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> Today, Reuters reports that the last words from the cockpit of missing MH370 – "all right, good night" – were uttered after someone on board had already begun

by pizza 13y ago

> Today, Reuters reports that the last words from the cockpit of missing MH370 – "all right, good night" – were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane's automatic tracking systems.

jonah 13y ago
I wouldn't necessarily read that in and of itself ominously. They said that as they were leaving Malaysian air traffic control jurisdiction. That the ACARS had already been disabled is what's interesting.
agwa 13y ago
> Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane was leaving Malaysian-run airspace could further heighten suspicions of hijacking or sabotage, it said. I've listened to a fair amount of air traffic control[1] and a phrase like that, especially when signing off of a frequency, is not at all unusual so I don't know why they're focusing on its informality. [1] thanks to United offering it on one of their inflight entertainment channels
- devindotcom 13y ago
  I think they mean that because this casual phrase came after the deactivation of the ACARS system, it implies the guy who said "good night" knew it was disabled and likely had done it himself and concealed the fact.
- plorg 13y ago
  I was under the impression that this was supposed to imply that, because the transponders were off, the pilot would likely be aware of _something_ being awry (if even just that the transponders were acting up). Thus, an informal, nonchalant response might suggest that the transponders were intentionally disabled, and that would feed a suspicion of foul-play.
- exDM69 13y ago
  If you want to practice your radio comms skills or just want some soothing radio chatter to calm your mind, you can get live air traffic control feeds from here: http://www.liveatc.net/ http://www.liveatc.net/ Indeed, informal greetings like the one mentioned in the article are not at all rare. Real life ATC communication is not the robot-like mechanical talking you might be used to from video games or movies.

by pizza 13y ago

jonah 13y ago

I wouldn't necessarily read that in and of itself ominously. They said that as they were leaving Malaysian air traffic control jurisdiction. That the ACARS had already been disabled is what's interesting.

agwa 13y ago

> Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane was leaving Malaysian-run airspace could further heighten suspicions of hijacking or sabotage, it said. I've listened to a fair amount of air traffic control[1] and a phrase like that, especially when signing off of a frequency, is not at all unusual so I don't know why they're focusing on its informality. [1] thanks to United offering it on one of their inflight entertainment channels

devindotcom 13y ago
I think they mean that because this casual phrase came after the deactivation of the ACARS system, it implies the guy who said "good night" knew it was disabled and likely had done it himself and concealed the fact.
plorg 13y ago
I was under the impression that this was supposed to imply that, because the transponders were off, the pilot would likely be aware of _something_ being awry (if even just that the transponders were acting up). Thus, an informal, nonchalant response might suggest that the transponders were intentionally disabled, and that would feed a suspicion of foul-play.
exDM69 13y ago
If you want to practice your radio comms skills or just want some soothing radio chatter to calm your mind, you can get live air traffic control feeds from here: http://www.liveatc.net/ http://www.liveatc.net/ Indeed, informal greetings like the one mentioned in the article are not at all rare. Real life ATC communication is not the robot-like mechanical talking you might be used to from video games or movies.