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Malaysian Official Says Missing Plane Hijacked

144 points by r0h1n 13y ago

final_approach 13y ago
This story gets more interesting and interesting with every day. I really hope it was hijacked and landed safely somewhere.
- mjs7231 13y ago
  If true, it means 230 peoples lives are in the fate of a group crazy enough and smart enough to hijack a plane undetected. I don't even want to think about that too much. The situation they are in must be hell.
  - chris_mahan 13y ago
    But if true then there is hope these people will be well treated, because if you wanted to just kill them, they would be dead already. I bet you could get $500,000,000 ransom for the safe return of the plane, the crew, and the passengers. The plane alone is worth $100 million. Half a billion buys a lot of military hardware on the open market. Odds are they are dead, at the bottom of the ocean. Flying low enough to avoid radar will significantly shorten the range (denser air at low altitude, etc).
  - maaku 13y ago
    > The situation they are in must be hell. Better than being dead.
    - kaoD 13y ago
      Are you sure?
      - maaku 13y ago
        Yes. Being alive is better than being dead. I will stand by that statement no matter the circumstances.
notastartup 13y ago
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10699933/Missing-Malaysia-Airlines-flight-MH370-investigator-denies-claim-plane-was-hijacked.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/1069... I don't know who to believe.
- Cookingboy 13y ago
  They've been publicizing information and shortly denying them afterwards themselves this entire week, it almost seems like there is a faction within the government that has conflicting motives with the rest. Next they are gonna deny that MH370 existed at all.
  - notastartup 13y ago
    It almost seems like they are trying to avoid looking bad in front of the world. It's really hard to believe that a large flying object like that is undetectable or the idea that it's sitting on an island with trees covering it.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- stephen_g 13y ago
  These investigations take months to years - often we won't really know what actually happened for a year or two - long after the media interest has died down. That's the main problem with reporting on airline accidents - the media will jump on any early theory that comes out to try and be the first on the story, and loses interest by the time the actual investigation finishes...
taspeotis 13y ago
Like every other piece of information that's denied in the daily press conference... > the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
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kbar13 13y ago
didn't google news have a hosted page for AP stories that was formatted a bit better for reading? I can't seem to find it anymore...
andrewflnr 13y ago
At this point I'm guessing it was hijacked or otherwise a victim of foul play, and then the perpetrators screwed up somehow which is why no one now wants to take credit for the affair. I bet we're going to hear conspiracy theories for years.
- FatalLogic 13y ago
  >then the perpetrators screwed up somehow which is why no one now wants to take credit for the affair There is no hard evidence for it, but a suicidal pilot who wanted to make sure his insurance paid out would also explain this. Suicidal and psychopathic. It's horrific, but it has happened twice before.
  - baddox 13y ago
    What exactly are you hypothesizing? That the pilot faked a hijacking because insurance would pay out in event of a hijacking? Would there not be an easier way for a pilot to purposefully crash that would also be coveraged by insurance?
    - FatalLogic 13y ago
      >What exactly are you hypothesizing? That the pilot faked a hijacking because insurance would pay out in event of a hijacking? Yes. Apart from insurance, someone might care about their image, even after death, so making a deliberate mistake and causing an accident, this might not be acceptable for them. >Would there not be an easier way for a pilot to purposefully crash that would also be covered by insurance? Maybe, but could it be done without leaving evidence on the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder? One scenario that the current limited data fits, is an attempt to hide the evidence in deep ocean, far from the search area.
  - secabeen 13y ago
    Most insurance plans cover suicide after 2 years.
  - yardie 13y ago
FatalLogic 13y ago
It has to be asked, why did it take so long to get the additional data about the flight path? That data includes engine to satellite handshake, and military radar. A lot of effort and time was wasted searching in the wrong place, even though the lack of wreckage beneath the last transponder location was an immediate sign that something might be unusual about this case. Meanwhile, possible evidence, such as floating wreckage in the Indian Ocean, was being lost.
- allochthon 13y ago
  It's fascinating that you can find your iPhone using a Web site, but we're having such a hard time finding a plane (with lots of people with smartphones in their pockets turned off, or not). EDIT: just to clarify -- I'm thinking of how tracking the precise location of a plane at all times is a problem that it seems like we should have a handle on by now, although not necessarily using cell phone technology. (I wasn't thinking clearly about the cell phone signals in this context, though, as people have been correct to point out.)
  - netllama 13y ago
    When's the last time anyone found their iPhone when it fell into the ocean, hundreds of miles from land?
  - FatalLogic 13y ago
    It's fascinating, but it leads one toward the unpleasant conclusion that the passengers could have already have been dead or unconscious before the plane flew back across Malaysia. Cellphone tower records should provide more evidence, because there are sure to be some phones that were not in airplane mode. Cellphones won't have enough power to connect more than about 50 km from the coast.
    - jamesaguilar 13y ago
      Do you still get cell signal seven miles up? I remember one time accidentally leaving my phone not in airplane mode and I had no signal. YMMV.
csense 13y ago
Hmm. I wonder what the motivation is. I don't think it's terrorism or ransom, since nobody's claimed responsibility yet. Maybe it was a hijacking gone wrong, and the plane went down? Then again, the time gap between the disabling of systems suggests the hijackers ended up with enough control of the aircraft to send someone to see to it (presumably if they were engaged in a desperate battle with the crew and passengers, or if they lost control of the aircraft and the plane was going down, all of the hijackers would be busy dealing with the crisis). The fact of "significant flying experience" and the disabling of the transponder suggests a professional operation -- maybe some country's intelligence agency wants one of the passengers badly enough they're willing to interfere with a couple hundred other innocent passengers? The outcome doesn't bode well for the missing, since they are now Witness Who Have Seen Too Much. Or maybe the hijackers want all the passengers because they have a use for a couple hundred humans. Slave trading? Weapons testing? Wouldn't it be simpler (and bring a less thorough investigation) to just kidnap people off the street in some country with poor law enforcement? The more I think about this, the less sense it makes.
- csense 13y ago
  Then again, that the hijacker(s) have "significant flying experience" is not all that surprising. Anyone planning to take control of an in-flight aircraft by force, or threat of force, had better know something about how to fly it, or they'll just end up crashing and probably dying without accomplishing much. (Even if it's a suicide mission like 9/11, presumably suicide isn't the only goal -- the 9/11 hijackers wanted to take out some enemy buildings. From their point of view, losing their lives was an unfortunate but tolerable side effect, not the main objective.)
- arrrg 13y ago
  There can’t be that many places within reach of that plane where such a plane can land, right? The time window and range are both known, so can’t all those places be checked somehow?
  - timr 13y ago
    More importantly, there aren't that many places a 777 can land without being picked up by a radar. Probably zero places.
fasteddie31003 13y ago
A modern day Earhart. I wonder if this incident will be the result of unintended blowback from making the cockpit too secure. Can we trust pilots? Should we be able to over-ride the controls of a plane mid-flight? EgyptAir Flight 990? All 9/11 flights? Ethiopian Airlines flight ET-702?
- gregsq 13y ago
  The secure flight deck seems under some scenarios to be little more than a trap door. If you let in a foxy South African terrorist for example, you can't get back in again, as I understand it, if access is restricted from within the flight deck. There's no failsafe way to allow entry from the cabin, even if a system of multiple secure coding for override is instituted in the cabin. And you can't depend upon ground based authentication for a number of reasons as things currently stand. A dead mans switch, where a member of the flight crew must override a timed flight deck door release, would only work if the crew themselves were willing and capable. And an Air Marshall who has overriding authority and perhaps access code is yet another security issue. There are three scenarios with a dead mans switch. Firstly, the flight deck crew may be unable to code against entry. This works as intended. Secondly, the flight deck crew is friendly, and codes against entry. This works as intended. Thirdly, the flight deck crew is hostile, and codes against entry. This last possibility needs a solution. A solution might be that all flights ping ground stations at timed intervals, and that all flight deck dead man switch override code entries are transmitted to ground, instituting cross reference queries against flight deck and flight cabin personnel. All flights of a certain class would therefore require satellite communications capability. Any dead man switch override event would be classed as a possible emergency. [edit] Forgot to say that turning off transponders and or phone homes turns dead man switch into a coded entry switch. This of course can allow entry for hostiles into an already hostile flight deck.
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  "making the cockpit too secure" How so? If you don't trust the pilots to the point where you want, who, the FAs? taking over the plane, you've got far bigger issues. An override system should be a remote-control thing requiring keys from multiple people.
Steko 13y ago
AP is already walking back the headline, now reads "Malaysian official says missing plane hijacked" "It is not conclusive. I'm heading the investigation and nobody is saying that. It's not true. We are looking at the possibility, we're looking at all possibilities. We're doing every profile of the passengers and crew but there is no firm evidence or leads so far," he told the Telegraph.
- BorisMelnik 13y ago
  what was original headline?
  - Steko 13y ago
    Malaysian Investigators conclude flight hijacked
- ubernostrum 13y ago
  At this point the only safe headline to run is "Malaysian officials currently saying something they're going to deny saying a few hours from now".
  - downandout 13y ago
    Or perhaps "Passenger Jet Missing". That seems to be the only confirmed information.
- yeukhon 13y ago
  The problem with media is that they always have "some official", "someone close to X." I wonder if they could just make this shit up since they are not going to write down the name and put it in a safe for record anyway.
  - ne0codex 13y ago
    My husband was watching a CNN news segment about the missing plane earlier today on the TV. As I overheard the program while I was on the laptop I couldn't help but notice the absurd amount of times the news anchor kept saying "officials speculate, we believe, analysis probably indicates that...," There's too much focus on speculation to keep this relevant in a 24/7 news cycle.
cwilson 13y ago
I'm convinced this is one of three things after watching this for 7 days: 1. Hijacking gone wrong and the plane is in the ocean. 2. Pilot suicide and the plane is in the ocean. 3. Hijacking gone right and the plane is parked somewhere and all the passengers are dead and/or being held captive (least likely option). That's it. Nothing else could have happened.
- afatc 13y ago
  What about a portal to another dimension?
  - kenrikm 13y ago
    That's what I'm talking about! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112040/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112040/ good theory.
    - nunodonato 13y ago
      man I loved this when it came on TV for the first time. gotta watch it again someday
  - orblivion 13y ago
    That's covered in option 3)
  - dag11 13y ago
    http://www.theonion.com/articles/malaysian-airlines-expands-investigation-to-includ,35524/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/malaysian-airlines-expands-...
- espeed 13y ago
  4. Plane's systems compromised and remotely diverted.
  - gulbrandr 13y ago
    You mean like Finch does at the end of this episode? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364202/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364202/
Oculus 13y ago
"Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the airliner climbing to 45,000 feet (about 13,700 meters), higher than a Boeing 777's approved limit, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar, and making a sharp turn to the west. The radar track then shows the plane descending unevenly to an altitude of 23,000 feet (7,000 meters), below normal cruising levels, before rising again" Sounds to me like a possible fight/commotion in the cockpit was the cause of the plane to fly in such a weird pattern. Potential Scenario: - Fight in cockpit results in the plane flying unexpectedly high ("above approved limit") - Hijackers obtain control, turn off transponder and turn to their target location - Unexperienced pilot (possibly learned how to only fly smaller planes) makes an "unevenly" descent to lower altitudes as he knows the plane is above its approved limit - Rise again could be a second fight in the cockpit? Not sure on how to explain this one. The rising and falling in altitudes makes me suspect this wasn't pilot suicide.
- FatalLogic 13y ago
  It is an interesting and plausible theory, although the altitude data is not seen as completely reliable “A lot of stock cannot be put in the altitude data” sent from the engines, one official said. “A lot of this doesn’t make sense.” - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-milita...
- sebcat 13y ago
  Why would a plane ascend because of a struggle in the cockpit? You don't just climb 15000 ft at that altitude because someone fell over the controls. Someone had control at that point. Had there been a struggle, a descent would be the most likely outcome. All the explanations I've heard so far contains way too many assumptions. Ockham's razor. Here's another scenario: hypoxia. Makes you retarded and euphoric. Like being drunk but with less disassociation. Suddently, it's a great idea to climb! Oh wait, nope. Better descend. Are we on course? Better turn. Hypoxia and/or stress. Look at AF447. All pilots know what a stall is. But when you're flying at night in bad weather with S:t Elmo's fire all around you and the airspeed indicator stops working and you believe you need to climb, you might react without thinking. Oh, we're losing altitude? Better pull up!
yeukhon 13y ago
I think hijacked is a high possibility, though the only question remains is why hasn't anyone actually claim the responsibility? This is so unlike terrorist group out there. From what I understand, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the recent Kuming massacre in China the week before the missing plane. Uighurs separatists/terrorists are not that shy; they did claim responsbility are few times. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China) If this were a hijack, it's either targeting at the Chinese (most likely Uighurs separatists) or an upgraded terrorist attack. Maybe I've watched too much 24 and Sherlock Holmes.
TenJack 13y ago
One plausible scenario is that the plane was hijacked by terrorists so that it could later be used to deliver a payload (or be the payload itself a la 9-11). Since the plane has such a huge range, it could be used in an attack on American soil. This could also explain flying at a high altitude as a way to kill the passengers.
- LordHumungous 13y ago
  You can't just fly an unidentified plane into American airspace without getting shot down... I think
dakrisht 13y ago
First, I can't imagine the US doesn't know the location of this airplane or exactly what happened during deviation from its original flight path. Understandably, they cannot reveal the full breadth of their reconnaissance capabilities to "enemies" and the general public. If you don't know, there is a highly sophisticated US naval air facility on the island of Diego Garcia. The Navy does deep space reconnaissance over there! among other things... And they didn't detect a massive 777 flying north/south in and around the Indian Ocean? That area is saturated in complex radar. Diego Garcia houses complex radar and satellite communications systems and who knows what else that is still classified. Additionally, there are over 1,000 operational satellites in orbit! IMO, this was a carefully and planned mission. For all we know (tin-foil hat time) there could be behind the curtain negotiations with hijackers and/or missions being planned to recover the aircraft in case of wild extremists theories flying around on the Internet (0.1% on this) And as we all know today, nothing is that extreme anymore in the world we live in. Disabling transponders takes three clicks of a wheel and it was most definitely done intentionally, the sharp, almost hairpin turn, this jet made and then strategically avoided radar are all signs of a sophisticated operation here. The WSJ reports that circuit breakers were accessed in order to shut down transponders, clearly requiring a high level of skill for aircraft maintenance opps. Sure, pilot can break a circuit but they will spend 20 minutes reading the flight maintenance manual AND contact ground before doing anything like this. Finally - there were a few important people on board, including quite a few high-tech people involved with government contractions. Whatever is happening, it might never make complete sense - or at least the general public might be out the loop and get whatever information THEY want us to hear. I don't know who THEY are but this whole situation is very strange and gets crazier by the day. Edit: this bird was hacked
- lawl 13y ago
  * puts tinfoil hat on * In two months there are EU elections. Plus the hijacking in switzerland shortly before this... Sound convinient.
  - peterjancelis 13y ago
    Convenient for what?
nnx 13y ago
Malaysian PM just concluded a Press Conference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwRUf4NlwDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwRUf4NlwDc He himself confirmed that satellite data (alledgedly cross-checked with US and other countries) shows the plane was still up in the air until at least 8:30AM Malaysian Time (~4-5 hours after the disappearance iirc). Search and Rescue operations in the South China Sea (east of Malaysia) have been cancelled - the search now focuses west of Malaysia. I quote (emphasis mine) : "the last satellite communication occurred in one of two possible corridors, a northern corridor, stretching approximately from the border of Kazakshtan and Turkemistan to northern Thailand, and a southern corridor, stretching approximately from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean." PM exited the press conference right after ending his speech, not answering questions.
beagle3 13y ago
Motorola/Freescale is apparently a dangerous place to work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_006
- dm2 13y ago
  It happens a lot more than people think. If your company has 20,000 employees and it's routine for many of them to fly, then the odds are that something bad will happen eventually. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/tesla-employees-identified/ http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/tesla-employees-identif... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/connecticut-plane-crash-six-feared-dead http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/connecticut-pla... Below are some unusual airplane incidents, I'm sure there are many more than are on this list. The point is that everyone would say the below things would NEVER happen on an airplane, yet, they happened. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm Some highlights: "A passenger brought aboard a crocodile hidden in a sports bag. The crocodile escaped, causing a panic among passengers who all rushed to one end of the plane. This caused an imbalance in the aircraft which led to loss of control and a crash." "A stray bullet from training soldiers struck the landing plane, hitting an oxygen cylinder. A fire broke out and control of the plane was lost and it crashed." "The aircraft was hijacked shortly after taking off from Ethiopia by three drunken escaped prisoners. They demanded to be flown to Australia, but wouldn't let the pilot stop to refuel. The plane eventually ran out of fuel and ditched 500 feet offshore killing 127 of 157 aboard." "A passenger's cigarette caused a fire in the cabin which led to an oxygen tank exploding. The plane crashed killing 25 of 69 aboard." "Two passengers were sucked out of the plane after a tire exploded in the wheel well causing damage to the fuselage." "Out of boredom, the captain and flight engineer decided to experiment and see what would happen to the autothrottle system if the circuit breakers which supplied power to the instruments which measured the rotational speed of each engine's low pressure compressor were tripped. This led to engine overspeeding and destruction of the engine. Pieces struck the fuselage, breaking a window, causing rapid explosive decompression and a passenger was sucked out of the plane. The plane landed safely." "An unrestrained German Shepard interfered with flight controls and caused the plane to crash." "Without authorization, the pilot taxied half-way down the runway to try and clear fog. Braking done during the fog clearing overheated the brakes. Soon after takeoff, the overheated brakes caused a tire to burst which damaged a fuel line and started a fire. The plane crashed shortly after killing all 80 people aboard." These below happened like 50+ years ago. "A U.S. Army Air Force B-25 crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in fog, killing 3 aboard and 11 on the ground." "Carbon dioxide extinguishers were discharged in response to a fire warning in the cargo hold. The plane's nose was lowered for an emergency descent and due to a design flaw, carbon dioxide entered the cockpit and rendered the crew unconscious after which the plane crashed killing all 43 aboard. " "The DC-3 disintegrated in flight outside of Quebec killing all 23 aboard.. A dynamite bomb was planted in the forward baggage compartment by Albert Guay, a jeweler, in a plot to kill his wife who was a passenger on the plane. Guay, who assembled the bomb, had his accomplice, Marguerite Pitre air expressed the bomb on the aircraft. Ms. Pitre's brother, a clockmaker, helped make the timing mechanism. The insurance policy was for 10,000 dollars. All three were hanged for their crimes. " "The plane landed in Pacific Ocean, 2.5 mile short of the runway in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay. All 107 people aboard were safely evacuated off the plane. The aircraft was recovered from the San Francisco Bay 55 hours after the accident, repaired and eventually flew back home to Japan and was in service for many decades." "The aircraft crashed killing 61 of 82 aboard after colliding with a balloon."
driznar 13y ago
Officials now believe most likely location for MH370 is on land near Chinese/Kyrgyz border.[1] If this holds true, then the most likely perpetrators are Uyghur separatists. But this begs the question, how did they manage to evade being detected by the numerous radars? [1] https://twitter.com/JonahFisher/status/444754310677553153 https://twitter.com/JonahFisher/status/444754310677553153
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
  They probably were detected by radar, but geopolitics means few countries will admit they were able to detect it to avoid revealing military capabilities.

144 points by r0h1n 13y ago

This story gets more interesting and interesting with every day. I really hope it was hijacked and landed safely somewhere.

mjs7231 13y ago
If true, it means 230 peoples lives are in the fate of a group crazy enough and smart enough to hijack a plane undetected. I don't even want to think about that too much. The situation they are in must be hell.
- chris_mahan 13y ago
  But if true then there is hope these people will be well treated, because if you wanted to just kill them, they would be dead already. I bet you could get $500,000,000 ransom for the safe return of the plane, the crew, and the passengers. The plane alone is worth $100 million. Half a billion buys a lot of military hardware on the open market. Odds are they are dead, at the bottom of the ocean. Flying low enough to avoid radar will significantly shorten the range (denser air at low altitude, etc).
- maaku 13y ago
  > The situation they are in must be hell. Better than being dead.
  - kaoD 13y ago
    Are you sure?
    - maaku 13y ago
      Yes. Being alive is better than being dead. I will stand by that statement no matter the circumstances.

notastartup 13y ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10699933/Missing-Malaysia-Airlines-flight-MH370-investigator-denies-claim-plane-was-hijacked.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/1069... I don't know who to believe.

Cookingboy 13y ago
They've been publicizing information and shortly denying them afterwards themselves this entire week, it almost seems like there is a faction within the government that has conflicting motives with the rest. Next they are gonna deny that MH370 existed at all.
- notastartup 13y ago
  It almost seems like they are trying to avoid looking bad in front of the world. It's really hard to believe that a large flying object like that is undetectable or the idea that it's sitting on an island with trees covering it.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
stephen_g 13y ago
These investigations take months to years - often we won't really know what actually happened for a year or two - long after the media interest has died down. That's the main problem with reporting on airline accidents - the media will jump on any early theory that comes out to try and be the first on the story, and loses interest by the time the actual investigation finishes...

taspeotis 13y ago

Like every other piece of information that's denied in the daily press conference... > the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

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kbar13 13y ago

didn't google news have a hosted page for AP stories that was formatted a bit better for reading? I can't seem to find it anymore...

andrewflnr 13y ago

At this point I'm guessing it was hijacked or otherwise a victim of foul play, and then the perpetrators screwed up somehow which is why no one now wants to take credit for the affair. I bet we're going to hear conspiracy theories for years.

FatalLogic 13y ago
>then the perpetrators screwed up somehow which is why no one now wants to take credit for the affair There is no hard evidence for it, but a suicidal pilot who wanted to make sure his insurance paid out would also explain this. Suicidal and psychopathic. It's horrific, but it has happened twice before.
- baddox 13y ago
  What exactly are you hypothesizing? That the pilot faked a hijacking because insurance would pay out in event of a hijacking? Would there not be an easier way for a pilot to purposefully crash that would also be coveraged by insurance?
  - FatalLogic 13y ago
    >What exactly are you hypothesizing? That the pilot faked a hijacking because insurance would pay out in event of a hijacking? Yes. Apart from insurance, someone might care about their image, even after death, so making a deliberate mistake and causing an accident, this might not be acceptable for them. >Would there not be an easier way for a pilot to purposefully crash that would also be covered by insurance? Maybe, but could it be done without leaving evidence on the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder? One scenario that the current limited data fits, is an attempt to hide the evidence in deep ocean, far from the search area.
- secabeen 13y ago
  Most insurance plans cover suicide after 2 years.
- yardie 13y ago

FatalLogic 13y ago

It has to be asked, why did it take so long to get the additional data about the flight path? That data includes engine to satellite handshake, and military radar. A lot of effort and time was wasted searching in the wrong place, even though the lack of wreckage beneath the last transponder location was an immediate sign that something might be unusual about this case. Meanwhile, possible evidence, such as floating wreckage in the Indian Ocean, was being lost.

allochthon 13y ago
It's fascinating that you can find your iPhone using a Web site, but we're having such a hard time finding a plane (with lots of people with smartphones in their pockets turned off, or not). EDIT: just to clarify -- I'm thinking of how tracking the precise location of a plane at all times is a problem that it seems like we should have a handle on by now, although not necessarily using cell phone technology. (I wasn't thinking clearly about the cell phone signals in this context, though, as people have been correct to point out.)
- netllama 13y ago
  When's the last time anyone found their iPhone when it fell into the ocean, hundreds of miles from land?
- FatalLogic 13y ago
  It's fascinating, but it leads one toward the unpleasant conclusion that the passengers could have already have been dead or unconscious before the plane flew back across Malaysia. Cellphone tower records should provide more evidence, because there are sure to be some phones that were not in airplane mode. Cellphones won't have enough power to connect more than about 50 km from the coast.
  - jamesaguilar 13y ago
    Do you still get cell signal seven miles up? I remember one time accidentally leaving my phone not in airplane mode and I had no signal. YMMV.

csense 13y ago

Hmm. I wonder what the motivation is. I don't think it's terrorism or ransom, since nobody's claimed responsibility yet. Maybe it was a hijacking gone wrong, and the plane went down? Then again, the time gap between the disabling of systems suggests the hijackers ended up with enough control of the aircraft to send someone to see to it (presumably if they were engaged in a desperate battle with the crew and passengers, or if they lost control of the aircraft and the plane was going down, all of the hijackers would be busy dealing with the crisis). The fact of "significant flying experience" and the disabling of the transponder suggests a professional operation -- maybe some country's intelligence agency wants one of the passengers badly enough they're willing to interfere with a couple hundred other innocent passengers? The outcome doesn't bode well for the missing, since they are now Witness Who Have Seen Too Much. Or maybe the hijackers want all the passengers because they have a use for a couple hundred humans. Slave trading? Weapons testing? Wouldn't it be simpler (and bring a less thorough investigation) to just kidnap people off the street in some country with poor law enforcement? The more I think about this, the less sense it makes.

csense 13y ago
Then again, that the hijacker(s) have "significant flying experience" is not all that surprising. Anyone planning to take control of an in-flight aircraft by force, or threat of force, had better know something about how to fly it, or they'll just end up crashing and probably dying without accomplishing much. (Even if it's a suicide mission like 9/11, presumably suicide isn't the only goal -- the 9/11 hijackers wanted to take out some enemy buildings. From their point of view, losing their lives was an unfortunate but tolerable side effect, not the main objective.)
arrrg 13y ago
There can’t be that many places within reach of that plane where such a plane can land, right? The time window and range are both known, so can’t all those places be checked somehow?
- timr 13y ago
  More importantly, there aren't that many places a 777 can land without being picked up by a radar. Probably zero places.

fasteddie31003 13y ago

A modern day Earhart. I wonder if this incident will be the result of unintended blowback from making the cockpit too secure. Can we trust pilots? Should we be able to over-ride the controls of a plane mid-flight? EgyptAir Flight 990? All 9/11 flights? Ethiopian Airlines flight ET-702?

gregsq 13y ago
The secure flight deck seems under some scenarios to be little more than a trap door. If you let in a foxy South African terrorist for example, you can't get back in again, as I understand it, if access is restricted from within the flight deck. There's no failsafe way to allow entry from the cabin, even if a system of multiple secure coding for override is instituted in the cabin. And you can't depend upon ground based authentication for a number of reasons as things currently stand. A dead mans switch, where a member of the flight crew must override a timed flight deck door release, would only work if the crew themselves were willing and capable. And an Air Marshall who has overriding authority and perhaps access code is yet another security issue. There are three scenarios with a dead mans switch. Firstly, the flight deck crew may be unable to code against entry. This works as intended. Secondly, the flight deck crew is friendly, and codes against entry. This works as intended. Thirdly, the flight deck crew is hostile, and codes against entry. This last possibility needs a solution. A solution might be that all flights ping ground stations at timed intervals, and that all flight deck dead man switch override code entries are transmitted to ground, instituting cross reference queries against flight deck and flight cabin personnel. All flights of a certain class would therefore require satellite communications capability. Any dead man switch override event would be classed as a possible emergency. [edit] Forgot to say that turning off transponders and or phone homes turns dead man switch into a coded entry switch. This of course can allow entry for hostiles into an already hostile flight deck.
MichaelGG 13y ago
"making the cockpit too secure" How so? If you don't trust the pilots to the point where you want, who, the FAs? taking over the plane, you've got far bigger issues. An override system should be a remote-control thing requiring keys from multiple people.

Steko 13y ago

AP is already walking back the headline, now reads "Malaysian official says missing plane hijacked" "It is not conclusive. I'm heading the investigation and nobody is saying that. It's not true. We are looking at the possibility, we're looking at all possibilities. We're doing every profile of the passengers and crew but there is no firm evidence or leads so far," he told the Telegraph.

BorisMelnik 13y ago
what was original headline?
- Steko 13y ago
  Malaysian Investigators conclude flight hijacked
ubernostrum 13y ago
At this point the only safe headline to run is "Malaysian officials currently saying something they're going to deny saying a few hours from now".
- downandout 13y ago
  Or perhaps "Passenger Jet Missing". That seems to be the only confirmed information.
yeukhon 13y ago
The problem with media is that they always have "some official", "someone close to X." I wonder if they could just make this shit up since they are not going to write down the name and put it in a safe for record anyway.
- ne0codex 13y ago
  My husband was watching a CNN news segment about the missing plane earlier today on the TV. As I overheard the program while I was on the laptop I couldn't help but notice the absurd amount of times the news anchor kept saying "officials speculate, we believe, analysis probably indicates that...," There's too much focus on speculation to keep this relevant in a 24/7 news cycle.

cwilson 13y ago

I'm convinced this is one of three things after watching this for 7 days: 1. Hijacking gone wrong and the plane is in the ocean. 2. Pilot suicide and the plane is in the ocean. 3. Hijacking gone right and the plane is parked somewhere and all the passengers are dead and/or being held captive (least likely option). That's it. Nothing else could have happened.

afatc 13y ago
What about a portal to another dimension?
- kenrikm 13y ago
  That's what I'm talking about! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112040/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112040/ good theory.
  - nunodonato 13y ago
    man I loved this when it came on TV for the first time. gotta watch it again someday
- orblivion 13y ago
  That's covered in option 3)
- dag11 13y ago
  http://www.theonion.com/articles/malaysian-airlines-expands-investigation-to-includ,35524/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/malaysian-airlines-expands-...
espeed 13y ago
4. Plane's systems compromised and remotely diverted.
- gulbrandr 13y ago
  You mean like Finch does at the end of this episode? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364202/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364202/

Oculus 13y ago

"Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the airliner climbing to 45,000 feet (about 13,700 meters), higher than a Boeing 777's approved limit, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar, and making a sharp turn to the west. The radar track then shows the plane descending unevenly to an altitude of 23,000 feet (7,000 meters), below normal cruising levels, before rising again" Sounds to me like a possible fight/commotion in the cockpit was the cause of the plane to fly in such a weird pattern. Potential Scenario: - Fight in cockpit results in the plane flying unexpectedly high ("above approved limit") - Hijackers obtain control, turn off transponder and turn to their target location - Unexperienced pilot (possibly learned how to only fly smaller planes) makes an "unevenly" descent to lower altitudes as he knows the plane is above its approved limit - Rise again could be a second fight in the cockpit? Not sure on how to explain this one. The rising and falling in altitudes makes me suspect this wasn't pilot suicide.

FatalLogic 13y ago
It is an interesting and plausible theory, although the altitude data is not seen as completely reliable “A lot of stock cannot be put in the altitude data” sent from the engines, one official said. “A lot of this doesn’t make sense.” - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-milita...
sebcat 13y ago
Why would a plane ascend because of a struggle in the cockpit? You don't just climb 15000 ft at that altitude because someone fell over the controls. Someone had control at that point. Had there been a struggle, a descent would be the most likely outcome. All the explanations I've heard so far contains way too many assumptions. Ockham's razor. Here's another scenario: hypoxia. Makes you retarded and euphoric. Like being drunk but with less disassociation. Suddently, it's a great idea to climb! Oh wait, nope. Better descend. Are we on course? Better turn. Hypoxia and/or stress. Look at AF447. All pilots know what a stall is. But when you're flying at night in bad weather with S:t Elmo's fire all around you and the airspeed indicator stops working and you believe you need to climb, you might react without thinking. Oh, we're losing altitude? Better pull up!

yeukhon 13y ago

I think hijacked is a high possibility, though the only question remains is why hasn't anyone actually claim the responsibility? This is so unlike terrorist group out there. From what I understand, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the recent Kuming massacre in China the week before the missing plane. Uighurs separatists/terrorists are not that shy; they did claim responsbility are few times. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China) If this were a hijack, it's either targeting at the Chinese (most likely Uighurs separatists) or an upgraded terrorist attack. Maybe I've watched too much 24 and Sherlock Holmes.

TenJack 13y ago

One plausible scenario is that the plane was hijacked by terrorists so that it could later be used to deliver a payload (or be the payload itself a la 9-11). Since the plane has such a huge range, it could be used in an attack on American soil. This could also explain flying at a high altitude as a way to kill the passengers.

LordHumungous 13y ago
You can't just fly an unidentified plane into American airspace without getting shot down... I think

dakrisht 13y ago

First, I can't imagine the US doesn't know the location of this airplane or exactly what happened during deviation from its original flight path. Understandably, they cannot reveal the full breadth of their reconnaissance capabilities to "enemies" and the general public. If you don't know, there is a highly sophisticated US naval air facility on the island of Diego Garcia. The Navy does deep space reconnaissance over there! among other things... And they didn't detect a massive 777 flying north/south in and around the Indian Ocean? That area is saturated in complex radar. Diego Garcia houses complex radar and satellite communications systems and who knows what else that is still classified. Additionally, there are over 1,000 operational satellites in orbit! IMO, this was a carefully and planned mission. For all we know (tin-foil hat time) there could be behind the curtain negotiations with hijackers and/or missions being planned to recover the aircraft in case of wild extremists theories flying around on the Internet (0.1% on this) And as we all know today, nothing is that extreme anymore in the world we live in. Disabling transponders takes three clicks of a wheel and it was most definitely done intentionally, the sharp, almost hairpin turn, this jet made and then strategically avoided radar are all signs of a sophisticated operation here. The WSJ reports that circuit breakers were accessed in order to shut down transponders, clearly requiring a high level of skill for aircraft maintenance opps. Sure, pilot can break a circuit but they will spend 20 minutes reading the flight maintenance manual AND contact ground before doing anything like this. Finally - there were a few important people on board, including quite a few high-tech people involved with government contractions. Whatever is happening, it might never make complete sense - or at least the general public might be out the loop and get whatever information THEY want us to hear. I don't know who THEY are but this whole situation is very strange and gets crazier by the day. Edit: this bird was hacked

lawl 13y ago
* puts tinfoil hat on * In two months there are EU elections. Plus the hijacking in switzerland shortly before this... Sound convinient.
- peterjancelis 13y ago
  Convenient for what?

nnx 13y ago

Malaysian PM just concluded a Press Conference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwRUf4NlwDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwRUf4NlwDc He himself confirmed that satellite data (alledgedly cross-checked with US and other countries) shows the plane was still up in the air until at least 8:30AM Malaysian Time (~4-5 hours after the disappearance iirc). Search and Rescue operations in the South China Sea (east of Malaysia) have been cancelled - the search now focuses west of Malaysia. I quote (emphasis mine) : "the last satellite communication occurred in one of two possible corridors, a northern corridor, stretching approximately from the border of Kazakshtan and Turkemistan to northern Thailand, and a southern corridor, stretching approximately from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean." PM exited the press conference right after ending his speech, not answering questions.

beagle3 13y ago

Motorola/Freescale is apparently a dangerous place to work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_006

dm2 13y ago
It happens a lot more than people think. If your company has 20,000 employees and it's routine for many of them to fly, then the odds are that something bad will happen eventually. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/tesla-employees-identified/ http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/tesla-employees-identif... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/connecticut-plane-crash-six-feared-dead http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/connecticut-pla... Below are some unusual airplane incidents, I'm sure there are many more than are on this list. The point is that everyone would say the below things would NEVER happen on an airplane, yet, they happened. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm Some highlights: "A passenger brought aboard a crocodile hidden in a sports bag. The crocodile escaped, causing a panic among passengers who all rushed to one end of the plane. This caused an imbalance in the aircraft which led to loss of control and a crash." "A stray bullet from training soldiers struck the landing plane, hitting an oxygen cylinder. A fire broke out and control of the plane was lost and it crashed." "The aircraft was hijacked shortly after taking off from Ethiopia by three drunken escaped prisoners. They demanded to be flown to Australia, but wouldn't let the pilot stop to refuel. The plane eventually ran out of fuel and ditched 500 feet offshore killing 127 of 157 aboard." "A passenger's cigarette caused a fire in the cabin which led to an oxygen tank exploding. The plane crashed killing 25 of 69 aboard." "Two passengers were sucked out of the plane after a tire exploded in the wheel well causing damage to the fuselage." "Out of boredom, the captain and flight engineer decided to experiment and see what would happen to the autothrottle system if the circuit breakers which supplied power to the instruments which measured the rotational speed of each engine's low pressure compressor were tripped. This led to engine overspeeding and destruction of the engine. Pieces struck the fuselage, breaking a window, causing rapid explosive decompression and a passenger was sucked out of the plane. The plane landed safely." "An unrestrained German Shepard interfered with flight controls and caused the plane to crash." "Without authorization, the pilot taxied half-way down the runway to try and clear fog. Braking done during the fog clearing overheated the brakes. Soon after takeoff, the overheated brakes caused a tire to burst which damaged a fuel line and started a fire. The plane crashed shortly after killing all 80 people aboard." These below happened like 50+ years ago. "A U.S. Army Air Force B-25 crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in fog, killing 3 aboard and 11 on the ground." "Carbon dioxide extinguishers were discharged in response to a fire warning in the cargo hold. The plane's nose was lowered for an emergency descent and due to a design flaw, carbon dioxide entered the cockpit and rendered the crew unconscious after which the plane crashed killing all 43 aboard. " "The DC-3 disintegrated in flight outside of Quebec killing all 23 aboard.. A dynamite bomb was planted in the forward baggage compartment by Albert Guay, a jeweler, in a plot to kill his wife who was a passenger on the plane. Guay, who assembled the bomb, had his accomplice, Marguerite Pitre air expressed the bomb on the aircraft. Ms. Pitre's brother, a clockmaker, helped make the timing mechanism. The insurance policy was for 10,000 dollars. All three were hanged for their crimes. " "The plane landed in Pacific Ocean, 2.5 mile short of the runway in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay. All 107 people aboard were safely evacuated off the plane. The aircraft was recovered from the San Francisco Bay 55 hours after the accident, repaired and eventually flew back home to Japan and was in service for many decades." "The aircraft crashed killing 61 of 82 aboard after colliding with a balloon."

driznar 13y ago

Officials now believe most likely location for MH370 is on land near Chinese/Kyrgyz border.[1] If this holds true, then the most likely perpetrators are Uyghur separatists. But this begs the question, how did they manage to evade being detected by the numerous radars? [1] https://twitter.com/JonahFisher/status/444754310677553153 https://twitter.com/JonahFisher/status/444754310677553153

TazeTSchnitzel 13y ago
They probably were detected by radar, but geopolitics means few countries will admit they were able to detect it to avoid revealing military capabilities.