R.I.P. MH370

[Scootalove 10,689]

2 minutes of research yields these publicly available Takeoff and Landing Data (TOLD) spaghetti charts for the 777.  It gives us a bit of insight into what's technically possible, regarding that jet landing safely someplace.  Page 54 if you guys actually care to follow along.

 

Under optimal conditions (low fuel, dry runway on a cool day at/near sea level) a jet with that many passengers and their luggage needs just over 4,000 feet of runway to land.  If you put a pin on the map, denoting their last known location, then draw a circle representing the maximum range given their fuel (and the jetstream at the time), you can build a list of possible runways, highways, fields etc. that they MIGHT be able to land on.  That part of the world (except Australia) has a very high population density.

 

Bottom line: unless it landed in someplace like North Korea, there's no possible way for it to safely touch down without ANYBODY eventually reporting it.  It's a quarter billion dollar machine with more than 200 people on it.  If it was intact somewhere, people would notice.

I'd have to say, you know what you are talking about. If there was a place where the plane landed for it to be intact, we would have noticed by now.

[Oblivion 20,266]

I would say that that flight is long gone, we can't really blame the plane itself because there has been thousands upon thousands of flights that have gone without a hitch, but something just happened to go horribly wrong on this particular flight.

 

R.I.P

 

Now we will probably see all the crazy conspiracy's flow in on what people THINK might have happened.

[Tigerpop198 696]

It's been about two weeks now, it's sad to say but it's gone. Everything points to it turning out bad.

R.I.P people on the MH370

[DubWolf 17,263]

Quite a few disasters have happened lately: this downed 777; the drunk driver that wiped out a few people at SXSW; the collapsed building in New York; and now a landslide in Washington has an increasing death toll. Where are our miracles?

 

But yes, it is rather unfortunate that it's almost unanimous that nobody survived on that plane. Still, if a 747 can crash into a mountain and still have just 4 survivors out of about 500 (I'm referring to Japan Airlines 123), I'm sure the possibility of a few survivors is still likely, if we assume they're living off airline food...I mean...it's been over two weeks........yeah that's not likely at this point, is it? (assuming the plane crash landed into the water).

 

I'm certain the cause for the incident was a human factor, as we all suspect. Either the two men with stolen passports did something naughty (not, that kind of naughty), or the pilots had something devious planned.

 

Also, I'm not very fond of how the families of the victims (or I guess they are emotional victims) are reacting to Malaysia Airlines' lack of information: I even saw someone slap an official on the news, and are even calling them "murderers" for search delays....that's pretty selfish. Those delays are weather related, and having search crews go out there in those conditions might take another toll on their lives. Be patient and wait for the airline to give you the information; they're about as upset and confused as you are. It's probably not their fault...well, at least the people who are alive aren't at fault I would think. I don't recall the families of the AF447 victims going insane towards Air France when they didn't have the information, and it took 2 years after the wreck to find the black boxes. Enough of that rant. It's one of those "faith in humanity has been lost" moments.

 

Rest in peace, passengers of the MH370 flight.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Super80 Wolf

[Rainboom Dash 1,056]

This is very sad news. I was hoping the plane was alright. RIP to all of those lost lives, and my condolences to their families, who must really be suffering at this.

[GrimCW 658]

Theres still hope, and I doubt their cells are working. Cell phones still require a signal to function, and if they touched in an area without cell service.. well.. obvious reason for not working...

The real question is why the beacon went dark in the first place.

 

 

 

 

the systems aboard modern aircraft have mitigated many more would-be disasters.

 

Problem isn't really the electronics themselves, but the pilots complacent attitudes when relying upon them.
Many people rely WAY to heavily on electronic devices for things they do, when manual backups exist. Thing is, they often don't keep up with the manual things because the simplistic nature of just using the electronic options. Thus mistakes are often caused as a result of complacent attitudes DUE to the excessive electronics we have.

[Celli 4,338]

Damn that's terrible news.  Condolences to all their families. 

[Nine 707]

Problem isn't really the electronics themselves, but the pilots complacent attitudes when relying upon them.

Many people rely WAY to heavily on electronic devices for things they do, when manual backups exist. Thing is, they often don't keep up with the manual things because the simplistic nature of just using the electronic options. Thus mistakes are often caused as a result of complacent attitudes DUE to the excessive electronics we have.

Systems automating functions previously done manually can cause a delayed reaction to a problem, or they could work against a pilot's training when the pilot is trying to compensate for a mechanical problem, or they can (as you suggest) induce problems through negligence. These conclusions have been made by disaster reports in the past, but like you said, the systems rarely stand alone in error.

 

But everything that's ever been engineered (ever) has problems compared to perfection. That's not helpful. All you can do is compare a system to alternatives. Returning manual control of a jetliner's many functions to the pilots creates many more problems through fatigue and bad judgement calls.

 

This guy knows:

 

 

Zero out of 100 informed pilots (Delta, UPS, military transport, etc) would voluntarily go back to the days of ocean crossings with magnetic compasses, whiz wheels and stop watches.

 

[Nothing&NoOne 695]

Unless I was mistaken (very likely), I heard the plane went off-course before it disappeared. It was speculated that it was hijacked, was it not?

 

Either way, my condolences to the families. Horrid situation either way.

[Astronaut 4]

I knew from the start they flew it into the ocean, where else would they go? I just feel like that's what happened.