-
HUGE AL -
Originally posted by milehighj View PostSounds like a big business opportunity going forward.
The MH370 happenings just kept me thinking, why is there no permanent tracking device for a vehicle that costs upwards of USD 200 million and most journey involves the lives of so many.
Yes indeed we should.Originally posted by milehighj View Post3 years ago! Gotta do that again. 
Comment
-
Would it help if the aircraft was found?
Let's assume it's somewhere on the ground in the Indian Ocean. If they can retrieve the FDR, they might get an idea of the exact last routing and then what?
If the person flying the airliner has deactivated three tracking systems, he would certainly found the circuit breaker. And even if there was any voice recording - how many people were alive in the last five hours? Most likely just one.
The plane ascended after the person flying the plane to more than 40,000 feet. Put on your oxygen mask and do a controlled decompressurization of the cabin and all other people would be out of 'useful consciousness' in 5 seconds and dead shortly thereafter including whoever left the flight deck.
Whether or not this is true we will never be able to establish regardless of whether the airplane is found. The only thing we know as of today is that someone flew the plane to a remote place and murdered 238 people on board.
That's the most horrible outcome of this flight where someone deliberately did this and no tracking system in the world could undo what happened that night or could prevent it for future incidents.
Why people kill themselves and don't care whether they affect others is beyond me and a tragedy for all the families left behind.Comment
-
The plot thickens with an indirect family link of the pilot to Anwar Ibrahim!
No movie producer could come up with stuff like this, that's for sure...Comment
-
Seriously, so what if they are related.Comment
-
-
Agreed, but it's just amazing how this *cliche-repeating hat on* story keeps going on and on and on...Comment
-
For logical minds, yes, it is a "so what", but for politicians it's a golden opportunity to stuff it in on the opposition, win some fence sitters and reinforce their supporters. Why do you think Anwar has been quiet about this for so many days?
I can't wait for tomorrow's news - this is becoming a Tom Clancy mega-plot novel.
In the meantime, the bomoh continues his search at the leaning tower of Teluk Intan,
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=766728580026536
while the parliament debates on him
http://youtu.be/KeZKvK7yo3sComment
-
It's gonna be a movie that I'd have to watch two or three times to understand. The Da Vinci Code springs to mind!Originally posted by Kyo View PostComment
-
French journalist ask Hisham: are you related to Najib... LOL....
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Natio...sham-stumpped/Comment
-
Interesting POV: https://plus.google.com/app/basic/st...rfyiz3vdhbop04
MH370 A different point of view. Pulau Langkawi 13,000 runway.
A lot of speculation about MH370. Terrorism, hijack, meteors. I cannot believe the analysis on CNN - almost disturbing. I tend to look for a more simple explanation of this event.
Loaded 777 departs midnight from Kuala to Beijing. Hot night. Heavy aircraft. About an hour out across the gulf towards Vietnam the plane goes dark meaning the transponder goes off and secondary radar tracking goes off.
Two days later we hear of reports that Malaysian military radar (which is a primary radar meaning the plane is being tracked by reflection rather than by transponder interrogation response) has tracked the plane on a southwesterly course back across the Malay Peninsula into the straits of Malacca.
When I heard this I immediately brought up Google Earth and I searched for airports in proximity to the track towards southwest.
The left turn is the key here. This was a very experienced senior Captain with 18,000 hours. Maybe some of the younger pilots interviewed on CNN didn't pick up on this left turn. We old pilots were always drilled to always know the closest airport of safe harbor while in cruise. Airports behind us, airports abeam us and airports ahead of us. Always in our head. Always. Because if something happens you don't want to be thinking what are you going to do - you already know what you are going to do. Instinctively when I saw that left turn with a direct heading I knew he was heading for an airport. Actually he was taking a direct route to Palau Langkawi a 13,000 foot strip with an approach over water at night with no obstacles. He did not turn back to Kuala Lampur because he knew he had 8,000 foot ridges to cross. He knew the terrain was friendlier towards Langkawi and also a shorter distance.
Take a look on Google Earth at this airport. This pilot did all the right things. He was confronted by some major event onboard that made him make that immediate turn back to the closest safe airport.
For me the loss of transponders and communications makes perfect sense if a fire. There was most likely a fire or electrical fire. In the case of fire the first response if to pull all the main busses and restore circuits one by one until you have isolated the bad one.
If they pulled the busses the plane indeed would go silent. It was probably a serious event and they simply were occupied with controlling the plane and trying to fight the fire. Aviate, Navigate and lastly communicate. There are two types of fires. Electrical might not be as fast and furious and there might or might not be incapacitating smoke. However there is the possibility given the timeline that perhaps there was an overheat on one of the front landing gear tires and it blew on takeoff and started slowly burning. Yes this happens with underinflated tires. Remember heavy plane, hot night, sea level, long run takeoff. There was a well known accident in Nigeria of a DC8 that had a landing gear fire on takeoff. A tire fire once going would produce horrific incapacitating smoke. Yes, pilots have access to oxygen masks but this is a no no with fire. Most have access to a smoke hood with a filter but this will only last for a few minutes depending on the smoke level. (I used to carry one of my own in a flight bag and I still carry one in my briefcase today when I fly).
What I think happened is that they were overcome by smoke and the plane just continued on the heading probably on George (autopilot) until either fuel exhaustion or fire destroyed the control surfaces and it crashed. I said four days ago you will find it along that route - looking elsewhere was pointless.
This pilot, as I say, was a hero struggling with an impossible situation trying to get that plane to Langkawi. No doubt in my mind. That's the reason for the turn and direct route. A hijack would not have made that deliberate left turn with a direct heading for Langkawi. It would probably have weaved around a bit until the hijackers decided on where they were taking it.
Surprisingly none of the reporters , officials, other pilots interviewed have looked at this from the pilot's viewpoint. If something went wrong where would he go? Thanks to Google earth I spotted Langkawi in about 30 seconds, zoomed in and saw how long the runway was and I just instinctively knew this pilot knew this airport. He had probably flown there many times. I guess we will eventually find out when you help me spread this theory on the net and some reporters finally take a look on Google earth and put 2 and 2 together. Also a look at the age and number of cycles on those nose tires might give us a good clue too.
Fire in an aircraft demands one thing - you get the machine on the ground as soon as possible. There are two well remembered experiences in my memory. The AirCanada DC9 which landed I believe in Columbus Ohio in the eighties. That pilot delayed descent and bypassed several airports. He didn't instinctively know the closest airports. He got it on the ground eventually but lost 30 odd souls. In the 1998 crash of Swissair DC-10 off Nova Scotia was another example of heroic pilots. They were 15 minutes out of Halifax but the fire simply overcame them and they had to ditch in the ocean. Just ran out of time. That fire incidentally started when the aircraft was about an hour out of Kennedy. Guess what the transponders and communications were shut off as they pulled the busses.
Get on Google Earth and type in Pulau Langkawi and then look at it in relation to the radar track heading. 2+2=4 That for me is the simple explanation why it turned and headed in that direction.
Smart pilot. Just didn't have the time.Comment
-
Well he might well have something valid to say. But sorry I can't get past the fact that he thinks it's ok to shorten the flight's origination city to "Kuala"... (He does so twice - the second time in his reply to comments.) What a dumfug.
Like a girl I once knew who kept looking for the town called Awas off the NS Highway.
Last edited by milehighj; 19 March 2014, 01:26 AM.Comment
-
What exactly are you expecting him to say ?. I know where the plane is but you gotta drop these ridiculous charges before I tell you ?. They'll find some way of blaming him for it I am sure...Originally posted by CarbonMan View Post
I haven't seen any comments from Singapore about anything their radar(s) may have picked up. They can see up past KL, or is that not supposed to be common knowledge, especially to the Malaysian public ?. I was travelling next to an SQ 777 captain earlier this week and was he very defensive when I asked him what he thought of MH370 and particularly the rumours it 'shadowed' SQ68 for a while!!
Sadly I don't think they will ever find it so we'll never know what really happened. That's worrying, as flying as often as I do - especially on 777's - I would really like to know what went on and those poor families will never have any closure.
It's a shame the UK Government, in yet another moment of genius, retired The Mighty Hunter or we may have been able to assist in some way with the vast ocean searches.Comment
-
-
I thought this heart-warming letter written by a daughter of a MAS pilot pretty much summed up most pilots.
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-co...ghter-1.518063KUALA LUMPUR: The MH370 incident has shaken the world, including the daughter of a Malaysia Airlines pilot, Captain Abd Rahim Harun.
In this letter to her father, Dr Nur Nadia Abd Rahim expresses her pride, her regrets for taking her father's work for granted.
THE FLYING DRIVER
This note is long overdue and is something that I should have written a long time ago - to let my dad know of how proud I am of him.
I am proud of what he does, in spite of him not being around for almost half of my life.
I am so sorry for being ashamed to tell my friends that you are indeed a pilot. A good one at that.
I am so sorry for telling my new friends that you are a driver.
I did not want to come across as a privileged kid.
We are after all, living a normal life.
I am part of the extended Malaysia Airlines family.
I have flown with them ever since I was an infant.
My first trip with my dad, my favorite pilot was Kota Kinabalu.
Apparently, I was told that I was less than pleasant and I was being a difficult (but adorable?) kid.
Nevertheless, I grew up loving airports and flying.
My father, just like the missing Captain, has worked for Malaysia Airlines ever since he left school.
Many times we urged him to work with different airlines but he refused because he wanted to be close to his family and be around us as often as possible.
We could have enjoyed the perks that were offered - free education at international schools, all living expenses paid, a chauffeur to drive us around if he had accepted job offers from other airlines.
That's how much MAS pilots are sought after.
Being a pilot's daughter, you are bound to have just your mother flying solo, attending your first day at school, your academic prize giving ceremonies, your sports days, your birthdays and even those Raya celebration.
The worst incident that occurred while Ayah was not around was when our house was robbed by 3 masked robbers.
On top of that, my mother was then 7 months pregnant. My dad was not around and my mother had to handle everything by herself.
She refused to call my dad and worry him as he was to fly back to Kuala Lumpur the following day.
My mother understood the burden that he carries on his shoulders and the importance of having a full, undivided focus while he is flying as he is responsible for hundreds of lives, and not just his own family back home.
I remember being choked with tears when our English teacher in college asked us one by one, 'What do you remember most about your dad?'
I stood up, and answered, "I remember that he wasn't around for half of the time".
He is far from a bad father. He is just working hard to support our family.
We have come to accept that, especially when people asked us, "Ayah mana? (where's your dad)"
I would answer them "Entah, somewhere around the world. Not sure. Have to check his roster."
All his life, his presence has been determined by a single sheet of paper which he would share with us at the beginning of each month. He would sometimes be annoyed when I ask him about his whereabouts because I should have checked his roster first before asking him that.
Before he leaves for work, each one of us would send him off without fail and watch his airport transfer pick him up and drive off.
Sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, other times in the middle of the night. We would "salam" him in advance before we go to bed.
And whenever he returns from work, everyone in the house would come to the front door, and greet him.
And I never realised how significant these rituals are until the MH370 incident occurred.
Each time he leaves for work, he will be responsible for hundreds of lives, he will be responsible in connecting families together, he will be responsible in helping businessmen seal the deal, he will be responsible in realising wanderlust dreams of travellers.
I remember once, a very old passenger in a wheelchair, waited for Ayah to meet him personally after a London-KL flight, he gave Ayah a thumbs up said, "Are you the Captain? Very smooth landing just now. Thank you!"
I beamed with pride inside.
But deep inside, our family knew, everytime he leaves for work, there is always a possibility of getting that fateful phone call, the possibility of him never returning home.
We have accepted that as part of our lives, every single day.
He underwent rigorous training to be where he is right now.
He has annual health checkup to ensure if he is fit to fly.
He has exams, just like students.
His flight manuals are as thick as my medical books.
He is as 'OCD' (meticulous as some would say) as you would want in any pilot flying your flight, ensuring everything is in place.
Even when it comes to punctuality, he isn't a minute late nor a minute early if he says he's reaching a particular time. ... 'I'm reaching there in seven minutes. Standby'.
This, is a snippet of a life of a cabin crew's family.
Cabin crew sacrificed a lot just so they could help the world connect from point A to point B.
Let us give the families affected by flight MH370 our support, prayers and some privacy.
Before you pass judgement, point fingers, or even spread theories and speculations, remember that you will not only hurt the missing cabin crew's families, but you will hurt our feelings as an extended MAS family.
Wherever you are, MH370, we pray for your return.
Comment
Tweet
Comment