no other thing ...so with enuf time spend by the crash-analysis-specialists (years sometimes) all past incidents had been solved to a sufficient level in the past decade(s) ...so we don't want to spend a single cent more.

Also the plane at 30 000 feet is on a radar somehow all the time, those see in realtime if something strange happens. with a good military grade radar (recorded raw data) you should see the flight trajectory of larger debris-pieces or a debris cloud sinking in the atmosphere ... i guess there where just non active in the area at that time, or handshake between military intel and civilian agencies is not so good in those countries along the route   (to much info is learned about the sensitivity of the radars in those places would be given away ...same why the pinger 'is not found' immediately )               

[Gusington]

This is getting more and more strange with every passing hour with absolutely no trace of the plane...

[GDS_Starfury]

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Just thinking of all those foam seat cushions that must float... where are they?

[Gusington]

Yeah that's what I mean...not to mention the 1000s of cups and bottles and.other crap that would float.