Merged Malaysia Airlines 777 missing en route to Bejing

[Cylinder]

Malaysia Airlines Flight Goes Missing En Route to China

A Malaysia Airlines flight with 227 passengers on board has gone missing - and a search and rescue team has been deployed to locate the aircraft, a spokeswoman has confirmed to ABC News.

The Beijing-bound flight departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:55 a.m., and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., the airline said. It went missing two hours into the flight.

The airline said there are 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members on board the Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

In a statement on Twitter, Boeing said it was watching the situation closely.

The flight number is MH370.

 

[patchbunny]

Oh, damn. CNN reports that the route was mainly over land, so hopefully there may be survivors and the black boxes can be recovered.

 

[Loss Leader]

What times are these Eastern? How long has the thing been missing?

 

[Cylinder]

I guess 3 hours overdue is a bit worse than out-of-contact.

 

[Cylinder]

What times are these Eastern? How long has the thing been missing?

Bejing and Kuala Lumpur are UTC +8

ETA: NYC is UTC-5 for comparison.

 

[rwguinn]

Love how the news reports

If the plane is found to have crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year, after an unblemished safety record since the jet entered service in 1995.

Like the Asiana at SFO was the airplane, not the pilots drivers...




http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140308[

 

[Orphia Nay]

"The airline lost contact with the B777-200 aircraft after it departed Kuala Lumpur shortly after 12.40am local time on Saturday."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysi...rs-on-board-20140308-hvgnx.html#ixzz2vKiY72yT

I make that 10 hours ago.

 

[Cylinder]

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) confirms that flight MH370 has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, Saturday.

In a statement issued by MAS, Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.

That's like 9 hours since last contact and 4 hours overdue if my maths are right. Hopefully the flight plan avoids contested land borders to help ease the SAR effort.

ETA: Or what Orphia Nay said.

 

[applecorped]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BiKosCdCMAACDsA.jpg

Edited by LashL: 

Changed hotlinked image to regular link. Please see Rule 5.

 

[Cylinder]

Thanks AC. Asian geography is apparently not my strong suit.

 

[Cylinder]

Malaysia Airline statement via Google+:

Sepang, 8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, today (8 March 2014).

Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.

Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.

The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. Meanwhile, the public may contact +603 7884 1234 for further info.

 

[TjW]

Love how the news reports


Like the Asiana at SFO was the airplane, not the pilots drivers self-loading automation tenders...




http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140308[

No reason to insult drivers

 

[Cylinder]

FlightAware places MAS370 last contact at 4.7073 LAT 102.5278 LON which is the eastern Malaysian peninsula ~35 miles from the coast nearest Kuala Terrengganu. I don't know if that track is definitive, though.

 

[Orphia Nay]

The 239 passengers comprise 13 nationalities including 7 Australians, 4 Americans, and 2 New Zealanders.

ETA: 152 Chinese; 38 Malaysians.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Vietnam has detected a signal.

http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/the-gi...-hieu-cach-mui-ca-mau-120-hai-ly-2960870.html

Google Translate: "Talking with VnExpress , Pham The Hien, director of the Center to coordinate search and rescue 3 said received information from the Maritime Rescue Centre in Vietnam, Malaysia at 0h20 plane lost signal at positions 6o56 ' North, 103o35 'eastern coast of Ca Mau way 120 miles to the southwest."

ETA: No, I don't think that's the article reporting the new signal. Sorry.

 

[Mister Earl]

Poor people. That's a hell of a way to go.

I still hold out hope that the pilot was drunk or something and landed at a wrong airport somewhere... but that wouldn't make the transponder go silent.

 

[Checkmite]

It would have been in an oceanic flight phase. It's also a largely automated phase of flight, except that it involves no significant speed or altitude changes that the pilots would be neglecting to watch properly. Whatever the reason for this incident, I'm tentatively guessing it's not related to the causes of the Asiana disaster.

 

[Antiquehunter]

There are 6500 people descending on Hainan, China for an international meet of the Hash House Harriers. I'm hoping that no one I know was on that plane. The event is later this week.

Obviously there are tons of flights between KL and Beijing, but the odds of my knowing someone on that flight are... not as long as they were on another week.

 

[jj]

Shallow water but otherwise nowhere to speak of if the Vietnam signal is the final signal.

But does not look at all good, I have to say.

 

[kazzaqld]

And cue the conspiracy theorists - a cousin of mine just posted "How can an aircraft go missing in this day and age - must be a coverup by the Malaysian government!"