Earlier quoted context omitted.
Might be wrong, but I had heard it was possible to enter a pre planed flight path. Plane did a turn back over land before heading out to sea.
All air carrier flights are flown from shortly after takeoff to some point in the approach phase on a clearance that is entered in the flight management computer during pre-flight. Until the initial unplanned left turn the flight was likely flying in this manner. The turn itself could not have been executed on autopilot though. It was far too steep. The autopilot flight envelope protections would have limited the ban…
Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
371–380 of 457 posts
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine one day all of a sudden a low-quality few seconds long video is uploaded to the channel showing only someone filming their feet as they stroll on on a beach.
That would be on the same level as Satoshi's wallet address turning up in a transaction.
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unlikely that he's still alive, but the evidence of a controlled landing makes the whole thing more puzzling from a psychological perspective. Why slowly and consciously drag it out until the very bitter end when you've already completed your suicide mission?
MH370 was out of control when it hit the water, according to the ATSB: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mh370-latest-debris-a...
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#374"Before Fariq can attempt to get back into the cockpit, Zaharie reaches up and flips the pressurization switch, cutting off bleed air to the cabin. The airplane rapidly begins to depressurize." I really want to believe that a single switch doesn't control whether people in the back of the plane can breather or not...
What's with so many of these comments being flabbergasted that there's a switch in the cockpit that can cause harm to everyone on the plane? Do you realize you're entrusting two people in the front of the plane with your life as soon as the plane takes off? There are probably DOZENS of switches that if they are flipped maliciously will result in everyone on the plane dying.
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
That scenario seems wildly improbable. First, the existence of the large U.S. airbase at Diego Garcia isn't remotely secret. As for an accidental shoot-down of an airliner before any visual identification or confirmation, I suppose it could happen but it goes against every policy and procedure the U.S. is known to follow. If an unidentified aircraft approached an airbase, they would scramble an intercept for visual i…
> Also, there are many examples of the U.S. military making such mistakes and NOT trying to cover it up. Including shooting down an airliner. No coverup.
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
I love how this reads completely differently after the final sentence implies the birds are still alive.
The chap who ran the facility had a party piece. He'd put bird seed on top of the blast wall in front of the inlet. He waited for enough pigeons to start eating the seed. Then switched on the engine. There were a lot of feathers...
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's unlikely, since about 98% of the Earth has transponder coverage, so you at least have position and what the aircraft think's it's altitude is, with pretty good precision and sample rate. It's only in a few spots in the middle the ocean that this doesn't exist. This was also relevant in that Airbus crash from maybe 15 years ago between South America and Africa. This is not a problem on the main to/from North Amer…
Not sure what exactly you mean by "transponder coverage", but if you mean primary or secondary surveillance radar, this is not true for most of the Atlantic or Pacific. Radar (both primary and secondary, i.e. transponders) as well as ADS-B require line-of-sight, and oceanic air traffic control has to make due without that, which means operating either via ADS-C (i.e. planes self-reporting their position, autonomously…
https://www.navcanada.ca/en/air-traffic/space-based-ads-b.as...
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#378If you haven't seen it, this Google Map of all found debris is quite interesting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Kghrk3iwRInii5qBTG...
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless you, say, make an emergency landing somewhere like Denver or La Paz.
Aircraft are pressurized to 8k feet above sea level. Denver is only 5k. La Paz, specifically, sure. It’s a lot less broadly useful than your original language made it sound.
Re: Seven years on, what do we know about the disappearance of flight MH370? (2021)
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your assumption is that it's a "kill everyone" button. Yes, used incorrectly or maliciously, in the right circumstances, it can do so. By the same reasoning, a huge percentage of the controls and switches in the cockpit can also have the same result. Just disconnect the fuel to the engines, or push the control stick forward.
I feel like the need for qualified pilots is essentially that it’d be easier to identify what isn’t effectively a “kill everyone” button in the cockpit if used in the wrong way. It’s a fricken giant metal tube flying through the air!