Not surprised. A hijacking with people held hostage, while a horrible option, is preferable to the plane crashing in the ocean. Until they find the plane, of course, we won’t know for sure, but pray for everyone on board. Except any scum hijackers, of course.
Investigators trying to solve the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner have concluded that one of the pilots or someone else with flying experience hijacked the missing Boeing 777 and steered it off course, according to a Malaysian government official.
The official, who is involved in the investigation, told The Associated Press that no motive has been established, and it is not yet clear where the plane was taken. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The official said that hijacking was no longer a theory. “It is conclusive.”
Is it possible that the Malaysian Airlines jet went undetected and landed elsewhere? All we know at this point is that the flight made a turn and “disappeared” from radar detection. I am attaching a map showing the flight distance from Malaysia to Beijing (2,624 miles). The solid arrow indicates this distance — the dashed arrow shows the same distance in the “other” direction. Note: the distance to central Pakistan (see red point) is 2,788 miles…
The development comes as authorities speculate that the disappearance may have been an “act of piracy,” and more evidence suggests the plane was diverted by a skilled pilot before it vanished, U.S. and Malaysian officials familiar with the investigation said Friday
Here’s a note with a map TAM Patricia sent to me via email before ‘hijack’ was seriously considered. Subject line: “What no one is talking about.” Notice on the map that both Iran and Pakistan are within reach of the jet.
Is it possible that the Malaysian Airlines jet went undetected and landed elsewhere? All we know at this point is that the flight made a turn and “disappeared” from radar detection. I am attaching a map showing the flight distance from Malaysia to Beijing (2,624 miles). The solid arrow indicates this distance — the dashed arrow shows the same distance in the “other” direction. Note: the distance to central Pakistan (see red point) is 2,788 miles.
World seems transfixed by 777 disappearance. Maybe no crash but stolen, effectively hidden, perhaps in Northern Pakistan, like Bin Laden.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) March 15, 2014
The disabled transponder suggests an intentional diversion. The “accident” theories are having a hard time explaining why a transponder might stop for other than a crash.
Another report notes: “Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the missing airliner climbing to 45,000 feet, above the approved altitude limit for a Boeing 777-200, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar and made a sharp turn to the west.” If this is correct, then why climb?
If the climb was real and intentional, then one possible reason might be to depressurize the craft and disable anyone without oxygen. It would be necessary to prevent people from using the emergency oxygen masks. There are various possibilities. Even if the emergency oxygen can’t be switched off, it may have limited capacity. And passengers on oxygen masks are tethered in place and in a weak position to resist; a couple of roving bad guys with portable oxygen could walk down the aisles ripping hoses, and it would be hard to fight them.
You’ll recall from 9/11 that some passengers of a hijacked craft were able to make cell phone calls. Those planes were over land, passing above cell phone towers. This incident began over water, where presumably no passenger would be able to make a direct connection to a cell tower. Could anyone have made a call as the plane passed back over land? It’s a thing they might be trying, and might have worked, if they hadn’t been disabled or prevented from acting. So one way or another, the passengers were likely subdued.
They say the plane probably couldn’t go to Pakistan or Iran without flying over India and being detected. If it were heading for a landing strip, it would probably be elsewhere.
The foregoing is theorizing a clear plan at work. Of course, sometimes stumbling lunacy — such as a pilot that goes insane and disables his co-pilot and takes his plane on a wild ride — takes on the appearance of intelligence.
Also, it’s not clear what someone would want a stolen jumbo jet for. Yeah, you could fly a bomb…but you could do that with a smaller aircraft, or maybe a rowboat.
Obviously it’s easier for a pilot to pull something like this off than a passenger. I wonder how pilots are screened.
On the whole, this episode seems like something out of a James Bond film. This is disconcerting.
It seems likely that the investigators know a lot more than they’re telling us, and they probably have clearer theories than we’re hearing.
Being Mr. Conspiracy that I am, here is my opinion. The plane was taken over by what ever means. It was flown to an unfriendly nation, or landed on a small island. I know you need a 5000′ runway, but that doesn’t mean this hasn’t been in the works for a long time. Scenario #1- the passengers were all murdered, and plane is being painted to look like UPS, FedEx, or DHL, or even a military aircraft. Then the plane will be loaded with a nuke, filled with explosives or a bio weapon. Next, it will be flown to Israel, the US, or a US base. Scenario #2. The passengers are keep alive. The plane is being painted to look like another commercial carrier. Then, the same plan. Load it with WMD’s and fly it to Israel, or the US. How could we shoot down a plane full of innocent people? I don’t believe this plane is at the bottom of the ocean, or crashed in a jungle.
Dan Bongino (candidate, MD-6) gave his theory on the radio (WMAL) this evening. He thinks that based on the flight path of the plane in major travel lanes, the hijackers may have been trying to cause a mid-air collision with another plane.
FWIW, ten years ago: “The 727 that Vanished”.
When the plane was still missing after two days, I started thinking about the Dawson’s Field hijackings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson%27s_Field_hijackings
The pilot had 3 flight simulation games programmed in his home flight simulator. The games data logs were deleted on Feb. 3. Investigators are now working to recover the deleted games data.
http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/experts-aim-recover-deleted-logs-mas-captains-flight-simulator-20140319
The plane did not have an onboard cellular station, so cell phone use would have been very difficult. http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/why-didnt-missing-mas-jet-passengers-use-their-cellphones-20140319
“…Recently some airlines have introduced technology to enable passengers to use their phones in the air using a small cellular base station on board, but Malaysia Airlines said this service was not available on Flight 370.
Without this, a cellphone cannot be used at an altitude of more than roughly 0.5km in the case of a commercial airliner, and must not be too far from a cell tower, according to Dr A.K. Dewdney, professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
“No cellphone could possibly succeed from an airliner in mid-ocean, even if flying low over the water,” he said….”