777 missing with 239 souls on board

[sated buddha]

Someone is reporting that the plane was actually headed on a bearing straight for the Andaman islands. Could this be a way to start a war between two countries?

[Triple C]

News from US WRT suspicion that coms were turned off deliberately, and that the plane actually flew to Indian Ocean, is in line with rumors from the pilot community that the plane was abscond by someone who took great pains to conceal its flight path. I am hoping it's not a terror plot; however Taiwan did receive warning against imminent attack on commercial airlines earlier.

[sated buddha]

I think its a fair assumption to say that in addition to looking for the wreckage, most air forces would be on high alert currently. There could be a 777 in the sky that's headed for a high value target even as I type this.

[Monash]

News from US WRT suspicion that coms were turned off deliberately, and that the plane actually flew to Indian Ocean, is in line with rumors from the pilot community that the plane was abscond by someone who took great pains to conceal its flight path. I am hoping it's not a terror plot; however Taiwan did receive warning against imminent attack on commercial airlines earlier.

That would require some kind of public announcement/declaration by a terrorist group or quasi nationalist political party that they were responsible for the loss of the aircraft. And as been pointed out by others ... so far nothing.

[Monash]

I think its a fair assumption to say that in addition to looking for the wreckage, most air forces would be on high alert currently. There could be a 777 in the sky that's headed for a high value target even as I type this.

It ran out of fuel days ago.

[sated buddha]

It ran out of fuel days ago.

The country where it landed could have also refueled it. Before it took off again. For its final flight/mission.

[sated buddha]

Or a military base in a "friendly" country; those are much easier to control than a civilian airport.

I always thought that military air bases have shorter runways than commercial ones. I guess only the very large transport / freight planes operated by the military would need equally long runways (to what the big comercial jets require), and only very few countries have such planes, and I honestly cannot think of one that would actually go along with something like this.

[tankie]

Latest news is back to Andaman islands ??? if its hi,jack , the Q is why , whats on board , ransom demands not sent ? using it for terrorist attack ?? it just does not add up , nothing, no sos , is military intel holding onto anything , pilot suicide , the relatives must be in turmoil , if anything comes out of this travesty it must be to have transponders which cant be disabled

Yahoo News UK & Ireland - Latest World News & UK News Headlines

[Triple C]

That would require some kind of public announcement/declaration by a terrorist group or quasi nationalist political party that they were responsible for the loss of the aircraft. And as been pointed out by others ... so far nothing.

Indeed, and I agree. However the situation is completely bizarre and act of terrorism is not ruled out, according to WSJ. Fucking insane, pardon my French.

[DonBelt]

What about abandoned ww2 airfields? Piardoba?

[Aryajet]

Actually watching way too many Air Crash Investigation on NG it is always a perfect storm from technical malfunction(s) and human error.

And I thought I was the only nut being pinned on the monitor and watching all the ACI on NG channel one after another.

BTW: IMO American Airline FL-191 is the most heart wrenching of all, seconds after take off and not a soul survived.

[Oracle]

Missing Malaysian jet: Search reaches Chennai coast in Bay of Bengal

NEW DELHI: The hunt for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft, which mysteriously disappeared seven days ago, has just come closer to the Indian mainland. Acting on a fresh request by Malaysia, India has expanded the search for the missing Boeing 777-200 from the ongoing operations in south Andaman Sea to the Bay of Bengal along the Chennai coast.

The "new search area" of 9,000 square km, the western boundary of which is around 260 nautical miles from Chennai, means India will now also deploy additional warships and aircraft from the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) at Visakhapatnam.

"We got the new request from the Malaysian authorities on Friday. With the aircraft (which was carrying 239 people) yet to be located, the search area is being expanded in concentric circles," said a defence ministry official.

The Navy, which is the "lead service" for the entire mission, will be sending two Dornier-228 maritime surveillance aircraft, one each from Chennai and Vizag, for an aerial search of the new search area on Saturday morning.

"The Dorniers have an endurance of over five hours with a maximum range of 1,320 nautical miles (2,445 km). They will scan the designated area with their radars and sensors, which includes ISAR (inverse synthetic aperture radar) capabilities for generating two-dimensional high resolution images,'' he said.

India has already deployed six warships (INS Kumbhir, INS Kesari, INS Sarayu, ICGS Bhikaji-Cama, ICGS Kanaklata-Barua and ICGS Sagar) and five aircraft (two Dorniers, a P-8I long-range reconnaissance plane, C-130J Super Hercules and Mi-17 V-5 helicopter) in the 35,000 sq km search area earlier identified by the Royal Malaysian Navy in south Andaman Sea.

"Though it's almost like searching for a needle in a haystack, the search is in full swing for any clue like debris, oil slick or the black-box. The joint effort is being coordinated from the Navy's Maritime Operations Centre at New Delhi, while A&N command chief Air Marshal PK Roy is the overall force commander," said another officer.

Though the surveillance radar network in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is nowhere near as strong as the Indian mainland, officers said the Malaysian jetliner probably would have been "picked up" if it had flown close to the 572-island cluster. "Surveillance around the islands is done 24x7, with radars at Port Blair, Campbell Bay and Car Nicobar, among other places," said an officer.

[Oracle]

For Illegal Migrants, Southeast Asia is the Means, not the End

Foreign Policy - For Illegal Migrants, Southeast Asia is the Means, not the End

[TopHatter]

Such a large search party and they still can't find the plane.

Still a massive search area...and they're probably searching in the wrong place to begin with.

[Aryajet]

If the jet was hi-jacked and flown by a rouge person to an unknown location why wouldn't any of those passengers make a phone call to some one? I mean over 200 passengers and none could notice the unusual activities in the cockpit, or weird flight direction or duration of the flight?