4 ms·

> ”mandatory 50 miles of separation from any other gigantic hunk of airborne metal.” There is certainly no 50 miles of mandatory separation between aircraft! H

> ”mandatory 50 miles of separation from any other gigantic hunk of airborne metal.” There is certainly no 50 miles of mandatory separation between aircraft! Horizontal radar separation is 10 nautical miles at most (much less in busy airspace near airports), and vertical separation is 1000 feet. Of course, the Southern Indian Ocean is very remote and it’s entirely possible that there were no other aircraft within 50 miles of the MH370 flight path.

KirillPanov 6y ago
> There is certainly no 50 miles of mandatory separation between aircraft! Over the open ocean, where the MH370 was, there absolutely is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_(aeronautics)#Longitudinal_separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_(aeronautics)#Longi... > The golden rule is the 10-minute rule: no two aircraft following the same > route must come within 15 minutes flying time of each other. In areas with > good navaid cover this reduces to 10 minutes At the MH370's cruising speed of 636mph a 10-minute separation is 106 miles! The Boeing 777's cruising speed is way at the high end for commercial airliners. Regardless anything flying over the open ocean between continents will almost certainly be going at least half that speed.
- denebola 6y ago
  That is only if they are at the same altitude. You seem to have missed the first sentance on that link "If any two aircraft are separated by less than the vertical separation minimum, then some form of horizontal separation must exist. "
- carl_dr 6y ago
  That might be the golden rule, but it definitely isn't "the rule". If you look on Flightradar24, over the Atlantic for example, you'll see several cases where there are multiple planes well within 15 minutes flying time of each other, on the same track, with separation of 2-3 thousand feet vertically. One example as I write has AA9820 and UA46 following each other at 40,000ft and 37,000ft, at 15nm horizontal separation, and QR740 at 36,000ft about 30nm behind them. When airline traffic is at 100%, you'll routinely see them much closer than that.
- jjk166 6y ago
  > following the same route There are many routes
mannykannot 6y ago
Furthermore, even if such a rule were in place, one cannot assume it was being observed in the case of MH370. With ADS-B not functioning, no-one else knew where it was - which, of course, is exactly why it is a mystery!
NikolaeVarius 6y ago
Im always amazed at the ability of people to make stuff up and just state lies as facts.

KirillPanov 6y ago

> There is certainly no 50 miles of mandatory separation between aircraft! Over the open ocean, where the MH370 was, there absolutely is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_(aeronautics)#Longitudinal_separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_(aeronautics)#Longi... > The golden rule is the 10-minute rule: no two aircraft following the same > route must come within 15 minutes flying time of each other. In areas with > good navaid cover this reduces to 10 minutes At the MH370's cruising speed of 636mph a 10-minute separation is 106 miles! The Boeing 777's cruising speed is way at the high end for commercial airliners. Regardless anything flying over the open ocean between continents will almost certainly be going at least half that speed.

denebola 6y ago
That is only if they are at the same altitude. You seem to have missed the first sentance on that link "If any two aircraft are separated by less than the vertical separation minimum, then some form of horizontal separation must exist. "
carl_dr 6y ago
That might be the golden rule, but it definitely isn't "the rule". If you look on Flightradar24, over the Atlantic for example, you'll see several cases where there are multiple planes well within 15 minutes flying time of each other, on the same track, with separation of 2-3 thousand feet vertically. One example as I write has AA9820 and UA46 following each other at 40,000ft and 37,000ft, at 15nm horizontal separation, and QR740 at 36,000ft about 30nm behind them. When airline traffic is at 100%, you'll routinely see them much closer than that.
jjk166 6y ago
> following the same route There are many routes

mannykannot 6y ago

Furthermore, even if such a rule were in place, one cannot assume it was being observed in the case of MH370. With ADS-B not functioning, no-one else knew where it was - which, of course, is exactly why it is a mystery!

NikolaeVarius 6y ago

Im always amazed at the ability of people to make stuff up and just state lies as facts.