Malaysian airlines 777 missing

[MiloMorai]

No News type people in the know, took the investigators to offer the information from ACARS to the news:

Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the  Boeing Co.  BA -0.99%     777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program

That should be 'sent to Rolls-Royce' not Boeing.

[rogwar]

The media has a tendency to sort of make up news when there are a lack of facts.


This event is certainly weird though.

[Slate]

  
   I was wondering about the 777 and came across a USA today article from May 2013.....small exert....

The Federal Aviation Administration says unsafe wiring conditions on some Boeing 777 jetliners need to be fixed to prevent the possibility of a crash from an in-flight entertainment system fire.

In a proposed order to be published in the Federal Register Friday, the FAA says wiring systems in about 59 U.S.-registered 777-200 and 777-300 planes must be modified.

The proposed order requires installing wires and changing electricity load-management-systems panels to ensure pilots are able to use a switch in the cockpit to turn off power to the entertainment systems if a fire breaks out.

   ...also in 1999 there were issues with the Back-up Generators causing engine shut downs with. 17 incidents with shaft breakage......

     The planes involved in the latest incidents were flown by Cathay Pacific
 Airways and Malaysian Airlines, and both had engines built by Rolls Royce
 PLC. But the FAA directive is expected to apply to all 777 models and all
 three families of engines that power the planes. Boeing said it has reports of
 17 instances of shafts breaking in about one million hours of 777 flights.

 Rolls Royce declined to comment. United Technologies' Hamilton
 Sundstrand unit, which makes the backup generator, said it is working
 closely with Boeing to "design, test and introduce" changes to make the
 parts more reliable. United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney unit, which also
 builds engines used on 777s, declined to comment, as did General Electric
 Co., the third engine supplier.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

There's also a report of an antenna mount corroding mid fuselage of 777 that can cause a mid-flight breakup if the hull is breached. There's going to be an FAA bulletin about it.

[Brooke]

Seems like the most-reliable information so far is that the plane was communicating to satellites for several hours after transponder went off line.

I hope that it turns out to be hijacking, as that gives some odds of survival for the passengers and crew.

[Tupac]

Seems like the most-reliable information so far is that the plane was communicating to satellites for several hours after transponder went off line.

I hope that it turns out to be hijacking, as that gives some odds of survival for the passengers and crew.

If it was a hijacking they are as good as dead.

[Brooke]

A hijacking is definitely not a good situation to be in.  But there have been some in the past where most passengers and crew survived it.  If it crashed, there will be no survivors for sure, though.  I wish them luck, those people, if there is any left anywhere for them.

[Vulcan]

There's also a report of an antenna mount corroding mid fuselage of 777 that can cause a mid-flight breakup if the hull is breached. There's going to be an FAA bulletin about it.

Did not apply to this model of 777.

[FLOOB]

Even US sources are being evasive about what they know about it.

It's not clear what the indication was, but senior administration officials told ABC News the missing Malaysian flight continued to "ping" a satellite on an hourly basis after it lost contact with radar. The Boeing 777 jetliners are equipped with what is called the Airplane Health Management system in which they ping a satellite every hour. The number of pings would indicate how long the plane stayed aloft.

Ok. But they're not going to tell us the number of pings. Why not?

The official initially said there were indications that the plane flew four or five hours after disappearing from radar and that they believe it went into the water. Officials later said the plane likely did not fly four or five hours, but did not specify how long it may have been airborne.

What makes the "officials" say that?

White House spokesman Jay Carney said, “It's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive, but new information, an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean, and we are consulting with international partners about the appropriate assets to deploy.”
Carney did not specify the nature of the “new information.”

Well that clears thing up! Thanks "officials" who prefer to remain anonymous while citing information of a nature that they won't specify.

[USRanger]

Carney did not specify the nature of the “new information.”

He's turned that into a science.

[Tupac]

He's turned that into a science.

No joke.

[NatCigg]

5-600 mph x 4-5 hours = 2000 - 3000 miles 

[DmonSlyr]

For some reason I think it got shot down by a cruise missile and no one is claiming it.. I think the idea of hijacking is bland because the plane would have shown up somewhere. People would have contacted family, I think the message would have got out.

Only other thing is a technical malfunction and It crashed into see and sank rather quickly. I feel like the pilots could have radioed someone if that was the case..

The fact that it is missing, there were no phone calls, text, tweets, emails, from passengers about the plane going down,  tells me that it could have been an instant fatal blow that crashed the plane at sea. Which leads me to believe that was a cruise missle.

[FTJR]

For some reason I think it got shot down by a cruise missile and no one is claiming it.. I think the idea of hijacking is bland because the plane would have shown up somewhere. People would have contacted family, I think the message would have got out.

Only other thing is a technical malfunction and It crashed into see and sank rather quickly. I feel like the pilots could have radioed someone if that was the case..

The fact that it is missing, there were no phone calls, text, tweets, emails, from passengers about the plane going down,  tells me that it could have been an instant fatal blow that crashed the plane at sea. Which leads me to believe that was a cruise missle.

There would be debris if it was shot down, which would have been found by now.

[rpm]

The sat pings heading west and the phantom radar tracks are worrisome. I know every nerd with sat access is scanning the area but it's a real possibility this plane has landed and the passengers are hostages/human shields for some larger terrorist attack. The probability is low, but it can't be ruled out.