MH370: Malaysian Airlines Flight to Beijing carrying 239 people is lost over sea.

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BobK
Don't know if you heard, @TenEightyOne, but the pilot's flightsim setup (which had both FS9 and FSX installed) had the PMDG 777-200 installed. Which may be significant, may not mean a freaking thing. I forgot to note the source, but it was in the thread on flightsim.com on the incident.

PMDG aircraft are noted for their in-depth accuracy. And price, heh.
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Just about everyone who has a passion with FS airliners scrambled to get their hands on the PMDG 777. It was/is all the rage in my VA, but I'm personally still trying to figure out the NGX.
 
BobK
Don't know if you heard, @TenEightyOne, but the pilot's flightsim setup (which had both FS9 and FSX installed) had the PMDG 777-200 installed. Which may be significant, may not mean a freaking thing. I forgot to note the source, but it was in the thread on flightsim.com on the incident.

PMDG aircraft are noted for their in-depth accuracy. And price, heh.
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I didn't see that - good spot! I have that plane pack myself, the best way to describe it is "hardcore". :D

@playnthru I can't say (obviously) that the pilot isn't involved in any plot but I still really don't think that having a good 'gaming' sim rig is significant, he could practice other routes but a pilot with as many type-hours as him wouldn't need it, they could fly into anywhere with zero notice (any pilot could go to a new field and end up being diverted by ATC for a field closure, for example). That said, it's one of the only facts we have, who knows what actually happened up there? :(
 
Oh, I agree with that. I don't think it would mean anything normally and may not now. I don't think it's odd for him to have it at all.

But if someone is asked to land somewhere new, I would think it's natural to practice first. Even if it for legit reasons.
 
The hardcore flight sim scene is full of real world airline pilots (many very high ranking), nothing unusual at all and PMDG aircraft are pretty much 'must have' for airliner enthusiasts.
 
playnthru
Oh, I agree with that. I don't think it would mean anything normally and may not now. I don't think it's odd for him to have it at all.

But if someone is asked to land somewhere new, I would think it's natural to practice first. Even if it for legit reasons.
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I can't argue with the sense of that!

If he practiced the route on the rig (and there's unlikely to be a record of that unless he took physical notes) then it was because he already had the setup, it looks like some of the papers are using the existence of his flight-sim as a potential clue.
 
TenEightyOne
I can't argue with the sense of that!

If he practiced the route on the rig (and there's unlikely to be a record of that unless he took physical notes) then it was because he already had the setup, it looks like some of the papers are using the existence of his flight-sim as a potential clue.
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If the route was practiced on his rig and he planned it out then it would most likely be recorded on his rig (likely PFPX etc) unless he manually deleted the plan/s after flying it. I know every flight I take in sims leaves multiple route copies for/from various software.
 
Jay
If the route was practiced on his rig and he planned it out then it would most likely be recorded on his rig (PFPX etc) unless he manually deleted the plan after flying it. I know every flight I take in sims leaves multiple route copies for/from various software.
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What I meant to say was that there's unlikely to be a forensic record, but as you say any flightplans for the software (I'm presuming FSX Accel if he used PDMG, although I know some people prefer XPlane nowadays, I'm too old to change :) ) would still be there if he hadn't deleted them. Temps for PDMG and other 3rd party addons are usually pretty easy for housekeeping too, if he was paranoid he'd clear them I guess.

To be honest I think everything he did on the sim will be there, he just doesn't seem like "the perp" to me.
 
I have to chime in with a bit of a question. In this day and age. How does one lose a plane. It just seems odd that we can find a car that's been stolen, a cell phone that's been lost with a simple app, or even Waldo. But a passenger plane is gone. How does that happen? Granted, I haven't kept up with the news lately.
 
Ken Koios
I have to chime in with a bit of a question. In this day and age. How does one lose a plane. It just seems odd that we can find a car that's been stolen, a cell phone that's been lost with a simple app, or even Waldo. But a passenger plane is gone. How does that happen? Granted, I haven't kept up with the news lately.
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http://[domain blocked due to malware]/instances/400x/24375454.jpg
 
Ken Koios
I have to chime in with a bit of a question. In this day and age. How does one lose a plane. It just seems odd that we can find a car that's been stolen, a cell phone that's been lost with a simple app, or even Waldo. But a passenger plane is gone. How does that happen? Granted, I haven't kept up with the news lately.
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All those things can be hidden if the person whose taken them knows and interrupts the systems that you're going to use to find them.
 
I figured that being a passenger jet, the fail safes would have fail safes. Wouldn't a good amount of knowledge and time go into disabling the tracking systems? And wouldn't tampering with those send up red flags to those tracking the plane in the first place?

EDIT: Sorry for the ignorance. I'm trying to catch up without watching Fox News or reading the nearly 500 posts here. That can be extremely tedious.
 
Ken Koios
I figured that being a passenger jet, the fail safes would have fail safes. Wouldn't a good amount of knowledge and time go into disabling the tracking systems? And wouldn't tampering with those send up red flags to those tracking the plane in the first place?
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The professional aviation answer to that would be "you'd think, right?"
 
disinfected
The professional aviation answer to that would be "you'd think, right?"
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It just dumb founds me that everything related to tracking failed. I mean, I understand going off course and all. I understand allot of things in fact. But this thing could be Mongolia or the Indian ocean? Sounds to me like the next thing they are going to say is "Well, it had enough fuel to make it the moon. Well, let's look there." What was ground control doing, surfing brazzers?
 
disinfected
The professional aviation answer to that would be "you'd think, right?"
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I'm sure that the situation will change now... but as it stands, why wouldn't you be able to do that? The planes are deactivated for parking, and no component is completely proofed against a deliberate interruption in the air.

Air travel is as safe as it is because so much effort goes into (amongst other things) trying to identify threats before they board a plane. Once you are aboard (especially if you're crew) then you can act as you like. You will never ever provide a 100% barrier to a determined human, a fact that 'terrorists' exploit to the full.
 
LMSCorvetteGT2
Was this posted up not that I think it will further this along but just wasn't sure cause it didn't look like it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?_r=0
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It's interesting if they have keystroke data - that is not a normal part of an ACARS data packet. We don't know what's just been invented by the press, obviously, but if the authorities genuinely know some of the things that we're told they know... they've got more than one data source from the aircraft. That's my guess anyway.

And weren't we told that MA didn't subscribe to the data service and that only the equipment's timed 'handshake' was running?
 
I'm thinking that just because MA did not subscribe to data service does not mean data is not collected. The data could well collected by the manufacture yet not shared with MA because they don't pay for it.

I'm I crazy?
 
TenEightyOne
It's interesting if they have keystroke data - that is not a normal part of an ACARS data packet. We don't know what's just been invented by the press, obviously, but if the authorities genuinely know some of the things that we're told they know... they've got more than one data source from the aircraft. That's my guess anyway.

And weren't we told that MA didn't subscribe to the data service and that only the equipment's timed 'handshake' was running?
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Yea the times is usually known for being a solid news group and actually having sources that most gov'ts would love to have. So I dont doubt this info all that much. Also we've been told alot of things by MA and the Gov't their so, I wouldn't trust much of what they say further than I could throw them. I wouldn't be surprised as we said, that they knew the plane was being hijacked in real time and instead of making it vastly public thought an alternative route would be best, pretending the plane went missing altogether.

Anyways I'm off for tonight I need to study for a test and though this is fun I'll return back to see if it has gone any further.
 
TenEightyOne
It's interesting if they have keystroke data - that is not a normal part of an ACARS data packet. We don't know what's just been invented by the press, obviously, but if the authorities genuinely know some of the things that we're told they know... they've got more than one data source from the aircraft. That's my guess anyway.

And weren't we told that MA didn't subscribe to the data service and that only the equipment's timed 'handshake' was running?
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Maybe ACARS is using an unlicensed copy of FSUIPC. That's got to be it!
 
disinfected
Maybe ACARS is using an unlicensed copy of FSUIPC. That's got to be it!
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FSUIPC was my first thought when I read the "remote hijack" theory, how cool would that be? :D

playnthru
I'm thinking that just because MA did not subscribe to data service does not mean data is not collected. The data could well collected by the manufacture yet not shared with MA because they don't pay for it.

I'm I crazy?
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That seems very plausible, and pretty obvious now you point it out :D

The strange thing in that case is that it still took so long for the data to be known. Boeing are immediately involved when one of their planes crashes (or is believed to have crashed) and this data is absolutely central to an immediate 'diagnosis' - so why are we nearly two weeks in before hearing it?

EDIT: Just saw this pic on BBC, at first sight it looks as though he's using mental powers to divine the plane's location. It may be all they have left...

_73643727_73643726.jpg
 
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Ken Koios
I figured that being a passenger jet, the fail safes would have fail safes. Wouldn't a good amount of knowledge and time go into disabling the tracking systems? And wouldn't tampering with those send up red flags to those tracking the plane in the first place?
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You're not alone - it frankly beggars belief that it is possible for an entire plane to vanish. Presumably, however, this incident might pave the way for a global tracking system for all commercial airliners that would ensure that any airliner can be located by the authorities in the event of an accident or unauthorised activity such as a hijacking or terrorist attack. To be honest, I think most laypeople like myself just assumed such capability was already standard. Clearly not.



TenEightyOne
_73643727_73643726.jpg
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I must admit, I almost laughed (more in despair than in mockery) when I saw those pictures. The "detailed' map on the left took the biscuit... they might as well just point at the sea and say 'it could be somewhere in there'.

I do feel sorry for those who are having to keep the families and the world's media informed about this though, since it is not their fault that it is still possible for such an event to occur. They have no choice but to keep a steady stream of information coming, even when that information is borderline useless.
 
This from the Beeb coverage of the press conference;

BBC
The transport minister refuses to answer questions with regards to the fact that one of the pilots, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, is an in-law relative of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. "I will not go down that line of questioning," Hishammuddin Hussein tells journalists."
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Who knows what's relevant and what isn't any more... the Chinese are now going to look in China, Malaysia has been discussing "use of satellite data" with the US... half the problem is that no one can admit what they actually know, or how they know it.
 
What does everyone think of the latest theory that the plane was flying on auto-pilot after the turn just after leaving Malaysian air-space?

And that perhaps the pilots were incapacitated, so the plane just flew on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel?

This would almost explain how the plane would get to the red-arc over the southern Indian Ocean, if the autopilot was still flying along this heading.

Respectfully,
GTsail
 
Jay
If the route was practiced on his rig and he planned it out then it would most likely be recorded on his rig (likely PFPX etc) unless he manually deleted the plan/s after flying it. I know every flight I take in sims leaves multiple route copies for/from various software.
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http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/22...n-airports-in-mh370-pilots-simulator-reports/

The flight simulator, seized from the home of one of MH370's missing pilots, included software for five practice runways around the Indian Ocean. Male International Airport in Maldives, three airports in India and Sri Lanka, and one belonging to the US military base in Diego Garcia. All have a runway length of 1,000 metres," a source told the Malay daily.
 
I still wouldn't be too worried unless there was a flight plan matching the one the jet seems to have taken. The map for FSX is the entire planet and as with aircraft you can purchase scenery for cities/airports etc. The pilot flies a 777 and he's in Malaysia so this by itself isn't strange.

I don't know why the report calls them practice runways.
 

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