1010101

Pretty rubbish answer but it depends on how far from the radar station it is/how sophisticated the radar is/what the sea conditions are like.

If its a long way offshore, the answer is not very low.

snowbunnytx

And further:

"Berita Harian also said that military radar noted that the plane was flying about 1,000 metres lower than its original altitude of 10,000 metres after the about turn."

Pulau Perak is the westernmost point of Malaysian sovereignty. So.. all these days searching a completely different area and suddenly the Malaysian military not only has a position, but an altitude to boot? for an HOUR after the plane disappeared from Subang Center and no other primary radar in this area picked it up?

exilencfc

It depends on which radar system(s) are in use. For example when the Royal Navy's first Type 45 destroyer came into service they had a problem with the radar picking up cars moving along coastal roads - and this was on the south coast of England which is pretty low lying. If a top of the range air defence ship, such as a Type 45, had been in the area the aircraft could not have got below its radar. I'm not sure what warships were in the area and thus I can't speculate on their capabilities.

What the limitations of the radar systems in the area is I don't know. I would assume that information is classified as it has implications for national defence. I would guess that radar active down to sea/ground level is probably confined to sea level and perhaps vulnerable targets such as airports and major cities.

The search in the Straits of Malacca is something of a mystery to me. Malaysian ATC seem to have been awake enough to have noticed the aircraft on radar, and if it had passed over the country at very low level it would have certainly been noticed by all the people it woke up.

vibrex

Very difficult to say really. It depends on what type of radar and where the radar is that you are trying to avoid. In addition, distance from radar also a consideration. In this case I don't believe radar coverage is that good.

In the military we would fly down to 250(ish) feet and during times of conflict lower than that.

Scrooge McDuck

That is a very good question. BTW. MAS already lost a hull due to cargo issues. From Airline Safety Network:

If cargo was the issue, then the problem must have come very quick and must have been very problematic. Fire usually give the crew to contact ground controls, see SAA295 for example.

In any case, it stays a mystery until the plane is found.

bugsy

Not sure if it was mentioned up thread but MAS has confirmed that no ACARS messages were received.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/malaysian-a...100647927.html

I did find the following quote from the same article a little premature however

I'm not sure if they are basing this on the recent inspection/maintenance, or the lack of ACARS messages, but either way until the aircraft is found (and more importantly the CVR & FDR), it is impossible to rule technical issues either in or out.

boogaooga

Not only that, but no indication that it was losing altitude, beyond being 1,000m lower than it should have been, an hour after apparently making its about-face.

It seems entirely possible that this plane is somewhere well out in the Indian Ocean.

Scrooge McDuck

That is rather strange, if it holds true, but would explain why the search was extended to the Malacca Strait. But still the question stays why the radar on land did not track/detect the plane.

tboons

with the region being vulnerable, because of all the fight over the islands and sea perimeters, i dont think that the military radar scan is weak/unavailable. rather, they do not want to disclose their capabilities but its surprising that they took 4 days to release this statement.

at the same time, if the aircraft did turn back, why didnt KLIA pick up the signal again as it should be within radius? turning around and lowering the altitude requires a pilot to make the decision so why didn't the pilot send the message back to the air traffic controller?

beowl

This is right in the middle of the straights in which case it should have been detected by radars in Indonesia as well (at least the military ones)?

Sigwx

Using the line of sight range equation yes. At 39000 a range of 240 NM is possible assuming the antenna of the receiver is at sea level.

NewbieRunner

Please see #2186 for the latest update.

DanTravels

The Yahoo article says "MH370 may have turned west after Kota Bahru and flew past the east coast and Kedah." If it turned west after Kota Bahru, it would have been in Thai airspace, but far southern Thailand (south of Phuket) does seem to contain a whole lot of nothing much. Go south of Pattani and north of Satun and it's mostly mountains or farms, no?

If the plane hadn't triggered any alarms, it's possible that both Malaysian and Thai radar operators shrugged it off.

And with the fuel loaded, what are we looking for now... any flat spot big enough to land a 777, anywhere from Sumatra to PNG to Western Australia?

SingaporeDon

Second Iranian traveling on the stolen Italian passport now identified by Interpol


From the Guardian
Speaking at a press conference Interpol’s chief Ronald Noble named one as Pouri Nour Mohammadi who was born on 30 April 1995. The other was Delavar Syed Mohammad Reza born 21 September 1984.

The names are those given on their Iranian passports.

CapJT

Can the transponder be turned off completely? Can the pilots make the plane invisible? Is it still possible that the Plane has landed somewhere?