Plane with 239 people on board crashes in Southern Indian Ocean

[Mr. Morden]

Also, I can't help but think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm9CxxZBR2U

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The thing about the Russian theory? Why?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Australia to lead Southern Indian Ocean search

[Mr. Morden]

The last transmission from the plane came after the transponder had been turned off, and they believe it was the voice of the co-pilot:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140317

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Mr. Morden]

The last transmission from the plane came after the transponder had been turned off, and they believe it was the voice of the co-pilot:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/17/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140317

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Wait, I take that back.  This is a more careful explanation of the sequence of events:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-plane-up-to-speed/

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

If the pilot wanted to ditch the plane killing everyone nothing could have stopped him....no need for all this turning back, etc......clearly he intended to properly land this plane somewhere.

[DemPGH]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late. I'm unclear about motivations for hijacking, especially since no one has come forward, and it's true that it would be remarkably difficult to simply hide this plane. Some country would have had to have professionally hijacked it, but why? One of the theories I saw was to use it as a flying bomb at some point in the future, but . . .

[Simfan34]

The thing about the Russian theory? Why?

At this point- why not? The evidence is pointing to the plane having been landed somewhere.

[MATTROSE94]

The thing about the Russian theory? Why?

At this point- why not? The evidence is pointing to the plane having been landed somewhere.

I actually though about that theory as well. I wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Mr. Morden]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

[Donerail]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

Climb rapidly, like it allegedly did, depressurize the cabin, render the passengers and flight crew unconscious.

[Eraserhead]

So this whole thing is basically the real life equivalent of Picnic at Hanging Rock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x05QuAhpq6o

[Mr. Morden]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

Read this:

link

[Meeker]

Courtney Love found it: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=643731082330400&set=a.535912143112295.1073741828.504299626273547&type=1&stream_ref=10

[Tetro Kornbluth]

So this whole thing is basically the real life equivalent of Picnic at Hanging Rock?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x05QuAhpq6o

Great movie.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned North Korea has the possible conspirator culprit. I don't believe it (William of Ockham says it crashed into the sea) but it is the sort of thing that only they would think of doing.

[Smid]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

SJoyce puts forward one suggestion, I might offer another. We don't tend to question the authority of pilots and the like, if the pilot or co-pilot were complicit in this (needn't be both - one could have easily used a date-rape drug to knock out the other, for example), they could have come on the intercom and said something along the lines of "we have been warned of some serious weather ahead. We are going to be making some course adjustments to avoid this, incuding large drop in altitude. This maneuver is uncommon but we have planned for it and will remain in control of the plane, so don't be concerned. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened." It was flying at night, so no one would even be able to see landmarks until it was ready to land/crashed.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

Read this:

link

Yeah I get it but unless the passengers were dead, they need to gather every cell phone, that's a lot of gathering and if you miss one, you're kaput.  Oh well, we'll find out someday.

[Mr. Morden]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

Read this:

link

Yeah I get it but unless the passengers were dead, they need to gather every cell phone, that's a lot of gathering and if you miss one, you're kaput.  Oh well, we'll find out someday.

What?  No.  You don't need to gather any phones.  I'm saying that if they were flying mostly over ocean, then the phones wouldn't work.  And even if they were flying over land, they still probably wouldn't work.  That is, unless you're flying as low as the planes were flying on 9/11.  So there's no need to confiscate the phones.  Alternatively, the pilot can depressurize the cabin, and kill everyone, so he doesn't need to worry about this anyway.

More on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/questions-over-absence-of-cellphone-calls-from-missing-passengers.html?_r=0

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The fact that no one messaged out indicates that either they could not or were perhaps unaware that anything was wrong until it was too late.

Again, if they took the southern route, then they were basically over the ocean the whole time, and the cell phones wouldn't work.  There was that small strip of land in Malaysia/Thailand that they would have doubled back over, but that would have been early on in hijacking, and not clear if the passengers would have known what was wrong yet at that point.  Plus, even when you're flying over land, you're at such high altitude and speed that connecting to a cell tower on the ground isn't a slam dunk.  It worked on 9/11, because the planes were flying low, but that didn't necessarily happen in this case.

Assuming it's not a 1000 feet below sea level now and was a hijacking, how do one or 2 pilots take everyone's electronics without the passengers and flight crew rebelling?

Read this:

link

Yeah I get it but unless the passengers were dead, they need to gather every cell phone, that's a lot of gathering and if you miss one, you're kaput.  Oh well, we'll find out someday.

What?  No.  You don't need to gather any phones.  I'm saying that if they were flying mostly over ocean, then the phones wouldn't work.  And even if they were flying over land, they still probably wouldn't work.  That is, unless you're flying as low as the planes were flying on 9/11.  So there's no need to confiscate the phones.  Alternatively, the pilot can depressurize the cabin, and kill everyone, so he doesn't need to worry about this anyway.

More on this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/questions-over-absence-of-cellphone-calls-from-missing-passengers.html?_r=0

Yeah I think if it was hijacked with intent to land somewhere safely, they/he would have killed all of the passengers.

[Mr. Morden]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Smid]

I don't know enough about planes and things to know if this speculation is a crack-pot conspiracy theory, or if it's a legitimate possibility...

[Donerail]

I don't know enough about planes and things to know if this speculation is a crack-pot conspiracy theory, or if it's a legitimate possibility...

Slate says "maybe" and "it's possible".

[Smid]

Cheers mate! Reading the Slate piece, the "it's possible" seems to be more at the "not impossible" end of the probability spectrum.

[Mr. Morden]

What keeps drawing me back to the pilot suicide theory is that it only takes one person (one of the two pilots) to pull it off.  These other theories, involving hijacking the plane, and flying it to Asia, inevitably require a larger constellation of accomplices, and you face the questions of "Why aren't there any links between the crew or passengers to known terrorist groups?  Why is there no online chatter among the jihadi groups, as there has been for other attacks?", etc.