Malaysia airlines flight carrying 239 people missing

[Voldemort]

According to UK SKY NEWS"" one of the pilots was muslim and had complaints against him before, for allowing passenger in cockpit and smoking in cock pit.

Allah rahem kare

STILL, he cudnt have vanished with the plane! This seems like another Bermuda triangle.

 

[Compersion]

Search planes checking China satellite report on missing Malaysian airliner

Search planes checking China satellite report on missing Malaysian airliner - The Times of India

KUALA LUMPUR/PHU QUOC: Search planes were flying on Thursday to an area where a Chinese satellite has seen objects that could be debris from the Malaysian airliner missing for almost six days, but those waters had been checked before and nothing found, officials said.

At the same time, China heaped pressure on Malaysia to improve its coordination over the search for the Malaysia Airlines plane, which disappeared early on Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Of the 239 people on board, up to 154 were Chinese.

Premier Li Keqiang, speaking at a news conference in Beijing, demanded that the "relevant party" step up coordination while China's civil aviation chief said he wanted a "smoother" flow of information from Malaysia, which has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the disaster.

Vietnamese and Malaysian planes would scan waters where a Chinese government agency website said a satellite had photographed three "suspicious floating objects" on Sunday. The location was close to where the plane lost contact with air traffic control.

READ ALSO: China releases satellite images of possible crash site

"We are aware and we sent planes to cover that area over the past three days," Vietnamese Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu told Reuters. "Today a CASA plane will search the area again," he said, referring to a twin-turboprop military aircraft.

Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on his Twitter feed: "Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency Bombardier has already been dispatched to investigate alleged claims of debris being found by Chinese satellite imagery."

China's civil aviation chief, Li Jiaxiang, said there was no proof that the objects in the South China Sea were connected to the missing aircraft.

One US official close to the plane investigation also said the Chinese satellite report was a "red herring."

It was the latest in scores of often confusing leads for a multi-national search team that has been combing 27,000 square nautical miles (93,000 square km), an area the size of Hungary, for the Boeing 777-200ER.

On Wednesday, Malaysia's air force chief said military radar had traced what could have been the jetliner to an area south of the Thai holiday island of Phuket, hundreds of miles to the west of its last known position.

His statement followed a series of conflicting accounts of the flight path of the plane, which left authorities uncertain even which ocean to search in for Flight MH370.

The last definitive sighting on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1.30am on Saturday, less than an hour after the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, as it flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand.

What happened next remains one of the most baffling mysteries in modern aviation history and the differing accounts put out by various Malaysian officials have drawn criticism of their handling of the crisis.

"The Malaysians deserve to be criticized - their handling of this has been atrocious," said Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Rodzali Daud, the Malaysian air force chief, told a news conference on Wednesday that an aircraft was plotted on military radar at 2:15 a.m., 200 miles northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia's west coast at the northern tip of the Strait of Malacca.

But there has been no confirmation that the unidentified plane was Flight MH370, Rodzali said, and Malaysia was sharing the data with international civilian and military authorities, including those from the United States.

"We are corroborating this," he added. "We are still working with the experts."

Agonising wait

According to the data cited by Rodzali, if the radar had spotted the missing plane, the aircraft would have flown for 45 minutes and dropped only about 5,000 feet in altitude since its sighting on civilian radar in the Gulf of Thailand.

There was no word on which direction it was then headed, but if this sighting was correct, the plane would have turned sharply west from its original course, travelling hundreds of miles over the Malay Peninsula from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea.

This would put it about 200 miles northwest of Penang, in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca, roughly south of Phuket and east of the tip of Indonesia's Aceh province and India's Nicobar island chain.

Indonesia and Thailand have said their militaries detected no sign of any unusual aircraft in their airspace. Malaysia has asked India for help in tracing the aircraft and New Delhi's coast guard planes have joined the search.

The US National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that its experts in air traffic control and radar who travelled to Kuala Lumpur over the weekend were giving the Malaysians technical help in the search.

A US official in Washington said the experts were shown two sets of radar records, military and civilian, and they both appeared to show the plane turning to the west and across the Malay peninsula.

But the official stressed the records were raw data returns that were not definitive.

A dozen countries are taking part in the search, with 42 ships and 39 aircraft involved.

Authorities have not ruled out any possible cause for the plane's disappearance. Malaysian police have said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

Two men on board were discovered by investigators to have false passports, but they were apparently seeking to emigrate illegally to the West.

The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service. Its only previous fatal crash came on July 6 last year when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 struck a seawall with its undercarriage on landing in San Francisco, killing three people.

Boeing Co, the US aircraft company that makes the 777, has declined to comment beyond a brief statement saying it was monitoring the situation.

What does mean by "red herring".

 

[Compersion]

Malaysia Airlines plane may have flown for hours after dropping off radar

Read more: Malaysia Airlines plane may have flown for hours after dropping off radar

 

[bennedose]

Search planes checking China satellite report on missing Malaysian airliner

Search planes checking China satellite report on missing Malaysian airliner - The Times of India



What does mean by "red herring".

False lead

 

[Compersion]

False lead

In what context was that said

The idiom "red herring" is used to refer to something that misleads or distracts from the relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or characters towards a false conclusion. A red herring might be intentionally used, such as in mystery fiction or as part of a rhetorical strategy (e.g. in politics), or it could be inadvertently used during argumentation as a result of poor logic.

Red herring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Also there is a report that the plane could have reached near Pakistan. Would it have been possible to cross India without detection by radar !! (why such nonsense being said)

 

[tarunraju]

Sweet, so on my next trip to Vizag, I'll get to see PLAN destroyers searching for the missing plane.

 

[Blackwater]

i was right i told u links with pakistan will be established


Was missing flight MH370 jet brought down by a shoe bomber? British terrorist convicted of plotting similar attack says he gave explosive to Malaysian terror cell which included a pilot

A British man convicted of plotting an Al-Qaeda plane bombing told a New York court yesterday about a separate 2001 plan for a Malaysian pilot to blast his way into a jet's cockpit.
Saajid Badat, who was sentenced in 2005 to 13 years in jail as a co-conspirator in a notorious December 2001 plot to bomb US airliners, has testified about the Malaysian plan before.
But his description of the apparently abandoned plot has a new resonance as investigators probe the fate of a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared on Saturday with 239 people on board.
There has been no previous suggestion that Badat's 2001 plot is in any way linked to the new mystery of missing flight MH370, and terrorism is just one possible line of inquiry for authorities.
Authorities have not ruled out any possible cause for the plane's disappearance, including mechanical failure, pilot error or sabotage. Both the Boeing 777 and Malaysia Airlines have excellent safety records. Until wreckage or debris is found and examined, it will be very hard to say what happened.
In 2001, Badat and fellow Briton Richard Reid were ordered by Al-Qaeda leaders to blow two US airliners out of the sky with bombs hidden in their shoes.
But, while Reid tried and failed to detonate his bomb on a Paris to Miami flight, Badat changed his mind after returning home.
Badat told US prosecutors at the trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law on Tuesday that he was given two shoe bombs, one which he took to Britain and the other which he gave to a Malaysian cell.
He believed one bomb was enough to bring down a jet, he told the trial by video link from Britain, but the bomb he gave the Malaysian was intended simply to help him breach a cockpit door.
Badat said he travelled from Afghanistan to Pakistan in December 2001 with Reid, some Malaysians and a Mauritanian family

Badat told the court he believed the Malaysians, including the pilot, were 'ready to perform an act'..


Read more: Was missing flight MH370 jet brought down by a shoe bomber? | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[happy]

No end of conspiracy theories. I myself like to create hypothetical possibilities but this is going way overboard and bordering on madness. Hope those families who lost loved ones find some solace soon.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[sayareakd]

these pics shows Chini capabilities, we will discuss this in Viki thread later.

 

[Abhijeet Dey]

A nervous Asia eyes robust Chinese response to missing Malaysian plane
Reuters | Mar 13, 2014

LINK: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/A-nervous-Asia-eyes-robust-Chinese-response-to-missing-Malaysian-plane/articleshow/31962839.cms

HONG KONG: From high-resolution satellites to advanced warships, China's military build-up is on full display in the hunt for a missing Malaysian jetliner — putting Asia on notice as to what Beijing might do in the future to further assert its regional presence.

Now in its sixth day, the search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers and crew has exposed tensions between Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, with Chinese officials from Premier Li Keqiang on down criticizing Malaysia's handling of the crisis. China has sent a team of envoys and investigators to Malaysia to deepen its involvement.

While Beijing's concerns reflect, in part, public anxiety over the fate of more than 150 Chinese on board Flight MH370, the search comes at a time when China has been flexing its muscles in the disputed South and East China Seas.

One aerospace and defence industry source with years of experience in the region said the Chinese response would stick in the minds of its neighbours.

"This is a demonstration of force in a peaceful context," said the source, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

China has deployed four warships, four coastguard vessels, eight aircraft and trained 10 satellites on a wide search area far from mainland China. Chinese media have described the ship deployment as the largest Chinese rescue fleet ever assembled.

The missing plane's last reported contact with civilian radar was near the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand, which opens into the South China Sea. The aircraft was bound for Beijing after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Monday acknowledged Malaysia had the "main responsibility" for both the search and the follow-up investigation. He added, however, that Beijing had a responsibility not only to participate but to "demand and urge" Malaysia to step up its efforts.

Once warm ties?

Ironically, China's ties with Malaysia had been among its warmest in the region despite a dispute over territory in the South China Sea.

However, Chinese warships staged a show of sovereignty just two months ago at the James Shoal, a submerged reef about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak — and some 1,800 km (1,125 miles) from mainland China.

Beijing regards those waters as its southernmost territory, the bottom of a looping so-called nine-dash line on maps that comprise 90 per cent of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan are also in dispute with Beijing over parts of the ocean.

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) deployment at the shoal was led by one of its three state-of-the-art amphibious assault ships. Two of those 20,000-tonne vessels — the Kunlunshan and the Jingangshan — have joined the search for the missing plane.

"The Chinese are drawing the conclusion that these guys are not ready for prime time," said Ernie Bower, a Southeast Asia specialist at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, referring to Malaysia.

The fruitless search has shone the spotlight on a series of fumbling news conferences by Malaysian officials and a long delay in divulging details of the military's tracking of what could have been the plane hundreds of miles off course.

Malaysian government officials say they are coping as best they can with a highly complex crisis.

Regional naval officials and analysts said one of the big questions now was what the protracted search — and China's growing concerns over Malaysia's response — would mean for Beijing's approach to the region in future.

While many foreign experts see Beijing's deployment as robust, Chinese state television and other media reports have referred to a lack of Chinese capabilities to conduct extended search and rescue operations far from the mainland coast.

More facilities would be needed for dealing with humanitarian disasters, one Chinese expert said, even though China had expanded listening posts, ports and runways at its facilities in the disputed Paracel and Spratly archipelagoes of the South China Sea.

"This will not be the last time. China has a responsibility and calling to join in," said Ruan Zongze, a former Chinese diplomat with the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the foreign ministry.

The Chinese effort is already sparking concern among the public in Vietnam, where battles over sovereignty against China go back decades.

Social media has been active with postings, comments and deep suspicion about the presence of Chinese planes and warships near the Vietnamese coast.

Deputy transport minister Pham Quy Tieu, head of Vietnam's search and rescue effort, told Reuters that China had asked permission for its ships and planes to enter Vietnamese territory and that Hanoi remained in "total control".

"China only flies and searches at high altitude, its boats never go deep inside our waters. So we are not concerned about breaches of our sovereignty," Tieu said.

"New historic missions"

Ian Storey, an expert on ties between China and Southeast Asia, said Beijing's deployment reflected its regional military build-up and the PLA's so-called "new historic missions", which included protecting Chinese nationals abroad.

The crisis would bolster the case of those in China who believe that as the country's global interests expand, its defence budget should grow to protect those interests, added Storey, from the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore.

China this month announced a 12.2 per cent rise in military spending to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion) for 2014, but gave no breakdown of how the money would be spent.

Its military spending, second only to the United States, has allowed China to create a modern force that is projecting power not only across the East and South China Seas, but further into the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Bower said the confused search highlighted weak military cooperation in Asia and the need for better coordination between Washington and its Asian allies and partners.

A long-running effort by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to tie China to a binding agreement on measures to lower tensions in the South China Sea includes search and rescue cooperation.

Such cooperation is part of the discussions, and ASEAN envoys said this could be accelerated outside the broader and more sensitive talks.

"Since we don't have that collaborative effort well established yet, I think the Chinese are, whether intentionally or unintentionally, sending a message to their citizens that Malaysia is a small country that's not able to manage well," said Bower.

 

[sayareakd]

here is the shocking part

Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. BA - 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program.

That raises a host of new questions and possibilities about what happened aboard the widebody jet carrying 239 people, which vanished from civilian air-traffic control radar over the weekend, about one hour into a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Flew On for Hours - WSJ.com

So they have got data loggers at the engine which send data directly to Boeing Co HQ........................ that is shocking. Now US can monitor all the Boeing aircrafts.

 

[sayareakd]

Must watch video........
Their engine automatically send data to the manufacture.............

Video - Engine Data Suggests Malaysia Flight 370 Was Airborne for Hours After Radar Disappearance - WSJ.com

 

[tarunraju]

here is the shocking part



U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Flew On for Hours - WSJ.com

So they have got data loggers at the engine which send data directly to Boeing Co HQ........................ that is shocking. Now US can monitor all the Boeing aircrafts.

And Airbus aircraft are similarly data-logged by America's NATO allies in Europe. What else did you expect? We can't wish something like this away, unless we develop our own civil-passenger aircraft (like China is doing), or fly rickety Ilyushin / Tupolev. Most big passenger aircraft have surreptitious transponders, devices that are located at random locations in the fuselage, and its exact location is unique to each individual aircraft. It could have GPS, and probably satlink.

 

[afako]

Malaysia Airlines jet may have crashed into Indian Ocean; authorities say flight did NOT fly for 4 hours after disappearing, photos of debris debunked - NY Daily News

They even have the exact info.

US would claim the trophy.

 

[bhramos]

 

[bhramos]

Malaysia widens search for missing jet MH 370 towards India - Hindustan Times

In the latest in a series of false leads in the hunt, search planes were sent on Thursday to search an area off the southern tip of Vietnam where Chinese satellite images published on a Chinese government website reportedly showed three suspected floating objects.
They saw only ocean.
"There is nothing. We went there, there is nothing," said acting Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
Compounding the frustration, he later said the Chinese Embassy had notified the government that the images were released by mistake and did not show any debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

 

[Compersion]

I for one is wishing that the Indian Navy goes and finds the plane if it indeed is in the waters of Indian Ocean.

There is news the USS Kidd is going to a particular area in the Indian Ocean and it would take them 24 hours (someone's can calculate the distance by speed and possible location). Not sure why the USA navy does not coordinate with india navy since the indian ships might be closer by. Are they making a statement by going alone ... And in Indian Ocean after looking in South China Sea and nearby areas.

It would be good if the USA assisting and shared detail in the background with india navy wit reference to Indian Ocean peripherals since it is looking like they know more that is being said.

I have a feeling that when the dust settles this will become a contest on who discovered the plane and certain countries show casing their reach and skills more compared to others. A little bit of that got played with the PRC satellite images. Also Is there a lack of coordination. Is there all information shared by everyone. I read appropriately india has said "the areas of search are being given by the Malaysians".

India Looking for Malaysian Jet as U.S. Sees Air Piracy - Bloomberg

 

[Abhiram]

Another theory doing the rounds is that the plane was hit by a meteor.

In this scenario, it would be impossible to find debris right?

 

[t_co]

I for one is wishing that the Indian Navy goes and finds the plane if it indeed is in the waters of Indian Ocean.

There is news the USS Kidd is going to a particular area in the Indian Ocean and it would take them 24 hours (someone's can calculate the distance by speed and possible location). Not sure why the USA navy does not coordinate with india navy since the indian ships might be closer by. Are they making a statement by going alone ... And in Indian Ocean after looking in South China Sea and nearby areas.

It would be good if the USA assisting and shared detail in the background with india navy wit reference to Indian Ocean peripherals since it is looking like they know more that is being said.

I have a feeling that when the dust settles this will become a contest on who discovered the plane and certain countries show casing their reach and skills more compared to others. A little bit of that got played with the PRC satellite images. Also Is there a lack of coordination. Is there all information shared by everyone. I read appropriately india has said "the areas of search are being given by the Malaysians".

India Looking for Malaysian Jet as U.S. Sees Air Piracy - Bloomberg

The reason India says that Malaysia is dictating the terms of the search is likely because the IFS does not want India to be blamed if they cannot find anything or the search takes too long.

What's kind of funny is that MH370 is triggering the greatest display of Asia-Pacific naval strength since the Vietnam War... the number of military vessels, planes, and orbital assets involved far outstrips a typical military exercise or disaster relief operation. Almost every navy in Asia has gotten involved.