Merged Malaysia Airlines 777 missing en route to Bejing

[AdMan]

UPDATE [3:03pm]: At KLIA, the brother of a passenger says relatives are being told to bring a valid passport because they need to 'travel to the crash site'. Relatives have to be at KLIA before 6pm with valid passports for MAS to make 'travel arrangements'.

Seems strange, since it is appears to be most probable that the plane went down in the water. Likewise, since when do airlines take family members to a crash site? More like to a triage area where they can identify their relatives?

Yes, seems to me to be misinformation. Even if the crash site were over land (if so, probably in the middle of nowhere, still unofficially unidentified) why would they take the family members there?

I think it's all miscommunication as things are still pretty chaotic.

 

[Corsair 115]

Hmm... how is that the first possibility?

Well, they tend to have sometime of a track record of knocking aircraft out of the sky fairly quickly.

 

[AdMan]

Well, they tend to have sometime of a track record of knocking aircraft out of the sky fairly quickly.

I assume by "they" you mean bombs.

I still don't understand why you think that is the first possibility in this case, given how little we know so far.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, we only have to wait. A sudden rapid decompression will also be fairly obvious once the data recorders are recovered.

 

[This is The End]

I still don't understand why you think that is the first possibility in this case, given how little we know so far.

I believe the question was why was radio abruptly cut off. In a normal crash you have radio up to impact.

So in the former case a bomb might be a top contender, while it the later it would not.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, the first possibility would seem obvious: a bomb aboard the aircraft.

Don't. Please.

Rolfe.

 

[LTC8K6]

If this SAR message is real:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BiLh0L1CMAALcp-.jpg:large

That would be waypoint IGARI:
http://www.fallingrain.com/waypoint/SN/IGARI.html

 

[catsmate]

Hmm... how is that the first possibility?

A sudden event that would down the aircraft without the chance for a radio message.

 

[Sideroxylon]

Well, the first possibility would seem obvious: a bomb aboard the aircraft.

With no plane, this is but one of many possibilities. And will still remain but one of a number even if a midair breakup is evident.

 

[Sideroxylon]

A sudden event that would down the aircraft without the chance for a radio message.

There are a number of cases where sudden breakup events have occurred without a bomb. There also have been many crashes where time was available to put out a distress call but this did not occur as pilots were focused on dealing with solving problems and flying the plane -Air France Flight 447^WP for example.

 

[CoolSceptic]

UPDATE [3:03pm]: At KLIA, the brother of a passenger says relatives are being told to bring a valid passport because they need to 'travel to the crash site'. Relatives have to be at KLIA before 6pm with valid passports for MAS to make 'travel arrangements'.

Seems strange, since it is appears to be most probable that the plane went down in the water. Likewise, since when do airlines take family members to a crash site? More like to a triage area where they can identify their relatives?

It is a Chinese tradition to throw flower petals at the scene of the accident. I remember this happening when an aeroflot plane came down in Siberia.

 

[BenBurch]

There are a number of cases where sudden breakup events have occurred without a bomb. There also have been many crashes where time was available to put out a distress call but this did not occur as pilots were focused on dealing with solving problems and flying the plane -Air France Flight 447^WP for example.

Or the DH Comet wrecks.

 

[calebprime]

Just got a NY Times news update that they spotted an oil-slick.

A 12-mile long oil slick spotted between Malaysia and Vietnam Saturday afternoon is thought to be the first sign that a missing Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people aboard went down in the waters between southernmost Vietnam and northern Malaysia, according to Vietnam’s director of civil aviation.
“An AN26 aircraft of the Vietnam Navy has discovered an oil slick about 20 kilometers in the search area, which is suspected of being a crashed Boeing aircraft — we have announced that information to Singapore and Malaysia and we continue the search,” Lai Xuan Thanh, the director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, said in reporting the sighting of the slick.

 

[BenBurch]

Must be seeing it by moonlight because it's dark there now.

 

[Sideroxylon]

Or the DH Comet wrecks.

Or the Lockheed Electra breakups. The Lauder Air thrust reverser incident. TWA 800. Just a few more of the top of my head.

 

[Rolfe]

I've not seen anything about radar contact. I'm not familiar with how this works - would the plane have been out of range of ATC radar at the time?

Rolfe.

 

[Agatha]

Apologies for the Daily Fail link - it seems one person reported to be on board was not, leading to suspicion that one passenger was travelling on a stolen passport.

As Malaysian Airlines released a full list of the passengers on board - including five children aged two to four years old - Italian media reported one passenger listed as 37-year-old Luigi Maraldi was not in fact on board.

Mr Maraldi has come forward to let the Italian authorities know that he was not in fact on the stricken flight. He is understood to have called home from Thailand to let his family know he is alive and well.

He said his passport was stolen several months ago in the South East Asian country.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2576087/Malaysia-Airlines-says-plane-missing.html

 

[Travis]

That is ominous.

 

[Sideroxylon]

That is ominous.

Quite a few reasons why someone might travel with false documents.

 

[Rolfe]

Sorry, I'm really upset about this. Please don't let it be a bomb.

Rolfe.