Engine Data Reveals That Flight 370 Flew On For Hours After It "Disappeared" 382
Advocatus Diaboli writes "Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program. As part of its maintenance agreements, Malaysia Airlines transmits its engine data live to Rolls-Royce for analysis. The system compiles data from inside the 777's two Trent 800 engines and transmits snapshots of performance, as well as the altitude and speed of the jet. Those snippets are compiled and transmitted in 30-minute increments, said one person familiar with the system."
Update: 03/14 11:41 GMT by S : The WSJ has since updated its report to say the data was from the plane's satellite-communication system. However, Malaysian authorities have denied both scenarios, saying neither Boeing nor Rolls-Royce received data past 1:07am (the flight initially disappeared off radar at 1:30am).
Napkin time (Score:5, Interesting)
~500 mph * 5 hours = 2500 mile radius = 19.6 million square miles.
That's about 10% of the surface of the planet. They're going to need some sort of heading information; you can permanently hide a 777 in that much ocean/mountain/jungle/etc.
Anyone know if the radar hits were meaningful yet?
Re:Already denied (Score:1, Interesting)
Something's definitely going on that they don't want us to know about. They wouldn't be blanket-denying everything announced by third parties if they didn't have at least some idea of what happened.
Malaysia denies everything ! (Score:1, Interesting)
Malaysia denies that it is a racist country.
Malaysia denies that its "democracy" is a sham.
Malaysia denies that its government is corrupt.
Malaysia denies that its official race-based policies has forced a lot of talented people leaving the country.
Malaysia denies everything.
So, is it a surprise that Malaysia denies this, as well ?
The Malaysian officers deny the burst mode transmission from the engine's monitoring module based on this statement: "The RR (Rolls Royce) representative in KL (Kuala Lumpur) has no idea of the transmission"
On the other hand, the report of the burst mode transmission kept on going for an additional four (4) hours AFTER the plane supposed to be "lost", is based on the communication between the RR HQ (for Jet Engine) and the Western security agencies.
Which one do you believe ?
It wasn't the engines sending data (Score:5, Interesting)
Even though Malaysian Airlines didn't have an online service monitoring plan for this specific plane, the plane still performs periodic searches/connections to satellite data communication providers - akin to an unregistered cell phone searching and connecting to a cell tower but without licensed service. This periodic connection occurs approx once every hour on the plane, and by counting the number of attempts (4), authorities believe the plane was either flying or in-tact for at least 4 hours from the last secondary radar ping.
Maybe it's just Little Country Syndrome? (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't know what to believe anymore (Score:4, Interesting)
As someone else has already mentioned, this has been denied by Malaysian officials. Just like China has now said that those satellite images which were supposed to show plane debris did in fact not show debris, but indeed, said satellite images were "released by mistake". Just like that admiral of the Vietnamese Navy saying they had lost radar contact with the plain just over the Gulf of Thailand, but apparently it was just incorrect information (another mistake).
It seems clear that no-one knows where the fuck that plane is, but due to the pressure to find something, ANYTHING to satisfy the media as well as political pressure (not to mention relatives of those missing), anything that could be seen as a clue is pushed out as something important before it's even checked or verified.
At least it can be assumed that those on the flight must be well and truly dead by now, if only because the alternative would be more horrifying...
Satcom (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It wasn't the engines sending data (Score:2, Interesting)
Great explanation.
It sounds more like like the fuselage floating with battery power available for 4 hours, but time will tell on that one.
Re:Combined with the ringing phones ? (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes that is interesting. Although we are just going on hearsay to an extent. Is there PROOF that passengers' phones were ringing (i.e. those phones were definitely on the plane, and definitely rang)? Or is it just a case of some relatives believing what they want to believe (which I don't blame them for, in the traumatic situation they are in).
Furthermore there are other potential explanations for that, including phones auto-forwarded to other numbers or diverted to a malfunctioning voicemail or answering machine system when not in range of a tower. This is especially possible for internationally routed calls (which sometimes do some pretty weird things).
If it is true, it certainly does suggest that the plane remained flying (and at a low altitude) for some time after 'disappearing', or at least that the plane crashed somewhere within range of a cell tower and some phones survived the crash.
Re:The real puzzle (Score:4, Interesting)
The obvious implication is they were hijacked. The not so obvious explanation is hypoxia-induced dementia in the pilots.
I've yet to see anything that eliminates either possibility.
ABC News: Comm systems shut down separately (Score:5, Interesting)
"Two U.S. officials tell ABC News the U.S. believes that the shutdown of two communication systems happened separately on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. One source said this indicates the plane did not come out of the sky because of a catastrophic failure.
The data reporting system, they believe, was shut down at 1:07 a.m. The transponder -- which transmits location and altitude -- shut down at 1:21 a.m."
-- ABC News, Thursday March 13, 2014 [go.com]
Curiouser and curiouser.
Re:Here's What Will Happen (Score:2, Interesting)
Such people are a distinct minority. There are people who believe in anything you can imagine. The fact that they are not ignored by the mainstream media but are in fact paraded in front of society for the purposes of mockery and as an example to all is telling.
The fact is, these imbeciles are used as material to condition people to automatically reject ANY possibility of ANY conspiracies, by their idiocy, when in fact most of history is the history of conspiracies.
Re:Already denied (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, apparently the source of this information was credible enough that the United States Navy, on its own initiative, is sending a ship to the Indian Ocean.
There's clearly a ton of misinformation out there. But which is more likely--you're misinformed, or the U.S. Navy is misinformed?
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)