Airliner missing between Malaysia and Cambodia/Vietnam, terrorism possible

[carl]

American Pride:

There is probably a plain magnetic compass in the cockpit. Every airplane I've flown had one and there appears to be one in the 777 cockpit photos on the net. It was mandated on the smaller planes I'm familiar with and probably is on a 777 too.

If that didn't work I'll bet at least one of the pax had a hand held gps in their carry on bag. That would be good enough to find your way.

(The above is if the primary nav systems all fail. I should have said that.)

There have been at least two accidents that I know of where the crew and pax passed out due to oxygen deprevation due to depressurization. Both planes eventually crashed. But that probably doesn't account for the transponder not working.

Beyond that I don't know anything.

[Dayuhan]

Beyond that I don't know anything.

None of us do at this point, though the evidence that the plane may have been flying for some time after the last contact does provide a reasonable explanation for the failure of the search so far.

This quote:

U.S. officials said earlier that they have an "indication" the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner may have crashed in the Indian Ocean and is moving the USS Kidd to the area to begin searching.

does not specify the nature of the "indication", but if it was sufficiently compelling to redeploy a destroyer it must be something fairly substantial.

[Biggus]

American Pride:

There is probably a plain magnetic compass in the cockpit. Every airplane I've flown had one and there appears to be one in the 777 cockpit photos on the net. It was mandated on the smaller planes I'm familiar with and probably is on a 777 too.

If that didn't work I'll bet at least one of the pax had a hand held gps in their carry on bag. That would be good enough to find your way.

(The above is if the primary nav systems all fail. I should have said that.)

There have been at least two accidents that I know of where the crew and pax passed out due to oxygen deprevation due to depressurization. Both planes eventually crashed. But that probably doesn't account for the transponder not working.

Beyond that I don't know anything.

Not only would they have a backup set of rudimentary aviation and navigation instrumentation, they have a lost-comms approach procedure for KL which they'd be very familiar with.

The pressurisation system is one of the checklist items, and if I recall correctly, it's a simple mechanical knob that you turn to increase or decrease the pressure. It's pretty unlikely for a crew to miss setting it up correctly on the ascent, so the question is what caused the depressurisation?

[slapout9]

Why the aviation experts explain the engineering an technical aspects I will stick with my universal small wars, big wars, basic Police theory that People cause crimes and wars. in this case I say the backround of the flight crew stinks. Start with the pilot.

[Biggus]

Why the aviation experts explain the engineering an technical aspects I will stick with my universal small wars, big wars, basic Police theory that People cause crimes and wars. in this case I say the backround of the flight crew stinks. Start with the pilot.

It's happened in the past a few times, so I'm open to the possibility. Do you have anything to add to the background of the flight crew beyond what you've said? All I can say to be aware of is that the Captain was incredibly experienced, the FO was reasonably experienced for an FO, and I know nothing of any other crew.

[slapout9]

It's happened in the past a few times, so I'm open to the possibility. Do you have anything to add to the background of the flight crew beyond what you've said? All I can say to be aware of is that the Captain was incredibly experienced, the FO was reasonably experienced for an FO, and I know nothing of any other crew.

Yes, who had motive,means and opportunity? Both the transponders were turned off. That took human action. Who had the means and opportunity to do that? IMO only the crew had those 2 . Now we need to find a motive and who had that motive.

[Biggus]

Yes, who had motive,means and opportunity? Both the transponders were turned off. That took human action. Who had the means and opportunity to do that? IMO only the crew had those 2 . Now we need to find a motive and who had that motive.

It's worthy of some consideration, but given the lack of information indicating malicious intent, I don't see much point throwing around accusations about the crew. That may change, though.

The slow decompression theory that I've found the most compelling thus far has some flaws. Firstly, the aircraft turned quite a bit more sharply than you'd expect it would to leave the airway. Secondly, there's a visible and audible warning to the crew. There is a precedent where a crew ignored such a warning and subsequently crashed (see Helios Airways Flight 522 for example). People do strange things when they're suffering from hypoxia, though.

Edit: For what little it's worth, I am slowly beginning to agree that this looks like a deliberate act. I'm not quite there yet, but it's on my mind.

[Biggus]

And this, released a few minutes ago:

'We are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,' senior Malaysian police official says

[slapout9]

It's worthy of some consideration, but given the lack of information indicating malicious intent, I don't see much point throwing around accusations about the crew.

Not throwing accusations at anyone in particular.... but any serious investigation should ''start" with the Pilot and work through the entire crew and then the passengers. They should look heavily at Financial,Medical(not just Psychological),Marriage,Religious,and Political stresses not just past work performance. They should pay special attention to the "Private" Life (and everybody has one) personal habits of the persons of interest.

And as usual my adult warning label! I could be all wrong!!!