This missing plane..

[Ferg]

On 5 Later at 10pm is a program entitled "The plane that vanished: Live". Yes TV media reaching new lows as they bring live updates on the missing plane. Classy.

[rossybee]

There's no aircraft carrier in the world near big enough to take something that size. As for an airfield, what are the requirements for a plane of this size? Not just a strip of grass somewhere I imagine.. And could it have landed in such a place if it was dark for instance..

Yup, plus the 777 doesn't have the hook so it'd overshoot and land in the water...

[neil]

There's no aircraft carrier in the world near big enough to take something that size. As for an airfield, what are the requirements for a plane of this size? Not just a strip of grass somewhere I imagine.. And could it have landed in such a place if it was dark for instance..

You only need the long runway if you want to take off again. From how things are sounding it would have been daylight by the time it got where it was going

[pete]

There's no aircraft carrier in the world near big enough to take something that size. As for an airfield, what are the requirements for a plane of this size? Not just a strip of grass somewhere I imagine.. And could it have landed in such a place if it was dark for instance..

Oh you THINK there's no carrier big enough but if I'd told you a week ago we'd be discussing the possibility of pirates having taken a 777 in flight you would have mocked me. Maybe they fitted a hook or reverse thrust jatos.

Or a lighted runway. They have those now. Or temp lights. Or nightsight for the pilot.

This is just nuts, I don't understand. Hijack followed by crash - they'll find it in the end. Probably.

[campbell]

Plenty military fields to choose from I expect.

[tut]

Wrote a long speel concerning the new findings but it then disappeared into thin air and I lost it. Will now copy and paste.

They now release that they knew it turned West off the flight path after the secondary was turned off, and they followed it on radar out of Malaysian airspace and into the Indian Ocean. Then why the fcuk did they spend a week searching an area on the flight path when there was no wreckage to find? So it must have carried on flying until it ran out of fuel, seven hours, or landed. They also tracked it by satellite for the next seven hours as well. After leaving MAS it would/should have been handed over to the next Country it looked as if it was going to pass through, probably India. They would have picked it up on primary radar, no secondary, no radio comms, no ACARS, so standard procedure then is to send up fighter jets to visually identify it.

Best guess now is suicide or kidnap hijack. Malaysian authorities are going to have a lot to answer for with their handling of this and the use of the information that they had and did not release in time.

tut

[vet111s]

I agree with Tut. I can't understand, especially in today's age of international paranoia induced surveillance, how a jet the size of a 777 was flown for up to 7hrs without someone noticing. Surely, as soon as it entered anyone's airspace the call should have gone out to them something along the lines of "unidentified bomber sized aircraft please respond".

[David]

Just to add a twist - the latest reports are now saying that last sat data received suggests it was shut down on the ground. What the parameters were sent to suggest this is anyone's guess, but looks like it may have landed somewhere - or at least been shut down in a controlled manor.

[rossybee]

Looks like the Malaysian officials have royally f*cked up in the way they've handled all this.

Poor relatives have now been thrown a fresh glimmer of hope (in such a situation we'd all grasp onto the slightest thing) which could just as easily be taken away again

[tut]

My first two posts. I should have put a bet on.
tut

ps:- at the moment my own view is that they could be looking in the wrong area, hard to understand why as they knew the flight path and saw the point where they lost it on radar, but it fits better than any other explanation at present.
tut

My other theory is that the aircraft was highjacked, the terrorists knew the cockpit layout even if they could not fly the plane, so they turned the transponders and radio communication channels off and forced the pilots to turn onto a different track.

This then took them to a deserted desert island where their colleagues had laid a temporary runway, and they are now laying low for a few days before they make contact with a massive ransom demand.

Well it is as good an explanation as anything else that has come out so far.

[jason]

Poor relatives have now been thrown a fresh glimmer of hope (in such a situation we'd all grasp onto the slightest thing) which could just as easily be taken away again

Indeed. The relatives must be going through emotional hell. And, quite possibly for all we know, the passengers and crew still too.

[Gareth]

Poor relatives have now been thrown a fresh glimmer of hope (in such a situation we'd all grasp onto the slightest thing) which could just as easily be taken away again

Indeed. The relatives must be going through emotional hell. And, quite possibly for all we know, the passengers and crew still too.

Do we really think it's been landed safely? On a remote island/location?
That would be some operation and Hollywood would make gazillions!

[tut]

Not really Gareth, it was just to show that a ridiculous theory such as that is as plausible as anything that the Malaysian Authorities have come up with, and they are supposed to be the ones with the information.

tut

[jason]

Poor relatives have now been thrown a fresh glimmer of hope (in such a situation we'd all grasp onto the slightest thing) which could just as easily be taken away again

Indeed. The relatives must be going through emotional hell. And, quite possibly for all we know, the passengers and crew still too.

Do we really think it's been landed safely? On a remote island/location?
That would be some operation and Hollywood would make gazillions!

I don't know what 'we' think, Gareth, but I do know that I think nothing concrete has been reported. So right now you cannot dismiss anything, that includes sparing a thought for the souls onboard and their totally unknown status.

[Dark]

Not really Gareth, it was just to show that a ridiculous theory such as that is as plausible as anything that the Malaysian Authorities have come up with, and they are supposed to be the ones with the information.

tut

Would 7 hours flying have got it to Antarctica where it landed on the ice???

My guess it's that it's at the bottom of the Indian Ocean or Southern Ocean; they might find a few bits floating on the surface but they will be hundreds of miles from the crash site by now.