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posted by LaminatorX on Monday March 10 2014, @07:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the The-Presses-Keep-Rolling dept.

Papas Fritas writes:

"Bill Palmer, an Airbus A330 captain for a major airline, and author of the book 'Understanding Air France 447.' has an interesting read at CNN on why there have been so few clues about the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, beginning with the lack of a distress call. According to Palmer the lack of a distress call is not particularly perplexing. 'An aviator's priorities are to maintain control of the airplane above all else. An emergency could easily consume 100% of a crew's efforts. To an airline pilot, the absence of radio calls to personnel on the ground that could do little to help the immediate situation is no surprise.'

Reports of a possible course reversal observed on radar could be the result of intentional crew actions but not necessarily says Palmer. During Air France 447's 3-1/2 minute descent to the Atlantic Ocean, it too changed its heading by more than 180 degrees, but it was an unintentional side effect as the crew struggled to gain control of the airplane. The Malaysian flight's last telemetry data, as reported by flightaware.com, shows the airplane at 35,000 feet. Even with a dual engine failure, a Boeing 777 is capable of gliding about 120 miles from that altitude yielding a search area roughly the size of Pennsylvania, with few clues within that area where remains of the aircraft might be. "This investigation may face many parallels to Air France 447, an Airbus A330 that crashed in an area beyond radar coverage in the ocean north of Brazil in June 2009. Like the Air France plane, the Malaysia Airlines aircraft was a state-of-the-art, fly-by-wire airplane (a Boeing 777) with an excellent safety record," says Palmer. 'We will know the truth of what happened when the aircraft is found and the recorders and wreckage are analyzed. In the meantime, speculation is often inaccurate and unproductive.'"

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by edIII on Monday March 10 2014, @07:13PM

    by edIII (791) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:13PM (#14186)

    None of those points lets us continue creating and discussing those delicious conspiracy stories though.. which are getting pretty interesting.

    I've already heard two different alien abduction theories.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 10 2014, @07:24PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:24PM (#14189) Homepage

      "We will know the truth of what happened when the aircraft is found and the recorders and wreckage are analyzed. In the meantime, speculation is often inaccurate and unproductive."

      Well, shit. I guess that's that, no point in discussing things further then.

      Okay, seriously -- The Boeing 777 Wikipedia article yields a possible clue: " As Boeing's first fly-by-wire airliner, it has computer-mediated controls; it is also the first entirely computer-designed commercial aircraft."

      So a firmware bug, or unexpected behavior from a subroutine? Tired pilots? Something related to the recent Bitcoin heists? A thwarted attempt at a 9/11 style attack? Shot down by a Chinese pilot with an itchy trigger-finger?

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by sjames on Monday March 10 2014, @07:57PM

        by sjames (2882) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:57PM (#14218) Journal

        Someone tried to install IE on the flight computer?

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:25AM

          by edIII (791) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:25AM (#14394)

          To be fair, if that happened, it would have probably made it to it's destination. Just really slowly.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 2, Funny) by sjames on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:40AM

            by sjames (2882) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:40AM (#14439) Journal

            They would have gotten somewhere, but if their navigation got mixed up with Bing, who knows where they would have landed?

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Monday March 10 2014, @08:15PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 10 2014, @08:15PM (#14234)

        Too boring of a flight. Look for something "special" about that flight. Highest barometric pressure ever encountered. Coldest air even encountered. Four digit engine start counter and this was power up 9999. Maint logs indicate this was the first flight after replacing the ...

        Unfortunately there seems to be nothing special at all about this flight.

        • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by cwix on Monday March 10 2014, @10:00PM

          by cwix (873) on Monday March 10 2014, @10:00PM (#14317)

          Except for two stolen passports being used to board the plane. With tickets bought by a man from Iran.

          http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia- airlines-mystery-passengers/ [cnn.com]

          Sure, maybe it is just a coincidence. It certainly seems out of the ordinary though.

          • (Score: 4, Insightful) by hamsterdan on Monday March 10 2014, @10:43PM

            by hamsterdan (2829) on Monday March 10 2014, @10:43PM (#14332)

            Unfortunately, it will probably give TSA even more power and authority. Everybody will be subject to a rectal search, and everybody will have to board the flight naked.

            • (Score: 3, Insightful) by cwix on Monday March 10 2014, @11:06PM

              by cwix (873) on Monday March 10 2014, @11:06PM (#14350)

              I dread that as well. A revelation like this would just give the TSA more power.

              • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:13AM

                by edIII (791) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:13AM (#14389)

                The people dreading that will be the people on my first flight.

                --
                Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
                • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:18AM

                  by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:18AM (#14449)

                  "The people dreading that will be the people on my first flight."

                  Indeed, can I get flight insurance to cover the inevitable lawsuits over trauma induced blindness that will certainly result from me boarding an airliner nekkid...

                  And if the TSA decides the still must feel me up, er, I mean, frisk me for the safety of the passengers and plane, and the CHILDREN (Oh, god, the CHILDREN!), I just might have to have a mighty bowel movement in his hand...

                  --
                  Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by isostatic on Monday March 10 2014, @11:17PM

            by isostatic (365) on Monday March 10 2014, @11:17PM (#14359) Journal

            He didn't specify this flight, he asked the ta for the cheapest tickets to two places (Copenhagen and Frankfurt I think), which happened to be kul-pek-ams-xxx

            I suspect criminality, possibly just illegal immigration, maybe drugs, but nothing more sinister.

            There was a third passport used, the number entered in the system was that of a Chinese national that still has his passport. Possibly a mis-entry.

            The big question is, where the hell is the plane. If it was stolen, what's the motive? If it was blown up, where's the wreckage?

            Most likely situation to me is a Helios 522 situation, gradual loss in pressure, autopilot carries it way off course before crashing (6 hours of fuel, could be anywhere in 3,000 miles), and poor radar coverage overnight meant no one saw it.

            • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:15AM

              by edIII (791) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:15AM (#14392)

              The whole passport thing is easy to solve.

              Just authenticate again.

              Assume all passengers are fake, look up passport info, cooperate with governments, identify contact information, call person listed on passport.

              Somebody Answers?

              "Where the hell are you right now? Were you on the flight from Malaysia Airlines?"

              "Yes- Fantastic. Start waving your arms. We're on the way"

              "No- Fantastic. Glad you're safe"

              --
              Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
              • (Score: 1) by isostatic on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:43AM

                by isostatic (365) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @12:43AM (#14398) Journal

                Mr Wu books a flight
                Passport number 123456789 - Mr Wu
                MH accidentally write down 123456798 - Mr Wu

                Therefore the passport number in their system is wrong, but doesn't mean that the person boarding the plane had a forged passport.

                • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 11 2014, @01:14AM

                  by edIII (791) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @01:14AM (#14404)

                  Doesn't matter.

                  Only two possibilities exist:

                  1) It's Mr. Wu indicated from the passport
                  2) It's Mr. Chang and his passport was wrongly entered.

                  We want to identify all people on the plane, and there is question about the passports. Eliminate the question.

                  Contact Mr. Wu, since he is listed. If Mr. Wu is alive and answers, we know Mr. Wu was not on the plane. Whoever was in that seat, or on the plane, is not listed.

                  We identify Mr. Chang by cross-referencing all payments. Most will be eliminated due to matching payments in the records. That's just superficial. No invasion of privacy. Just ask Visa if Mr. Wu paid for a flight to Malayasia Airlines.

                  You will have sparingly few cases where the payments are untraceable, people are located (meaning you have an unknown passenger), and you can positively identify most people and eliminate the question of the passports entirely.

                  From what's left you can start concentrating on visual recordings in the terminal and other meta data that you have available, even data that is somewhat superficial and not invasive of privacy.

                  There's really no reason to go on at all about the passports being the issue. That's my point. Bringing up the passports like it's a big deal or anything, or a hindrance to the investigation, smacks of FUD to me.

                  --
                  Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
            • (Score: 2) by gottabeme on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:43AM

              by gottabeme (1531) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:43AM (#15192)

              At cruise, autopilots are controlled by the FMS which has basically the entire route of the flight programmed in, even the most likely STAR. For it to go off-course into the middle of nowhere would require the flight crew to intentionally delete all the programmed waypoints.

              Even a gradual loss of pressure would trigger alarms and the oxygen masks.

              A complete electrical failure would result in an uncontrollable aircraft and no communications. But that's extremely unlikely with all the redundancy in its systems.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by spiritplumber on Monday March 10 2014, @07:24PM

      by spiritplumber (238) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:24PM (#14190)

      Call XCOM maybe?

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Monday March 10 2014, @11:02PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 10 2014, @11:02PM (#14342) Journal

      I've already heard two different alien abduction theories.

      [Citation needed]

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Monday March 10 2014, @11:50PM

        by edIII (791) on Monday March 10 2014, @11:50PM (#14383)
        *ahem* *typity typity*

        The Malaysian airplane was interdicted by two cigar shaped alien crafts. All passengers were offloaded and the plane was vaporized to leave no traces. The cigar ships then flew to Nebraska, USA, where the people were offloaded again into huge waiting pits. These pits feed into the factories to produce Soylent Green, a product that will be marketed ironically. Huge numbers of young Hipsters will consume the products. Overnight alien soliders will be born!! From that point on Washington, DC will fall and **CARRIER LOST***

        -- This dude on conspiracychat.org that I've known for awhile and knows his shit.

        That airplane didn't disappear at all. It landed and everyone is now safe living on another planet. It's an experiment. We're the other planet

        -- Found it scrawled on a used napkin in the subway. Seems legit though, like it was written in earnest.

        --
        Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 1) by fx_68 on Wednesday March 12 2014, @03:56AM

      by fx_68 (2719) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @03:56AM (#15015) Homepage
      Aircraft was taken below radar and flown someplace. The aircraft could have tail number change. Paintjob. Etc.
      --
      Some where on the black vein highways of America......
      • (Score: 2) by gottabeme on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:47AM

        by gottabeme (1531) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:47AM (#15195)

        At low altitude, fuel flow increases, and range drops drastically.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by mmcmonster on Monday March 10 2014, @07:28PM

    by mmcmonster (401) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:28PM (#14192)

    A missing flight in an age of constant surveillance. I don't know what to make of things like this.

    We always hear about all the spy satellites pointed down at the Earth instead of up at the heavens. Are there governments that know the truth but can't reveal it without giving up too much classified knowledge? Or do they know less about the going ons of flights in the air than we suspect?

    Even with the daunting task of searching a piece of the ocean the size of Pennsylvania, it humbles me that we have so little clues to go on as to what really happened.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 10 2014, @07:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 10 2014, @07:34PM (#14195)

      >>>>A missing flight in an age of constant surveillance. I don't know what to make of things like this.

      Obviously we need to double the surveillance budget to ensure something like this never happens again.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:25AM

        by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:25AM (#14454)

        "Obviously we need to double the surveillance budget to ensure something like this never happens again."

        If there is a god, this is his chance to prove himself...so here's my prayer:
        O' Benevolent One...
        We Soylentils beseech thee,
        Allow no politician EVER to read this quote..
        Amen.

        --
        Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Ken_g6 on Monday March 10 2014, @07:52PM

      by Ken_g6 (3706) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:52PM (#14207)

      Surveillance may tell you less than you expect. For instance, GPS tracking requires both a GPS receiver and some kind of transmitter to report those coordinates - unlike what they show in the movies and on TV.

      This makes me wonder, however: With airplanes having in-flight Internet, why don't commercial airliners send a short message (anything from Internet packets to Iridium SMS would do) reporting a plane's call sign, GPS coordinates, and GPS direction and speed, once every minute? At Iridium prepaid rates [sattransusa.com] that would cost only $324 for a 12-hour flight. And the airlines could surely negotiate better deals.

      If you ask, "send it where?", given the complexities of surveillance and international flights, I'd suggest sending it to the airline's headquarters. From there, nations could file requests for the data in case of accidents like this one.

      • (Score: 5, Interesting) by emg on Monday March 10 2014, @08:16PM

        by emg (3464) on Monday March 10 2014, @08:16PM (#14236)

        "With airplanes having in-flight Internet, why don't commercial airliners send a short message (anything from Internet packets to Iridium SMS would do) reporting a plane's call sign, GPS coordinates, and GPS direction and speed, once every minute"

        Most already do:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_s urveillance-broadcast [wikipedia.org]

        However, that requires working radio transmitters. I believe this airliner was sending ADS broadcasts before it disappeared from radar, and ATC stopped receiving them afterwards... so, if it didn't crash, it either wasn't able to tell anyone where it was, or was out of range of any station that could receive it.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by VLM on Monday March 10 2014, @08:19PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 10 2014, @08:19PM (#14243)

        google for ACARS and to a lesser extent, or maybe a cousin of your idea, ADS-B. Also see how EPIRB are supposed to work, assuming you don't hit the water going supersonic.

        Might also want to look into modern radar transponders, and just plain old radio. Pick up a mic and say WTF.

        The coast guard equivalent is something called AIS, which also does about what you think it should.

        Works real well if you have a "five minute long" problem over an area with good RX coverage. Not so well for utter catastrophe (like the wing or tail literally falls off in flight or something)

        All those services are broadcast rather than SPOF. If you're already in trouble, the last thing you need is a SPOF.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @11:56AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @11:56AM (#14587)

          The right wing came off in flight. This aircraft had a collision with a Airbus from China eastern airlines a few years ago while taxiing and it took off the last 3 feet of the right wing. This damage was repaired however the maintenance people.may not have checked the wing root for cracks. Over the course of the last two years the small crack developed into a large crack that structurally compromised the aircraft. The proof of this is that the flightradar 24 telemetry shows the aircraft track veered to the right just before losing contact. This would be expected since the left wing is still generating lift and makes the aircraft tumble to the right slightly as it goes down. The high g acceleration may explain the loss of the altitude information in the ADS_B telemetery on the flightradar 24 website (high g and loss of wing damaged avionics).

          • (Score: 2) by gottabeme on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:51AM

            by gottabeme (1531) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:51AM (#15197)

            Maybe, but complete loss of the right wing would cause the aircraft to roll continuously to the right, not simply turn right. It also wouldn't cause loss of electrical power, nor "wing-damaged avionics"). If the wing fell off it would immediately fall behind the aircraft. It might strike the tail or the fuselage on its way back, but it wouldn't take out anything forward of the wing.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday March 10 2014, @07:36PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:36PM (#14196)

    Whether the answer we finally get actually matches the truth is a multi-billion-dollar question.

    In the meantime, the fact that a 777 encountering a major malfunction didn't send a single message (like the A330 had) is a pretty strong hint: Its comms failed completely at about the same time as its airworthiness.
    How much of a structural or electronic failure does that take, in a triple-redundant system?

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 10 2014, @07:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 10 2014, @07:45PM (#14203)

      Who needs the truth? It's time to invade Malaysia. Defense contractors are being laid off right and left these days.

    • (Score: 2) by gottabeme on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:54AM

      by gottabeme (1531) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @11:54AM (#15198)

      > How much of a structural or electronic failure does that take, in a triple-redundant system?

      This is the real question. Even if the wings fell off, there'd be electrical power, and there are multiple antennas. Total loss of communication is extremely unlikely. Even if the pilots were unconscious, there should be ACARS or other automatic transmissions.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bucc5062 on Monday March 10 2014, @07:53PM

    by bucc5062 (699) on Monday March 10 2014, @07:53PM (#14211)

    I feel this statement is confusing to the other comments about communication:

    Even with a dual engine failure, a Boeing 777 is capable of gliding about 120 miles from that altitude yielding a search area roughly the size of Pennsylvania,

    With a 120 mile glide range, figuring 1000-1500 fpm decent there would be plenty of time for at least one crew member to get off a quick message. "Hey got a problem engines flamed out, gliding...". Granted the adage is Aviate, Navigate, Communicate with communication being the last thing to do. However, a commercial airliner flying over an ocean at night is not navigating by eye sight to find a preferred landing zone. They would be navigating by communicating to ATC with best known position and vectors to anything (even a ship) that could be used to assist in the landing.

    No communication and no airplane would be more like something knocked out their ability to push a button and speak. It could have been electronic, a fire that burned comm wires before becoming known (doubtful thought since SwissAir had a fire and talked all the way till it crashed), catastrophic events like an explosion et al. These days a pilot will use that radio very quickly to report "something".

    I am thinking more along the lines of Flight 800 out of JFK. Not so much the theories behind why, but the similar case where the pilots never could get out a radio signal because the "explosion" occurred right behind them, cutting everything out in one shot.

    --
    The more things change, the more they look the same
    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by zocalo on Monday March 10 2014, @08:19PM

      by zocalo (302) on Monday March 10 2014, @08:19PM (#14242)
      I'm leaning strongly towards a catastrophic failure at altitude at this point too; either breaking up at cruising height or a nose dive into the sea as a result of a major system fault would almost certainly prevent the pilots from getting off a mayday. I'm also keeping an open mind on the stolen passports issue, even with the supposed Iranian connection. Maybe it was terrorism, maybe not, but without some other data there is absolutely nothing specific linking those two passengers with terrorism. They could simply have been heading to Europe as illegal immigrants and just had the ill fortune to get on a doomed flight.

      The one thing that does occur on that though is why isn't there an automatic mayday system in place for passenger airliners and so on yet, since many of the talking heads are saying the "aviate, navigate, communicate" mantra? A system whereby if something happens to the aircraft outside of a given performance envelope, then assume the worst and auto-transmit critical data independantly of anything the crew might send to enable early responders to get on to the scene as soon as possible. Location data, obviously, but also stuff like selected telemetry data and some of the most recent contents of the blackbox data.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Monday March 10 2014, @08:25PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 10 2014, @08:25PM (#14252)

        "nothing specific linking those two passengers with terrorism."

        They almost certainly have nothing to do with it other than maybe false flag.

        So you're planning something fishy but first you've got to gather some paperwork. Only a total idiot would not have the paperwork all in order and legit. The 9/11 guys were totally legit (mostly) saudi's till they started behaving badly. Real bad idea to risk screwing up a major multi-person op because you couldn't be bothered to get a simple legit passport. Even if "they" had 3 people on board, or 30 people, they'd be total idiots not to make sure they all have perfect paperwork.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Monday March 10 2014, @08:32PM

        by Rivenaleem (3400) on Monday March 10 2014, @08:32PM (#14258)

        I'm still going with my theory that they were swallowed up by a bigger plane (http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=576&cid=13 974)

        • (Score: 1) by Yog-Yogguth on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:39AM

          by Yog-Yogguth (1862) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 11 2014, @03:39AM (#14463) Journal

          Wow that's some huge banana-shaped plane and I don't mean in the usual direction.

          --
          Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bucc5062 on Monday March 10 2014, @08:35PM

        by bucc5062 (699) on Monday March 10 2014, @08:35PM (#14262)

        I'm going to see if I can find this back it up, but I think I remember a show where either Boeing or GE had monitoring sensors on the engines that reported in almost real time. If that was the case I would think it would have been already accessed, but it does add to the thought that modern airliners have lots of communication streams coming and going from it. Did the plane have WiFi on board (could be used to better locate last known position).

        I figure they have experts that know this stuff so either (1) it does not exist or (2) they wont release that type of information gathering to the public or (3) they don't want us to know for other reasons.

        --
        The more things change, the more they look the same
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by skullz on Monday March 10 2014, @09:18PM

    by skullz (2532) on Monday March 10 2014, @09:18PM (#14291)

    In the meantime, speculation is often inaccurate and unproductive.

    Such as posting on a news site driven by speculative comments...

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Thesis on Monday March 10 2014, @11:18PM

    by Thesis (524) on Monday March 10 2014, @11:18PM (#14360)

    Flight 611 broke up in mid-air without warning, thus preventing any communication with ATC (Air Traffic Control) of what was happening. The aircraft was close enough to a radar station that they could see the breakup of the craft when tapes were reviewed. The debris was easily spotted floating on the water, for the crash site was not too far from land, and was accessed in a reasonable time. This seems not the case here, but I wonder if the currently missing Malaysia flight suffered a similar failure.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight _611 [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: 1) by Yog-Yogguth on Tuesday March 11 2014, @04:10AM

      by Yog-Yogguth (1862) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 11 2014, @04:10AM (#14474) Journal

      Interesting that it is disputed as not being based on hard empirical proof, I have to admit the explanations read a bit like a smelly fairytale made to get it over with. Planes are built to 1.5 or even 2.0 margins as far as I know, they're nowhere near as flimsy as one could assume based on such reports, and 20 years makes for a lot of inspections and maintenance.

      --
      Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @07:50AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @07:50AM (#14519)

    It's a Malaysian plane, maintained by Malaysian technicians, owned by a Malaysian airline which has been losing money 38 years out of the past 40.

    The plane is piloted by a guy who graduated from a college which is infamous for being a diploma mill for people of his race - the Malays.

    And his first officer was also a graduate from that same diploma mill.

    And their race is very famous for their lack of work ethics, and they get off from real work for "coffee breaks" with whatever reason they can come up with, however flimsy their reasons are.

    Malaysia is also a country which is RACE BASED. Every single thing is about RACE, from the buying of a house to the directorship of corporation must be RACE BASED.

    Not only that, Malaysia is also a sponsor of worldwide Islamic terrorist movement. Malaysia was the host for that fateful meeting where all the Al Qaida top operatives attended, including Osama Bin Laden, and in that fateful meeting which was held in Kuala Lumpur, they decided on their plan to hijack 4 planes inside the United States of America in the attempt to crash them into both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

    Malaysia is also the transit point of weapons for the Jihadist Terrorist organizations, and has been actively training terrorists in the skill of making bombs and guerrilla warfare.

    In fact, Malaysia used to have a secret training based deep in the jungle on the island of Borneo, in which, personnel from the Malaysian army, including explosive experts, were involved in the training of the terrorists.

    That particular secret base has been closed down because the British intelligent service discovered it. Nowadays, the training has been moved elsewhere - and no longer be held in one single base.

    We are Malaysians and we know what we are talking about.

  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:46PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday March 11 2014, @02:46PM (#14661) Journal

    Remind me again why we take to the air in these kinds of contraptions instead of zeppelins that slowly sink to earth when they suffer failure? Where are the brave broadcasters crying, "Oh the Humanity!" over an entire plane just vanishing without a trace? Over and over, actually (this is not the first time). Where are the online wags who quip, "Flying to China? Tcha, like you'll get there!"? Why is it that the million Hollywood depictions of aircraft failure (Castaway, Flight of the Phoenix, Numbers, etc etc) don't make a dent in the willingness of the travelling public to step into the things? One event that most passengers walked away from, and zeppelins and airships are forever derided. *shakes head, walks away*

               

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @10:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 11 2014, @10:12PM (#14908)

      Ummm, because they're really slow?

    • (Score: 2) by gottabeme on Wednesday March 12 2014, @12:02PM

      by gottabeme (1531) on Wednesday March 12 2014, @12:02PM (#15202)

      If a large leak caused rapid loss of helium, why would it sink slowly? It would turn into a rock with a bag on top flapping around.

      Modern airliners are the safest form of travel ever invented. Even with complete engine failure they can glide for many miles from altitude. Catastrophic structural failure is the least likely failure mode. I'd feel safer in an airliner than a blimp.