Mathematician theory about Malaysia Airlines Crash

[Muzzy]

A mathematician created different models of the aircraft crashing in the water and came to the conclusion that it must have gone in straight down like a compressed 109. This explains the lack of floating debris and oil, and lends credence to the theory that the plane was deliberately crashed.

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/mathematician-may-have-just-solved-the-mystery-of-121124580772.html

[PR3D4TOR]

"His computer models suggest that the flight entered a vertical dive over the Indian Ocean, entering the water cleanly and without breaking up."

Um... Was it made from adamantium?

[Muzzy]

The description is misleading...the mathematician said that the plane entered the water vertically and broke up on impact, but the pieces all sank to the bottom quickly. Had it come in at any other angle, there would have been a debris field or floating wreckage. His model explains why there have been no traces of floating wreckage.

[FLOOB]

So.. whether or not something floats depends on the angle it strikes the water?

[Muzzy]

If you power dive a jet into the ocean straight down the fuselage will largely stay intact and drag everything down with it. If you come in at an angle, the fuselage will snap and spill out all the junk that floats (including bodies).

[Krupinski]

Assuming it was at 30k ft and already going 300+mph wouldn't it break up before even hitting the water? 

[Zimme83]

Or... They simply did not look in the right area until all parts had sunk, if they flew until they ran out of fuel the trail of fuel on the surface would have been very small also. A controlled ditch can also leave the plane intact and will leave no trails on the surface.

[Muzzy]

Assuming it was at 30k ft and already going 300+mph wouldn't it break up before even hitting the water? 

That's assuming it was at that altitude when it spun in, yes. But it's quite possible it wasn't.

[Mister Fork]

Or... They simply did not look in the right area until all parts had sunk, if they flew until they ran out of fuel the trail of fuel on the surface would have been very small also. A controlled ditch can also leave the plane intact and will leave no trails on the surface.

+1 on a controlled and slow ditch...

I think without the large fuel trail and lack of any identifiable flotsam, the likelihood of the plane diving into the ocean at a near vertical dive without breaking up prior to impact is not reasonable...remember the EgyptAir crash - a direct dive ripped off the engines and the plane porpoised before finally hitting the ocean at a fairly steep angle - there was a tonne of flotsam to help identify the aircraft hitting the water over 500+MPH.

Another theory (at least one my wife thinks what happened) is that the plane landed on the ground on some remote runway on an island. Or it ran out of fuel and crashed into the land.

The data from the aircraft doesn't have any steep decent information... then again, they can't even really figure out when they lost contact with it either...

[PR3D4TOR]

Even today the ocean is a very, very big place.

[Karnak]

Even today the ocean is a very, very big place.

Particularly that ocean as it has nothing in it that anybody wants to go to.  No islands and no major trade routes leading directly across it.  It is, I understand, even pretty barren lifewise, an aquatic desert so to speak.