Malaysia airlines plane may have crashed 239 people on board #13

[Boodles]

hi aa. i miss our discussions in the AK thread

one issue with the "shadowed" theory i think would be where did mh370 go when it broke free from trailing the singapore jet? the moment it breaks free, wouldn't military radar stations in countries along the flight corridor be able to pick up the presence of mh370 and then raise the alarm of a possible air intrusion? none of the countries along the flight corridor claimed an anomaly or indication of an unidentified aircraft over their air space, right? or do none of those countries have radar systems?

MH370 passed by several (2 IIRC) radar tracking areas manned by Malaysian staff and no one noticed the unidentified aircraft passing through in real time. I wonder if those monitoring radar are really paying attention, especially during late night/early morning hours.

 

[JerseyGirl]

more from today's press conference, specifically, how the families are receiving information:

"Last night in Kuala Lumpur we held a briefing for the relatives of those on board MH370. As I mentioned in yesterday’s statement, the briefing was to update family members on the latest developments and to answer questions and clear up any confusion.

"The meeting was well attended by family members from different nations, including Malaysia and by representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

"A high-level Malaysian delegation, including representatives from Malaysia Airlines, the Department of Civil Aviation, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Council also attended the meeting.

"We had a very constructive and frank discussion. Although we answered most of the questions they raised, we could not answer them all.
These briefings will continue, at the families’ convenience, for as long as the families want them.

"The briefing brought the families and the Malaysian authorities closer together, not just in terms of sharing information, but also in terms of listening to the voice of the family members."

"The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China will be co-ordinating the briefings in Kuala Lumpur from now on.

"The high-level team I announced yesterday arrived in Beijing last night. Today they met with family members for three and half hours.


Read more: MISSING MH370: Hishammuddin’s full statement on March 21 - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-c...-statement-on-march-21-1.525115#ixzz2wb9MTwsT

bbm

 

[sherlyholmes]

I wonder if what was observed floating has now sunk? I do feel confident if it's there they will find it. Looks like Saturday will be the next full day before bad weather moves in.

I don't quite understand why the search is taking so long. Is someone following the coordinates of those floating objects?

Sent from my HUAWEI-M931 using Tapatalk

 

[JerseyGirl]

Don't mess with India, even if you are China:

China's request to allow its four warships, including two frigates and a salvage vessel, to enter Indian territorial waters has been "politely turned down" since Indian warships and aircraft are already searching the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea around the 572-island cluster, The Times of India reported.

We don't want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols," the English daily reported quoting an unnamed official as saying.

Read more: UPDATE 8 (Day 14): MISSING MH370: India says no to China - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-c...india-says-no-to-china-1.524714#ixzz2wbAiHnIq

 

[Seabreeze1]

Everyone must be catching up on sleep this thread is so quiet tonight. Fingers crossed for some news tomorrow.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Australia switches to visual searches:

“Noting that we got no radar detections yesterday, we have replanned the search to be visual,” the head of ASMA’s emergency response division John Young said.

“So the aircraft flying relatively low, very highly trained and skilled observers looking out of the aircraft windows, and looking to see objects.”
That meant the search aircraft would have to fly more closely together, Young said, adding, “we will need more aircraft for a search of that type”.

Young said authorities planned a similar search for Saturday, only moving the target area to take into account the movement of any objects due to sea currents.

Read more: MISSING MH370: Australia switches to visual search - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-c...tches-to-visual-search-1.524983#ixzz2wbBWpSh9

 

[Boodles]

At this mornings (EDT) press conference, the lithium-ion batteries were mentioned.

It has emerged that, according to the MH370 cargo manifest, the plane was carrying lithium ion batteries. These are categorised as “dangerous” cargo because they can be unstable at altitude and can catch fire if not transported correctly.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/21/mh370-search-for-missing-plane-resumes-at-daybreak-live

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian authorities on Friday confirmed that the missing Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 was carrying some lithium ion batteries in its cargo hold but did not regard them as endangering safety because standard rules were observed in packing the batteries for transportation.

http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/missing-mas-plane/story/missing-mh370-carried-lithium-ion-batteries-cargo-not-seen-dan

But considering that high altitudes can cause lithium-ion batteries to become unstable and explode/burn and the allegations that MH370 ascended to 45000 feet, I'm back to wondering about that. I wish there was more confirmed info about this allegation and where the 45000 ft location occurred. Also, what quantity does "some" mean?

 

[Waddles]

Another day. Still nothing
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/21/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

... acting Prime Minister Warren Truss said authorities have already dropped buoys in the search area to analyse the effects of the wind and currents to pinpoint where the objects may have drifted since then.

The Poseidon has advanced radar to detect underwater objects. The aircraft each spend about two hours searching before flying back to Western Australia to refuel.

http://freepressjournal.in/chinese-president-devastated-by-missing-plane-mystery-abbott/

 

[pocoloco]

I didn't see anyone post the Google Earth Images, so here you go. The objects are 12.3 Nautical Miles away from each other. I saw that someone had earlier said they saw the same images from the news report on Google Earth. There are pics of both objects and then zoomed in images of each object.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Corporate jet assisting:

Some help arrived on Friday, when a long-range Bombardier Global Express jet typically used by corporate executives was deployed by Australian authorities to assist in the search alongside three PC-3 Orion military aircraft from Australia and a U.S. Poseidon P-8 aircraft.


Australia doesn't want China to help:

Australia has so far relied on traditional defense allies such as the U.S. and New Zealand to scour the ocean by air, despite requests from China for a greater role. Under pressure from the families of the 153 Chinese citizens on board the missing Malaysian Airlines jetliner, China has sent three navy vessels to join the Australia-led search, according to state media reports.
An AMSA spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Chinese aircraft would take part in future aerial searches.

China has redeployed an icebreaker, Xue Long, to the search zone and away from Antarctica after its crew stopped in the port of Fremantle in Western Australia to pick up supplies. It will form part of a broader flotilla of merchant ships assisting the search over the coming days.

Norwegian car carrier still out there searching, more merchant ships on the way:

A Norwegian ship that arrived at the site on Thursday is continuing to assist search efforts, with a Hong Kong-owned vessel due to arrive later Friday and at least four more merchant ships on their way.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303802104579452771272077750

 

[JerseyGirl]

Oceanographers say Australia's maritime authority may also be relying on NASA's satellite technology used for studying ocean topography from space to help pinpoint the location of moving objects. NASA's system, like that of the European Space Agency, takes pictures of subtle changes in ocean currents.

... space technology like NASA's could be used to narrow down the search by studying the likely velocity of the moving debris. He said the two objects—identified by authorities as being, separately, 79 feet and 16 feet long—could already be as much as 311 miles away from the location seen in the satellite pictures five days earlier.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304756104579452831598488364?mg=reno64-wsj

More traditional methods may be employed once search teams are get closer to the suspected wreckage. Birds such as albatrosses tend to gather around any objects that have fallen into the sea, and so crew from the ships may be looking out for that too. "Any experienced captain would know that," Mr. van Sebille said.

 

[Hatfield]

This just about sums it up really. I know the sea is massive but I really thought we'd be hearing some sort of NEW news today.

Me too. I am very disappointed. VERY VERY disappointed.

I mean they had the darn coordinates. Sure it could float some but its been 2 days now. It really makes me think it was just clouds.

Others made good points that what we are seeing are probably not the better images but still. Why cant they find it WITH GPS coordinates.

No wonder they cant find this plane. Even when they have coordiantes they cant find anything.

Maybe it was a school of fish feeding at the top and some dolphins or whales were feeding on the fish.

 

[Hatfield]

These are the alleged coordinates:

43 58 34S 090 57 37 E

I finally downloaded Google Earth instead of just using the plug in.
I was able to input those coordinates and it took me right to it!
(I may not sleep now... this thing is awesome!)

I do not see anything but waves.
I don't know what the previous poster saw... but hopefully they will screen shot it for us tomorrow.

I highly recommend downloading Google Earth and looking at those coordinates.
Very sobering and a reminder of how harsh these conditions are. lease:

I want to THANK YOU for helping me get the motivation to figure out how to install GOOGLE EARTH.

I found the application and realized I had never even installed the software. Yesterday I installed it with the thought of looking for the floating pieces and once I finally got it installed, I had so much fun just playing with google earth I never even tried to look for the pieces.

I found my house though. LOL

 

[alioop]

Waddles did you post a link and then delete it re the woman flying from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur?

 

[Elley Mae]

I've been looking at a world maps, currents, trying to see what way the debris would be traveling, it's hard to say because it appears that there are at least 2 different currents in that area. With that said but would carry the object closer to land, as far as I can see. jmo idk

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8q_1.html


http://www.johomaps.com/world/world_current_ind.html

 

[21merc7]

Have no idea how accurate this is, and am still using Perth as weather guide, here is the weather for the next few days. Saturday may have morning storm winds 25 to 40. Sunday looks better but cloudy, winds NE 25-35, Monday sunny. I do think this will take some time, the pieces are not on top of the water and are constantly moving. Still sad as everyone else nothing has been found yet, but do think it will take some time.

http://www.bom.gov.au/wa/forecasts/perth.shtml

 

[JerseyGirl]

Hishammuddin said he was talking to the leaders of some countries on the possibility of acquiring pinger locater hydrophones to search for the plane's black box.

However, this could only be done once the search corridors had been narrowed, he said.

"I have to be careful here not to alarm the family members, but very limited countries possess pinger locater hydrophones, which was also used in the search for the Air France flight.

"I have been talking to leaders of those countries on the possibility of being given a chance to use them.


Read more: MISSING MH370: SAR will employ additional technology after 30 days - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-c...chnology-after-30-days-1.525121#ixzz2wbOF6NYS

 

[hockeymom]

I just saw a report on Fox that they had contacted a retired CIA guy who is known as the worlds expert on satellite imagery. ( Dino somebody). He claims that there should be many more images of this debris and that they should be able to measure it and figure out the exact shape via the imagery to see if it would match up to a plane tail or wing, etc.
Is that one image all they have?

 

[alioop]

I don't think there is any doubt that they have better hi res images but they are not making them public. Countries don't want to make it obvious how good their satellite spy technology really is. What they clearly don't know is the current co ordinates of that debris otherwise it would have been easily found.