Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

It has been 5 days now since flight MH370 has disappeared under the noses of ALL the world's surveillance equipment, both here on Earth and ALL those in Space. How can a Boeing 777 aircraft which is very big and very modern, can just vanish into the thin air or into the sea without a trace? We are no longer in the era of Emelia Earhart when her small plane vanished without a trace over the Pacific more that 75 years ago. Personally, I don't think it is possible for it to happen without anyone helping to do just that. So why would anyone want to make the B-777 plane disappear with 239 souls aboard? A good place to start is to find out what this aircraft was carrying in its cargo hold. Were there billions of Dollars worth in Gold Bullion or was it diamonds that would take a team of criminals to hijack this aircraft and fly it below radar coverage almost at sea level and then land at a remote airfield somewhere in Asia? I know it all sounds very “Hollywood” and there was such a movie made called "Airport '77" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZUkfmBCsrE ), where such an attempt was made. Is Life imitating Art here? Well, just maybe!

So, what do you think happened to flight MH370?

[repulsewarrior]

...indeed, it would seem to me that such a craft could be monitored in many different ways simultaneously. what with all the paranoia, WMD's and such, it is hard to believe that 'Big Brother' reveals itself to be nothing more than a figment of the collective imagination. i would imagine that unless this was a planned event, it would not seem so filled with mystery.

[Linichka]

So many theories, so little substantiated. I've wondered whether it might be a case of rapid decompression, similar to the Helios tragedy over Greece in August 2005.

[Demonax]

This is now getting weird....

Malaysia Airlines missing jet transmitted its location repeatedly to satellites over the course of five hours after it disappeared from radar, people briefed on the matter said, as searchers zeroed in on new target areas hundreds of miles west of the plane's original course...

The uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it apparently continued flying so long without working transponders and other communication links, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for reasons that remain unclear to U.S. authorities.

At one briefing, according to one of the people, officials were told that investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted "with the intention of using it later for another purpose."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... reno64-wsj

[Kikapu]

This is now getting weird....

Malaysia Airlines missing jet transmitted its location repeatedly to satellites over the course of five hours after it disappeared from radar, people briefed on the matter said, as searchers zeroed in on new target areas hundreds of miles west of the plane's original course...

The uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it apparently continued flying so long without working transponders and other communication links, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for reasons that remain unclear to U.S. authorities.

At one briefing, according to one of the people, officials were told that investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted "with the intention of using it later for another purpose."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... reno64-wsj

Yes, the plot thickens!

[Demonax]

Missing Malaysia plane MH370 'may have fallen victim to pirates’

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have been “an act of piracy” and the possibility that its hundreds of passengers are being held at an unknown location has not been ruled out, US investigators have said.

Seven days after the Boeing 777 vanished en route to Beijing with 239 people on board, officials are examining the possibility the flight was deliberately steered off course and landed by an unknown hijacker.

There have been claims that the plane flew on for more than five hours after it disappeared in the early hours of Saturday. In theory, MH370 could have flown more than 2,200 nautical miles, meaning it may have reached as far as the Indian border with Pakistan.

As an international fleet of more than 50 ships pushed further into the Indian Ocean to search for signs of a crash, US and Malaysian investigators believe “human intervention” could have played a role in the disappearance.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rates.html

[kurupetos]

Maybe it has landed in Ercunt.

[Demonax]

Maybe it has landed in Ercunt.

Not as far fetched as it sounds. Were the possible hijackers Turkic terrorists?

Last week 33 Chinese civilians were killed and 143 injured by ‘East Turkistan’ terrorists in an attack in South-West China. Now a plane carrying mainly Chinese civilians disappears apparently heading towards the Turkic Islamists' base in Pakistan/Afghanistan. Is this a coincidence?

If the target was China, then the most obvious suspect is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Chinese Islamist terrorist group that operates in Pakistan and Xinjiang Province, a Muslim-majority province of western China. Its Turkic population is called Uyghurs and separatists refer to the autonomous province as East Turkestan. It had independence from 1644-1911 and 1944-1949.

The Chinese authorities periodically clash with the Uyghurs. While most are Sufi Muslims and are not considered radical, there are Islamist terrorists among them like ETIM. The group dramatically increased the scope of its violence this year.

http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/ ... lane-crash

[Demonax]

Now the plot thickens. A passenger on the Malaysian flight of Turkish descent is being investigated....

Earlier it was reported that the 35-year-old man is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at a Turkish university, who had done research on flight simulations.

However Hadi said police were still investigating without divulging more.

“An Uighur would also need proper approvals from Beijing before he can travel,” a terrorism expert told Fz.com.

The focus on this ethnic minority has been compounded by letters sent by the Chinese Martyrs Brigade to Chinese media organisations on Tuesday that it is responsible for the plane’s disappearance.

It said the taking of the plane was in retaliation of "cruel persecution" – possibly in reference to Malaysia's deportation of six Uighur asylum seekers to China last year which had resulted in their jailing.

China had also narrowed down their suspects of a March 2 knife attack at a train station in Kunming which left 29 people dead on the Uighurs.

Read more: http://www.fz.com/content/mh370-why-uig ... z2vznF6ONX

[Paphitis]

It has been 5 days now since flight MH370 has disappeared under the noses of ALL the world's surveillance equipment, both here on Earth and ALL those in Space. How can a Boeing 777 aircraft which is very big and very modern, can just vanish into the thin air or into the sea without a trace? We are no longer in the era of Emelia Earhart when her small plane vanished without a trace over the Pacific more that 75 years ago. Personally, I don't think it is possible for it to happen without anyone helping to do just that. So why would anyone want to make the B-777 plane disappear with 239 souls aboard? A good place to start is to find out what this aircraft was carrying in its cargo hold. Were there billions of Dollars worth in Gold Bullion or was it diamonds that would take a team of criminals to hijack this aircraft and fly it below radar coverage almost at sea level and then land at a remote airfield somewhere in Asia? I know it all sounds very “Hollywood” and there was such a movie made called "Airport '77" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZUkfmBCsrE ), where such an attempt was made. Is Life imitating Art here? Well, just maybe!

So, what do you think happened to flight MH370?

The key to this puzzle is why the Transponder Signal was lost?

A Transponder pings the position and location of the Aircraft to Secondary Surveillance Radar. Aircraft are given a unique 4 digit code which allows Radar to interrogate the aircraft and the Transponder provides information such as IDENTITY (registration and Flight Number - MH370), True Air Speed, Indicated Air Speed and Flight Level referenced to 1013 hPa on the altimeters.

Transponders also allow the pilots to Squawk Emergency Codes such as Complete Loss of comms = code 7700, or Hijacking which is code 7500 or loss of radio comms which is code 7600. These codes notify Air Traffic Control of the nature of the emergency. For example, if code 7500 is selected, then Air Traffic Control will cease communications to the aircraft so that it would appear to the hijackers that everything is normal and that they are unaware of the hijacking. In the back ground, Clearances will be given to the aircraft even when it deviates off course and or crosses into other Flight Information Regions and Sovereign Airspace as well as other measures such as possible Military Interception and that could even mean that the Airliner will be shot down if it begins to descend over populated areas as a last resort. When intercepted, comms will be established on Frequency 121.50mHz since it would be difficult not to notice the F18s outside the window.

Some feasible explanations are that this Transponder was placed in STANDBY mode. This effectively switches it off. It is common practice to switch the Transponder in the Standby Mode in order to change the code so as to not cycle through hundreds of codes confusing Air Traffic Control. However, that is for older generation aircraft. In the B777, the Transponder can remain on whilst changing the code because they can simply change the STANDBY code and switch (just like flipping between different radio frequencies on separate radios), but sometimes, pilots do switch to STANDBY (commonly seen in simulators from new First Officers during Endorsement Training particularly if the last equipment they had flown was older generation). STANDBY is not ideal for the following reasons and probably not within Malaysian Standard Operating Procedures:

1) they may forget to switch it back on and within an FIR. ATC will not necessarily tell you to switch it on until cleared to descend or be transferred to Radar or Approach, and
2) it disables the Traffic Collision Avoidance System which relies on all aircraft Squawking a Transponder Code.

So what may have caused the crash? Well, it is very difficult to know without the Flight Data Recorder. But some possible scenarios include:
1) a major catastrophe such as an explosion (a bomb for example),
2) a total on board electrical systems failure,
3) A Transponder malfunction for whatever reason,
4) the Pilot or someone else (possible hijacking) switches the Transponder to the STANDBY position.

So why would a pilot switch to STANDBY? On the Ground, the Transponder is switched to STANDBY. It is turned on whenever on the Runway. In the air, it is something rarely done, and it is outside procedures for all modern Airliners because it does have safety implications. Which is why things like Hijacking and catastrophic explosion can't be ruled out.

That is all I have to say until the Flight Data Recorder is found, because there really is nothing more that I can add.

The Flight Data Recorder, Cockpit Voice Recorder will be found. It's only a matter of time.