Malaysian airlines has lost a 777

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dust

dust

Golden Member
Oct 13, 2008
1,328
2
71
Maybe it was brought up, but wasn't there some news about some cell phones of the crew/passengers still ringing?
If so, I thought they could be tracked..
 
lozina

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,711
8
81
Looks like some of you will be surprised to learn that the Boeing 777 has a glide ratio close to 20:1. It could have glided up to 125 miles from its cruising altitude.

Also it is a fly by wire controlled plane but it still has mechanical backup
 
NikolaeVarius

NikolaeVarius

Lifer
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
dust said:
Maybe it was brought up, but wasn't there some news about some cell phones of the crew/passengers still ringing?
If so, I thought they could be tracked..
Click to expand...

Cellphones ring without a valid connecting phone as stated about 6 times before.
 
purbeast0

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,699
6,573
126
it's still pretty crazy that this much later they still have absolutely no clue where this big ass 777 is.
 
AViking

AViking

Platinum Member
Sep 12, 2013
2,264
1
0
It's really not that surprising. Although it's big compared to a house or a car it's not very big compared to an ocean, jungle, etc. With Airfrance they found wreckage floating in the ocean. For all we know this thing crashed in the middle of the jungle, while it was raining, at night (1:30am)
 
HomerJS

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
39,649
33,240
136
brainhulk said:
They turn it off after landing. It would just confuse the heck out of traffic control to see all these dots on top of one another at the airport
Click to expand...

Then link it to the landing gear. On touchdown it turns off.

Doesn't ground control still use the transponder signal to direct ground traffic?
 
NikolaeVarius

NikolaeVarius

Lifer
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
HomerJS said:
Why are transponders designed where pilot can turn off?
Click to expand...

Because there are reasons why you might want to turn it off.

Maybe it suffers a glitch that starts giving off completely wrong information to ground control and to nearby planes and needs to be shut off for debugging while in flight.

Almost every system in an airplane can be turned on and off by the pilots using the breakers. Just like computers, turning something off than on can fix issues.

Giving a pilot the ability to control his plane is generally a good thing.
 
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NikolaeVarius

NikolaeVarius

Lifer
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
Qianglong said:
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-c...ont-fishermen-find-life-raft-near-pd-1.509222

THE AUTHORITIES LET THE RAFT SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN????? SHEER incompetence and wasted the efforts of the fishermen....
Click to expand...

That's pretty crazy. The authorities messed up there, but the fact that it was found at Port Dickenson is pretty interesting, consdering its on the south west portion of malaysia.

There is a possbility currents brought it there.

As for letting it sink, a badly damaged and waterlogged liftraft must be pretty damn hard to manage.

But truthfully, the fact that the liferaft was found is more significant than the raft itself. The raft probably wouldn't have told authorities much, but where it was found is huge. However, it would have been nice to actual be able to confirm that it belonged to that partifular 777.

I don't know the particulars of the liferafts on a 777.
 
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M

MaxFusion16

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2001
1,512
1
0
huge cover up by the malaysian government, this is beyond incompetence, this is deliberate misinformation and misdirection.

the malaysian government has been quick to deny any reports of findings by the vietnamese since day one, because they knew the plane turned around and disappeared over the west coast. Yet, they waited 4 days to release that information, intentionally hindering the search and rescue efforts. They hinted at this when they first released information saying that there were signs the plane tried to turn around...blah...blah...blah...meanwhile they had the radar data that showed the plane didn't disappear until much later.

this is an effort to buy time, to delay the discovery of the plane; for some reason, the malaysians don't want other countries to find the plane yet.

This whole "disappearance" just doesn't make sense.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
71,015
13,959
126
www.anyf.ca
Wasn't there a report about a plane that spotted debris a few days ago? What came of this? The raft is a pretty big clue though, hopefully they can somehow confirm whether or not it's from that plane. Do these typically have a flight number on them or other code that can link to a specific plane? Stupid that they let it sink though. Almost like it's on purpose and this is a cover up.
 
C

chowderhead

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 1999
2,633
263
126
NikolaeVarius said:
That's pretty crazy. The authorities messed up there, but the fact that it was found at Port Dickenson is pretty interesting, consdering its on the south west portion of malaysia.

There is a possbility currents brought it there.

As for letting it sink, a badly damaged and waterlogged liftraft must be pretty damn hard to manage.

But truthfully, the fact that the liferaft was found is more significant than the raft itself. The raft probably wouldn't have told authorities much, but where it was found is huge. However, it would have been nice to actual be able to confirm that it belonged to that partifular 777.

I don't know the particulars of the liferafts on a 777.
Click to expand...

airplane life rafts such as Boeing's are yellow. This one looks to be from a ship.
 
rudder

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
HomerJS said:
Then link it to the landing gear. On touchdown it turns off.

Doesn't ground control still use the transponder signal to direct ground traffic?
Click to expand...

Generally no. Not sure if any airports have displays with that resolution to guide planes on the ground. But the Airman's information manuals recommends the transponder be turned on before taxiing. Used to be ground operations were strictly in transponder standby mode.

http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/tip-week/use-correct-transponder-mode
 
rudder

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
86
91
NikolaeVarius said:
I don't know the particulars of the liferafts on a 777.
Click to expand...

Big and sort of roundish (6 or more sides). The exit slides can also be used.

IMG_0355.jpg


hqdefault.jpg
 
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NikolaeVarius

NikolaeVarius

Lifer
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
So yeah, life raft is a waste of time.

The oil rig comment is interesting, though suspicious considering it came out so late, but I guess its hard to reach the land when you're on a oil rig.

A burning plane coming down would be consistant with what we know though.

A flash fire breaks out in the plane, first burns through navigational wires causing the plane to turn south due to loss of control, than quickly burns through transponder and radio wires causing it to go dark, and than crashes into the ocean in a way that minimizes debris spread. Though you would still have to expect oil slicks/floating debris. Specifically of the wings or tail section.

But that debris field would be much more localized than the plane blowing up in midair.
 
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