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MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

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Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#91
post #55

Would have to be a pretty hardened pilot to take a 777 down to FL 50 and keep her there anywhere except approach. "Experts said flying a Boeing 777 in such a way would be dangerous, stressing the airframe and possibly causing those on board to be air sick and suffer from spatial disorientation." This truly meets the definition of incredible. How could you be that good, but then end up crashing the plane? If you are t…

Military-style nap-of-the-earth flying, à la the raid on the bin Laden compound. Those SOAR pilots surely have practiced this stuff for years. How would a civilian pilot (or hijacker pilot) acquire these skills? Flight simulator perhaps? The pilot had a fancy flight simulator at home. Now, there are plenty of legitimate reasons that a pilot would have a simulator at home, so we can't pin too much to this discovery. L…

military pilots sometime become civilian pilots when they get out of the service. i have no idea the background of the pilots in question, but that isn't an abnormal thing.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#92
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only circumstances in which they would be alive would be if it was a hijacking, the plane landed relatively safely, and they were being held hostage & incommunicado somewhere. It does seem the unlikeliest of possibilities at this point.

However, nothing, so far, indicates that the plane has crashed. If the plane has actually managed, ON PURPOSE, to avoid radar detection, it could have as well landed in secret somewhere else.

True, but the only theories under which this would be a logical course of action are fucking stupid. Someone did this to steal a 777 to use in a 9/11-style attack? There are lots of ways to get a 777 that would be WAY easier, such as: leasing one.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#93
post #55

Would have to be a pretty hardened pilot to take a 777 down to FL 50 and keep her there anywhere except approach. "Experts said flying a Boeing 777 in such a way would be dangerous, stressing the airframe and possibly causing those on board to be air sick and suffer from spatial disorientation." This truly meets the definition of incredible. How could you be that good, but then end up crashing the plane? If you are t…

Military-style nap-of-the-earth flying, à la the raid on the bin Laden compound. Those SOAR pilots surely have practiced this stuff for years. How would a civilian pilot (or hijacker pilot) acquire these skills? Flight simulator perhaps? The pilot had a fancy flight simulator at home. Now, there are plenty of legitimate reasons that a pilot would have a simulator at home, so we can't pin too much to this discovery. L…

He flies RC planes too. He just likes flying planes I think.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#94
post #55

Would have to be a pretty hardened pilot to take a 777 down to FL 50 and keep her there anywhere except approach. "Experts said flying a Boeing 777 in such a way would be dangerous, stressing the airframe and possibly causing those on board to be air sick and suffer from spatial disorientation." This truly meets the definition of incredible. How could you be that good, but then end up crashing the plane? If you are t…

How about over water though?

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#95
post #76

My guess is that the US, Russian, and Chinese militaries have the interest, and operational ability, to track every in-flight commercial jet all over the world. The IR signature alone makes a commercial jet obvious at any altitude as long as the engines are running. So MH370 is probably not lost; its final position is just being concealed by military protocol to avoid confirming satellite capabilities that have, in a…

Why would the US deploy such satellites to view the southern Indian Ocean? I could understand deployment in potential areas of interest, but that particular area is about as boring as it gets.

My point is that even if those capabilities exist, it's not clear that they would be able to help in this particular case.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#96
post #32

My wild guess: I think the plane was hijacked and taken to Iran (as there were iranians in the plane with stolen passport) or to Pakistan.

This is probably the dumbest theory I've heard so far. You can just render them in Europe and corporate jet them to anywhere on the planet.

No, let's take the entire god damn airliner! /sarcasm

Do conspiracy theorists even think their theories through before they say them?

I'm guessing no.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#97
post #55

Would have to be a pretty hardened pilot to take a 777 down to FL 50 and keep her there anywhere except approach. "Experts said flying a Boeing 777 in such a way would be dangerous, stressing the airframe and possibly causing those on board to be air sick and suffer from spatial disorientation." This truly meets the definition of incredible. How could you be that good, but then end up crashing the plane? If you are t…

Actually flying at 5000 ft is pretty easy and airliners obviously have to do some of that during descent. The stuff fighter pilots do clearing power cables and hills by a few feet is quite different. Airliners avoid flying at 5000ft so as not to collide with light aircraft mostly.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#98
post #76

My guess is that the US, Russian, and Chinese militaries have the interest, and operational ability, to track every in-flight commercial jet all over the world. The IR signature alone makes a commercial jet obvious at any altitude as long as the engines are running. So MH370 is probably not lost; its final position is just being concealed by military protocol to avoid confirming satellite capabilities that have, in a…

Why would the US deploy such satellites to view the southern Indian Ocean? I could understand deployment in potential areas of interest, but that particular area is about as boring as it gets. My point is that even if those capabilities exist, it's not clear that they would be able to help in this particular case.

Unless the satellites are in geosync, it's likely they are orbiting and could just randomly come across the correct area at that time.

If not, I'm wondering why people like Skybox [1] didn't deploy resources immediately to start covering ground. It seems like that approach would be much more effective than ships in the ocean?

[1] http://skyboximaging.com/

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#99
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, nothing, so far, indicates that the plane has crashed. If the plane has actually managed, ON PURPOSE, to avoid radar detection, it could have as well landed in secret somewhere else.

True, but the only theories under which this would be a logical course of action are fucking stupid. Someone did this to steal a 777 to use in a 9/11-style attack? There are lots of ways to get a 777 that would be WAY easier, such as: leasing one.

Or you can just walk into a parked one and fly away with it, like that fellow in Africa ten years ago.

Re: MH370 flew as low as 1,500m to avoid detection, says paper

#100
post #76

My guess is that the US, Russian, and Chinese militaries have the interest, and operational ability, to track every in-flight commercial jet all over the world. The IR signature alone makes a commercial jet obvious at any altitude as long as the engines are running. So MH370 is probably not lost; its final position is just being concealed by military protocol to avoid confirming satellite capabilities that have, in a…

Why would the US deploy such satellites to view the southern Indian Ocean? I could understand deployment in potential areas of interest, but that particular area is about as boring as it gets. My point is that even if those capabilities exist, it's not clear that they would be able to help in this particular case.

I would think nuclear submarines can just pop up anywhere in the ocean.
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