Malaysia Officials, Saying Missing Jet Was Diverted, Open Criminal Inquiry
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
> An Asia-based pilot of a Boeing 777-200, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said an ascent above the plane’s service limit of 43,100 feet, along with a depressurized cabin, could have rendered the passengers and crew unconscious, and could be a deliberate maneuver by a pilot or a hijacker.
> Other experts said that altitude changes would be expected if the pilots became disabled after the plane’s autopilot was disengaged. Changes in the weight distribution on the plane as fuel burned off would make the plane descend and climb repeatedly, though changes in course would be harder to explain.
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> The data, the official said, “leads them to believe that it either ran out of fuel or crashed right before it ran out of fuel.”
> It would take a long runway to land a plane of that size, the official said. Although the radius that the plane could have flown extends into South Asia, the official added, “the idea it could cross into Indian airspace and not get picked up made no sense.”
Could a pilot do this completely on his own? Turn off the communication system, fly 4 hours into a different direction and then nosedive into the ocean?
If I thought that was possible, I wouldn't fly the little sheds I do for fun.
What exactly is known for certain?
The circuit breakers for the ACARS and radar transponder are accessible.
Yes.
Egypt Air is an example of a pilot committing suicide, before doing so he pulled the circuit breakers for most systems including some for the flight data recorders (black boxes).
For safety reasons a pilot needs to be able to quickly isolate any system (even ones that are 'vital'). If the pilot wishes to kill everyone, he will, there is no point trying to design against that. However as the vast majority of pilots are frequently making changes to the automated systems idea of the world for the better of the plane.
At the moment on many forums there are a lot of comments from people saying we need to clip the wings, so to speak, of pilots, limit what they can do. These people have never sat on the left.
This seems like really good news for would-be plane hijackers.
If not there, I would guess a landing in a dry lake bed in Tibet is next most likely.
But since there has been no communication, it raises the odds it crashed, either at sea or attempting to land.
If the MH370 suddenly climbed to 45,000 feet that would indicate that either (1) there was a mechanical failure so the pilots had to struggle to take the control again or (2) there was a fight in the cockpit that resulted on the abrupt climb.
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/15/mh370-search-fo...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo#List_of_countries_under...
Unfortunately there isn't a universal sound for that so you either get silence or a fake ringing. Silence makes people think its broken, whereas ringing gives false hope...