Malaysian airlines has lost a 777

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I've always been nervous about flying, and was even thinking about taking a trip this summer - but after reading stuff like this, I doubt that will be happening. :\

You're nervous? I was actually flying MAS on a trip just 6 months ago

Wasn't there a terror attack in China last week where 29 people were slashed to death by Chinese Muslims? Isn't Malaysia a Muslim country? Isn't there an insurgency going on in southern Thailand involving Muslims? Would this be the same area? No? Then it's probably mechanical/pilot error.

Yes, Islam is the national religion, but Malays comprise only ~50% of the country. ~30% Chinese, ~15% Indian and ~5% misc (indigenous, etc.)
As far as a possible insurgency, Malaysian Muslims (on the whole) are fairly non-uptight, plus I guess it would only affect the northern states.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Nm too soon

Another one. Christian kozel. Stolen passport.

 

[Dari]

Another one. Christian kozel. Stolen passport.

Where are you getting this information from?

 

[Hugo Drax]

News media finally reports. ABC news. On stolen passports.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/stolen-european-passports-missing-plane-22831723

Now its breaking news on CNN as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[brainhulk]

That settles it, the Malaysians must be the Badaysians

 

[techs]

That settles it, the Malaysians must be the Badaysians

2/10
Not up to your usual standards

 

[Dari]

You're nervous? I was actually flying MAS on a trip just 6 months ago

Yes, Islam is the national religion, but Malays comprise only ~50% of the country. ~30% Chinese, ~15% Indian and ~5% misc (indigenous, etc.)
As far as a possible insurgency, Malaysian Muslims (on the whole) are fairly non-uptight, plus I guess it would only affect the northern states.

Then targeting Chinese citizens would make a lot of sense since this flight was a shared one with CHina Airlines and the battle between Chinese Muslims and Han Chinese is gaining more and more attention. The Chinese are having a difficult time stamping it out and the Muslims there simply refuse to lay low. This is all China's fault for bringing more and more Han Chinese into that region. All this attention will do is invite more fighters to their cause if this is what transpired here.

 

[Sonikku]

Die in a car and 3-4 people die in an instant. Not 200.

When you count the number of crashes hardly anybody dies in a plane compared to cars.

 

[Michael]

Islam in Malaysia is no where near as extreme as other places in the world and it has not really been too much of a staging area for terror in the past. I have a lot of trouble seeing Malaysians targeting a MAS flight. It was a code share with China Southern, but it was a MAS plane.

I have only really traveled to KL and Penang there, but the flight left from KL.

Michael

 

[Triumph]

the stolen passport thing is interesting. If it was terrorism, it's kind of pointless if nobody claims responsibility. Maybe they just weren't very good terrorists.

 

[Humpy]

I would think the passports are related to smuggling more than terrorism. Who knows at this point though.

 

[skyking]

RIP and condolences to the families of those on board.
If it really is in 200 feet of water, that will help a great deal in the investigation.

 

[Pardus]

Terrorism not ruled out so far. Since they found oil slick miles long, it would appear the plane exploded in mid-air not giving the pilots a chance to hit the emergency distress signal. The longer it takes for them to find the plane, the worst case scenario seems to be true.

 

[Markbnj]

When you count the number of crashes hardly anybody dies in a plane compared to cars.

I read an interesting article in an aviation mag years ago arguing that the calculation was all wrong, and deliberately obfuscating the real risk. I'm not good enough with math to have an opinion, but the premise _sounded_ plausible, at least. The idea is that simply comparing deaths per miles traveled ignores the fact that the air travelers were exposed to risk for much shorter periods of time. In other words, to travel from NY to LA you spend 6-7 hours in a plane, or 50 hours in a car. If, for example, people died at about the same rate per mile traveled in planes and cars you might say planes were a lot more dangerous because you are only in one for a tenth of the time it takes to go the same distance in a car. On the other hand, you have to choose one or the other means to cover the distance. You can't wish yourself there.

 

[tynopik]

Terrorism not ruled out so far. Since they found oil slick miles long, it would appear the plane exploded in mid-air not giving the pilots a chance to hit the emergency distress signal. The longer it takes for them to find the plane, the worst case scenario seems to be true.

1. there is no evidence any oil slick is connected the plane yet. could be from a boat

2. exploding in mid-air is LESS likely to leave an oil slick of any type as the fuel has time to evaporate on the way down. Oil slicks usually originate when the tank is below water and leaks, allowing the gas to rise to the surface.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I read an interesting article in an aviation mag years ago arguing that the calculation was all wrong, and deliberately obfuscating the real risk. I'm not good enough with math to have an opinion, but the premise _sounded_ plausible, at least. The idea is that simply comparing deaths per miles traveled ignores the fact that the air travelers were exposed to risk for much shorter periods of time. In other words, to travel from NY to LA you spend 6-7 hours in a plane, or 50 hours in a car. If, for example, people died at about the same rate per mile traveled in planes and cars you might say planes were a lot more dangerous because you are only in one for a tenth of the time it takes to go the same distance in a car. On the other hand, you have to choose one or the other means to cover the distance. You can't wish yourself there.

I think that one gets chalked up to "lies, damned lies and statistics". You can spin numbers to make them say anything you want, but trying to factor out time is a smoke screen because time is a part of the equation. If you're traveling from NY to LA you're more likely to die if you do it in a car than you are if you make the trip in a plane. THAT is the real number that counts.

Say the time thing is true and that on a per minute basis cars and planes are exactly the same, say one fatality every x hours. Would you choose the trip that takes 6 hours or 60 hours? Same trip, same risk per minute and yet one way you're TEN TIMES more likely to die than the other way.

 

[pillage2001]

RIP and condolences to the families of those on board.
If it really is in 200 feet of water, that will help a great deal in the investigation.

Something's not right when they are taking this long to locate the plane. There are multiple nations looking for it and Vietnam has been hot on it for a while now.

 

[Dari]

the stolen passport thing is interesting. If it was terrorism, it's kind of pointless if nobody claims responsibility. Maybe they just weren't very good terrorists.

When 9/11 happened Al Qaeda at first denied responsibility...

It's too early.

 

[lk2500]

1. there is no evidence any oil slick is connected the plane yet. could be from a boat

2. exploding in mid-air is LESS likely to leave an oil slick of any type as the fuel has time to evaporate on the way down. Oil slicks usually originate when the tank is below water and leaks, allowing the gas to rise to the surface.

The "oil slick" is actually an algae bloom according to an expert marine biologist in the airliners.net thread.

They still have not confirmed the location of the wreckage.

More:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6014316#menu77

 

[skyking]

Something's not right when they are taking this long to locate the plane. There are multiple nations looking for it and Vietnam has been hot on it for a while now.

Hey man, sorry for these troubles. How are you?

 

[JumBie]

Islam in Malaysia is no where near as extreme as other places in the world and it has not really been too much of a staging area for terror in the past. I have a lot of trouble seeing Malaysians targeting a MAS flight. It was a code share with China Southern, but it was a MAS plane.

I have only really traveled to KL and Penang there, but the flight left from KL.

Michael

Seems like you guys make such a big deal out of Islam and "terrorist" yet you forget all the people who are killed in the name of Jesus in your own country.

 

[mizzou]

ugh one of my worst nightmares!

Seems like there is a lot of pilot error going around these days

 

[runzwithsizorz]

The Air France crash had a large debris field, so I find it hard to believe with all the search craft being used there's nothing but an oil slick.

 

[mizzou]

The Air France crash had a large debris field, so I find it hard to believe with all the search craft being used there's nothing but an oil slick.

The air france crash was also straight belly flop into the ocean....the Malaysian one could have been a completely different crash, they may have tried to ditch it for all we know.


I wonder if they could embed RFIDS or something in the exterior shell or seats of these planes, with GPS connectivity. That wouldn't be too hard and I'd suspect fairly easy to survive extreme pressures? That way you could see the debris field real time

 

[AznAnarchy99]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle