777 missing with 239 souls on board

[citanon]

Helios Airways Flight 522, Athens, Greece, 14 Aug 2005.

But it still doesn't explain the transponder mystery. Does anyone know what part of the plane the transponder is on?

[gunnut]

Ok, now we are officially into the twilight zone.

Malaysia military tracked missing plane to west coast: source | Reuters.com

Does anyone remember that zombie plane incident from a few years ago where the plane continued flying a long distance after the crew and all passengers had become incapacitated? Maybe something like that happened here. The palne's cabin depressurized or life support was lost in some other catastrophic manner. The crew tried to turn around but was incapacitated before they can send a distress call, and it flew a long ways off course before crashing.

I remember that. It was the golfer Payne Stewart's private plane.

1999 South Dakota Learjet crash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[citanon]

Problem with the zombie plane theory is that

1. Can't explain the transponder.
2. Plane had fuel to go Mich further than the straits of Malacca if autopilot was still functioning.

It's also difficult to see how even catastrophic mechanical failure could disable the ATC transponder but still allow the plane to fly.
VHF Radio | aircraftengineering


Maybe if there was some sort of catastrophic electrical failure or fire in the cockpit....

[Tamara]

But it still doesn't explain the transponder mystery. Does anyone know what part of the plane the transponder is on?

What transponder mystery? What is the source of this information?

You see, people, that's the catch. We have news agencies that don't check their sources, will say anything to get people to watch, we have opinions presented that are not facts that are then taken as facts.

Point out who is saying what about the transponder. If it is a legitimate source, I'll consider it. Otherwise, I'll wait for the NTSB, which ever country's, report.

[Firestorm]

ANOTHER weird fact: the IFF transponder (or whatever it is on airlines) stopped functioning at the EXACT instant that the plane disappeared from radar. Coincidence? I think not . . . . .

The plane disappeared from Secondary radar (most civilian airports use secondary radar), which relies on the transponder to broadcast the aircraft's speed and position. Secondary radar cannot detect any aircraft with a non-functioning transponder. So that is neither weird nor a mystery.

[Stitch]

But it still doesn't explain the transponder mystery. Does anyone know what part of the plane the transponder is on?

Chogy could probably answer that question better than anybody but, IIRC, it's in the tail section between the two horizontal stabilizers because, historically, that portion of the aircraft is the most "survivable"; it's not as heavy as the rest of the aircraft, it tends to be hollow back there (with the exception of the flight control actuators, and possibly an APU), so it won't fall as fast as other parts of the aircraft (and therefore won't impact the ground as hard as some of the other parts). And in the event of a crash or impact with another object, it will be the last (and therefore, hopefully, slowest) part of the plane to hit the other object (another plane, mountain, ground, force field, etc.).

[tankie]

The plane disappeared from Secondary radar (most civilian airports use secondary radar), which relies on the transponder to broadcast the aircraft's speed and position. Secondary radar cannot detect any aircraft with a non-functioning transponder. So that is neither weird nor a mystery.

That clears that up then , but military radar can ? yes ? If switched off looks more like hi,jack , imo

[Bigfella]

Well, as another member of the Commonwealth, though equally clueless, I must admit I had to Google for pome and discovered it was actually an acronym. As a happy add-on, got to learn where the term pommie came from as well.

Actually....

Australian rhyming slang | Ozwords

[Tamara]

Chogy could probably answer that question better than anybody but, IIRC, it's in the tail section between the two horizontal stabilizers because, historically, that portion of the aircraft is the most "survivable"; it's not as heavy as the rest of the aircraft, it tends to be hollow back there (with the exception of the flight control actuators, and possibly an APU), so it won't fall as fast as other parts of the aircraft (and therefore won't impact the ground as hard as some of the other parts). And in the event of a crash or impact with another object, it will be the last (and therefore, hopefully, slowest) part of the plane to hit the other object (another plane, mountain, ground, force field, etc.).

SIGH.................

crossing apples and oranges here.

The Flight Data Recorder is usually located in the tail.

The Transponder is usually located in the cockpit. It has to be, otherwise, how would codes be changed on it? The antennae itself, I suppose that depends.

[Firestorm]

That clears that up then , but military radar can ? yes ? If switched off looks more like hi,jack , imo

Yes, Malaysian military radars apparently tracked it heading west at a lower altitude toward the Malacca straits after it lost contact with ATC. This is as per some recent reports. I don't know if this is confirmed, although they are now searching for it in the Andaman Sea as well as the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea region they were searching earlier.

I don't think it went down somewhere in the malacca straits for the simple reason that those waters are some of the most heavily trafficked in the world. Someone would have surely seen the accident or at least the wreckage by now. My guess is it probably flew even further west and crashed somewhere in the Indian ocean away from usual shipping lanes. If that is the case, it will be next to impossible to locate it since it was carrying enough fuel to fly for around 6-7 hours.

[zraver]

Uhm, just throwing this out there...

[dave lukins]

''American transport officials warned of a potential weak spot in Boeing 777s which could lead to the "loss of structural integrity of the aircraft" four months before the disappearance of Malaysia airlines Flight MH370. In 2005, a 777 operated by Malaysia Airlines suffered problems with its autopilot system on a flight between Perth and Kuala Lumpur. It led to the plane pitching up into a sudden 3,000-foot climb, almost causing the plane to stall. The problem led to another airworthiness directive to correct a computer fault that had been found on 500 Boeing 777s. ''

[citanon]

Yes, Malaysian military radars apparently tracked it heading west at a lower altitude toward the Malacca straits after it lost contact with ATC. This is as per some recent reports. I don't know if this is confirmed, although they are now searching for it in the Andaman Sea as well as the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea region they were searching earlier.

I don't think it went down somewhere in the malacca straits for the simple reason that those waters are some of the most heavily trafficked in the world. Someone would have surely seen the accident or at least the wreckage by now. My guess is it probably flew even further west and crashed somewhere in the Indian ocean away from usual shipping lanes. If that is the case, it will be next to impossible to locate it since it was carrying enough fuel to fly for around 6-7 hours.

But if it went out further towards the Inidan Ocean it would have crossed over land first. Shouldn't Indonesian military radars have picked up the flight?

If it really did fly out over the Indian Ocean, and no one saw how the plane went down, then there might be some survivors out there.

Last known track was near Pulau Perak:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pu...9cd6ef07d5bb96

[Stitch]

SIGH.................

crossing apples and oranges here.

The Flight Data Recorder is usually located in the tail.

The Transponder is usually located in the cockpit. It has to be, otherwise, how would codes be changed on it? The antennae itself, I suppose that depends.

You are correct, Tamara; citanon wrote "transponder", and I read "Flight Data Recorder"!

And, yes, of course the transponder is in the cockpit; at least, I know back when I used to fly lights it was mounted in the control panel just below the COM and NAV radios. Every once in a while we would have to manually "squawk" if ATC asked us to.

[Bigfella]

''American transport officials warned of a potential weak spot in Boeing 777s which could lead to the "loss of structural integrity of the aircraft" four months before the disappearance of Malaysia airlines Flight MH370. In 2005, a 777 operated by Malaysia Airlines suffered problems with its autopilot system on a flight between Perth and Kuala Lumpur. It led to the plane pitching up into a sudden 3,000-foot climb, almost causing the plane to stall. The problem led to another airworthiness directive to correct a computer fault that had been found on 500 Boeing 777s. ''

When I saw air crash expert Mary Schiavo interviewed she thought some sort of stall was the most likely explanation.