StevenSeagalFan

If they were flying up the Strait of Malacca maybe that is consistent with a hijacking, perhaps the pilots were told to land somewhere but we're really trying to land somewhere else, ala Ethiopian Air?

andrewwm

Yes searching the area around the last known coordinates and any other anomalous area is "wasting" 5 days.

Possibly. The hijackers would have to have been relatively sophisticated to know to turn off the transponder and the ACARS system, as well as take over comms. Seems like that level of sophistication would have resulted in a realistic understanding of where the plane could possibly land.

I think the most "likely" (in quotations, because it's still bloody unlikely) hijacking scenario is that some sophisticated hijackers took over the plane and wanted to fly it somewhere in India or the like, and then got in a fight with the pilot a la UA93 and crashed it short of their objective.

bmrisko

At this point it brings up a lot more questions and given the reliability of the news reports we have seen so far, I make nothing of it.

What did the life vest look like?
What was the person wearing?

xcalibir

I meant that the Malaysian authorities should have pointed out the military radar signature 5 days ago instead of searching in the wrong location.

Skyborne Flyer

Usually the cockpit doors have a pin-pad for access. The code is known to both pilots and FA/senior FA, so generally they could gain access if they thought something was amiss up front.

tsmith12

Fwiw, this also supports....

Malaysia's air force chief said Wednesday that military radar had tracked an unidentified object over the Strait of Malacca early Saturday morning, and investigators were trying to determine whether it was the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, said the object was detected by a military radar facility and flying westward, subsequent to the last known civilian contact with flight 370. "We did not scramble fighters because we knew it came from civilian air space," he said. "There is a lot of traffic there and the radar controllers knew it was coming from civilian airspace."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...?mg=reno64-wsj

Skyborne Flyer

Usually the cockpit doors have a pin-pad for access. The code is known to both pilots and FA/senior FA, so generally they could gain access if they thought something was amiss up front.

ChoochMom

Seems to me that one explanation for the conflicting info from Malaysian officials and the location of searching could be a mixture of not knowing much of anything (not every country has the resources for top of the line equipment and limitless 24/7 manpower) combined with "hints" from another country's classified tracking capabilities. For example, if a foreign country (cough, cough) was trying to help but can't hold a press conference and disclose sensitive data they could privately contact Malaysian military officials. Search would be redirected but the underlying rationale would have to be fuzzy. Hence the weird language on not tracking, but can't rule out the plane changing direction.

If so, probably officials in charge of giving out information don't even have access to the data so can't rule much of anything in or out. Just a thought, but would explain the inconsistencies while addressing why they are still looking at such a western flight plan.

Kremmen

According to this, an oil rig worker, Mike McKay, saw a plane in flames off Vietnamese coast and reported it to authorities.

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/...rted-seen.html

beowl

One question on ATC procedures:

In the takeover between Malaysia and Vietnam, were the pilots obliged to confirm to Malaysian ATC they established contact with Vietnamese ATC before saying goodnight? Or the procedure is they first say goodnight to Malaysia and then establish contact with Vietnam?

andrewwm

They have been searching the area near that contact since day 1. That contact hasn't been confirmed as MH370 - could be a private plane, a bird, a glitch, etc. (in fact, it would be a highly unusual failure sequence that the plane ends up at that radar position).

Nonetheless, they search the last confirmed location of the plane, along its expected track, and also at this unconfirmed radar contact location since the first day, which is still the sum totality of information we have about this plane. Their search plan sounds entirely reasonable to me.

They first say goodnight, then switch frequencies to HCM ATC.

Cofyknsult

When all is said and done, and it eventually will, does anybody in Malaysia realize what image of a 4th world country they will emerge with, and for reasons totally unrelated to the tragedy itself? Methinks any difference with the Congo is that any such situation would not have started being investigated by the Congolese and that the French, Belgians, Brits and Americans would have stepped in from Minute 1.

trailboss99

No need, an aviation jacket is vastly different in appearance (and function) to a maritime jacket. Anyone with any idea of what they are looking at would know instantly which it is. As someone pointed out clothing is the other give away. Your average airline passenger is not dressed much like your average seaman.

maortega15

The passenger can be from a cruise. But I digress.

andrewwm

Malaysia SAR team may not have all the resources of the US but seem to be doing a reasonable job given the complete dearth of information about the flight.

However, their press handling has not been great. I don't see how that impacts whether or not the plane is actually found, only whether it satisfies uninterested international rubberneckers