Malaysia Airlines Plane "Loses Contact"

[KTF]

GSE said:

How did that flaperon manage to stay afloat for so long? I would have though it would have filled with water and sunk not long after breaking off the aircraft.

It has a honeycomb structure so will float quite easily.

[Slartifartfast]

gowmonster said:

with recent news reports of pilots letting in sexy women into the cockpit is it possible some sexy female ninjas took over the plane?

Thought that was cruise ships?

[trashbat]

Is it possible that the flaperon sailed too close to the island to impress another flaperon that it knew there?

[Disastrous]

mrloudly said:

The Turbonator said:

Eric Mc said:

I still think that a cabin decompression may have rendered everyone on board unconscious. This has happened on a few other occasions

Doesn't explain the transponder being switched off though or the controlled turn to the left off course.

Pilot alone in cockpit door locked, cabin pressure dumped allowing 10 odd minutes of Oxygen for the PX (a lot more for the pilot) before they're rendered unconscious. Pilot continues on his supply (and first officer's) as long as possible and then re-pressurises the cabin allowing him to remove his mask and carry on with the task in hand. A horrible thought...

Out of interest, are you being Directed by Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer just out of shot?

You should have definitely squeezed in the phrase "Mr President, if you do nothing, these men will DIE. We have someone onboard...he's our only hope"

>Cut to hero<

[wolves_wanderer]

Disastrous said:

mrloudly said:

The Turbonator said:

Eric Mc said:

I still think that a cabin decompression may have rendered everyone on board unconscious. This has happened on a few other occasions

Doesn't explain the transponder being switched off though or the controlled turn to the left off course.

Pilot alone in cockpit door locked, cabin pressure dumped allowing 10 odd minutes of Oxygen for the PX (a lot more for the pilot) before they're rendered unconscious. Pilot continues on his supply (and first officer's) as long as possible and then re-pressurises the cabin allowing him to remove his mask and carry on with the task in hand. A horrible thought...

Out of interest, are you being Directed by Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer just out of shot?

You should have definitely squeezed in the phrase "Mr President, if you do nothing, these men will DIE. We have someone onboard...he's our only hope"

>Cut to hero<

I'm seeing a Bond villain in an Island hideaway somewhere picking up a phone and ordering the elimination of Mr Loudly as the only man who has seen through his diabolical scheme. He knows too much

[XM5ER]

KTF said:

It has a honeycomb structure so will float quite easily.

What, like those ballerinas that eat lots of maltesers?

[Axionknight]

trashbat said:

Is it possible that the flaperon sailed too close to the island to impress another flaperon that it knew there?

It would have been upside down, had that been the case

[XB70]

el stovey said:

Or even switch off the passenger oxygen.

I am sure there is some reasoning somewhere (fire???) but why would the design parameters allow the cockpit the ability to shut off pax oxygen or indeed the transponder?

I can't think of a reason why the cockpit would need to do it hence wonder why they have the ability to do so?

Can the cockpit also disable maps/the onboard credit card operated phones etc or can this be overridden from the cabin?

Don't answer of course if this is something we should not know!

[Composite Guru]

XB70 said:

el stovey said:

Or even switch off the passenger oxygen.

I am sure there is some reasoning somewhere (fire???) but why would the design parameters allow the cockpit the ability to shut off pax oxygen or indeed the transponder?

I can't think of a reason why the cockpit would need to do it hence wonder why they have the ability to do so?

Can the cockpit also disable maps/the onboard credit card operated phones etc or can this be overridden from the cabin?

Don't answer of course if this is something we should not know!

Passenger oxygen is provided by small canisters that generate oxygen when the pins are pulled by pulling the masks. This gives enough oxygen to the passenger to get to a safe altitude. The cockpit runs on bottled oxygen so they could fly the plane even when the pax oxygen has run out.

The transponder from what i'm aware cannot be turned off in the cockpit, someone would need to go down into the avionics bay to do this which would of not been an accidental thing to do.

[XB70]

Composite Guru said:

Passenger oxygen is provided by small canisters that generate oxygen when the pins are pulled by pulling the masks. This gives enough oxygen to the passenger to get to a safe altitude. The cockpit runs on bottled oxygen so they could fly the plane even when the pax oxygen has run out.

The transponder from what i'm aware cannot be turned off in the cockpit, someone would need to go down into the avionics bay to do this which would of not been an accidental thing to do.

Sorry, I meant the cabin oxygen (not the emergency one). I should also add the ability to depressurise the cabin manually (both of these being theories about how the pax were incapacitated)

[mrloudly]

Composite Guru said:

Passenger oxygen is provided by small canisters that generate oxygen when the pins are pulled by pulling the masks. This gives enough oxygen to the passenger to get to a safe altitude. The cockpit runs on bottled oxygen so they could fly the plane even when the pax oxygen has run out.

The transponder from what i'm aware cannot be turned off in the cockpit, someone would need to go down into the avionics bay to do this which would of not been an accidental thing to do.

Transponders are easily turned off from within the cockpit. There are very few things that can't be turned off or have there isolators pulled from the cockpit, the last thing you need as a pilot is something failing that you can't turn off/isolate.

Edited by mrloudly on Friday 31st July 15:59

[Blaster72]

mrloudly said:

Composite Guru said:

Passenger oxygen is provided by small canisters that generate oxygen when the pins are pulled by pulling the masks. This gives enough oxygen to the passenger to get to a safe altitude. The cockpit runs on bottled oxygen so they could fly the plane even when the pax oxygen has run out.

The transponder from what i'm aware cannot be turned off in the cockpit, someone would need to go down into the avionics bay to do this which would of not been an accidental thing to do.

Transponders are easily turned off from within the cockpit

More like this on a 777 - not easily confused with other cockpit controls. Turning off would be a deliberate conscious action in my opinion.

[anonymous-user]

Composite Guru said:

Passenger oxygen is provided by small canisters that generate oxygen when the pins are pulled by pulling the masks. This gives enough oxygen to the passenger to get to a safe altitude. The cockpit runs on bottled oxygen so they could fly the plane even when the pax oxygen has run out.

The transponder from what i'm aware cannot be turned off in the cockpit, someone would need to go down into the avionics bay to do this which would of not been an accidental thing to do.

The transponder is switched off by the pilots every time the aircraft arrives on stand. Otherwise the ATC displays would be awash with aircraft information where the airport is. The Passenger oxygen and the tansponder can also be easily switched off either with circuit breakers or other controls all in the flight deck.

[XB70]

Thanks

I suppose the proposed automatic reporting on location will render turning off the transponder issue a moot point now.

Even if some lunatic does decide to murder everyone on board, at least the second part of the plan (a middle finger up to everyone to try and find the plane, and the remains/last resting site of the other crew and passenger so that relatives can find closure in their grief) will be thwarted.

[assuming that is what happened of course]

Also raises another question - can the black box data/voice recorder data be now set for burst transmissions every 30 mins in addition to being recorded on the actual devices? If the actual hardware only records the last 30 mins, even finding them won't necessarily reveal what happened perhaps hours beforehand?

This goes beyond the MH flight.

Cheers

[JuniorD]

Blaster72 said:

More like this on a 777 - not easily confused with other cockpit controls. Turning off would be a deliberate conscious action in my opinion.

Filthy! That has to be a cargo a/c

[mrloudly]

Transponders don't transmit location data, they just send out a number (given by the controlling Air Traffic Station) that identifies the "blip" on the radar screen. (They also send out height info) There is an "Ident" switch position that makes the aircraft stand out on the radar controllers screen for identification purposes. You will sometimes be asked to "Squawk Ident xxxx" if the radar operator wants to pick you out in a a "crowd".

ACARS is the position identifier that can send automated location reports. This was also turned off in MH370. This unit is still "polled" by ground stations however, which is where the estimated aircraft positions are coming from.

[XB70]

Thanks - very informative.

[Fat Fairy]

JuniorD said:

Blaster72 said:

More like this on a 777 - not easily confused with other cockpit controls. Turning off would be a deliberate conscious action in my opinion.

Filthy! That has to be a cargo a/c

In my experience, it has the standard spilt tea/coffee, bits of pilots sandwiches etc that most aircrew leave behind for the groundcrews to clean up........

FF

[Martin4x4]

GSE said:

How did that flaperon manage to stay afloat for so long? I would have though it would have filled with water and sunk not long after breaking off the aircraft.

It's made from lightweight composite materials must be lighter than water.

[Martin4x4]

mrloudly said:

Transponders are easily turned off from within the cockpit. There are very few things that can't be turned off or have there isolators pulled from the cockpit, the last thing you need as a pilot is something failing that you can't turn off/isolate.

Transponders are also designed to 'squawk' emergency codes and don't necessarily transmit while the new code is input.

Could easily be screwed up while disordered by hypoxia.