I Think I Saw MH370

[europaflyer]

Not a criticism of Saucy given the circumstances, but just goes to show you should always, always, always make a log entry no matter how silly what you're writing may seem. "8 March 0250, burning aircraft passed astern port to starboard" would have made this whole thing an open and shut case... as it is it just looks like another dubious witness. When in doubt, write it out!

[Prairie Chicken]

I feel for those that lost family and understand their desire for closure, but my goodness it is a lot of money being spent out there for no obvious tangible gain.

The tangible gain, Matt, is learning what went wrong & how prevent it from happening again, thereby saving lives in the future. If it were a terrorist act, there are undoubtedly lessons to learn. What I want to know is if the a/c had a mechanical failure of some variety that caused the loss of all those lives. If so, what was it and what rectifications can be made to prevent any other occurrences. The black boxes would answer a great number of questions if they can be found and are readable.

Yes, it's a horrendous amount of money and at some point they may have to ask themselves if the $ are better spent on that education budget you mentioned. I guess they are not there yet.

SS, I'm very glad you've alerted the authorities. Please ensure they have received and reviewed your info, and that it hasn't fallen into some bureaucratic crack. Euroflyer has done enough preliminary calculations that suggests the RCC should be reviewing your data in depth.

How long can an a/c on fire fly? Not long.

[europaflyer]

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

How long can an a/c on fire fly? Not long.

Not necessarily.

777 Fire Suppression — Tech Ops Forum | Airliners.net

If the fire is successfully suppressed, the autopilot will keep working until the aircraft runs out of fuel, even if the crew are unconscious through decompression or smoke inhalation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

The tangible gain, Matt, is learning what went wrong & how prevent it from happening again, thereby saving lives in the future.

Yes, I have heard that argument, and it is reasonable, but I am not totally convinced by it. I am surrounded by aviation professionals, and most of them seem pretty unconvinced also. But it's just my opinion, and I am no expert on the issue, I concede this.

Matt

[Prairie Chicken]

True Europaflyer. Swiss Air 111 for example. But given what SS saw, or thought she saw ... I'd say not long.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GILow

....... I am already struggling with the fact that they are spending so much on the search at all. I feel for those that lost family and understand their desire for closure, but my goodness it is a lot of money being spent out there for no obvious tangible gain.

Matt

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

The tangible gain, Matt, is learning what went wrong & how prevent it from happening again, thereby saving lives in the future. If it were a terrorist act, there are undoubtedly lessons to learn. What I want to know is if the a/c had a mechanical failure of some variety that caused the loss of all those lives. If so, what was it and what rectifications can be made to prevent any other occurrences. The black boxes would answer a great number of questions if they can be found and are readable.

Yes, it's a horrendous amount of money and at some point they may have to ask themselves if the $ are better spent on that education budget you mentioned. I guess they are not there yet......

Originally Posted by GILow

Yes, I have heard that argument, and it is reasonable, but I am not totally convinced by it. I am surrounded by aviation professionals, and most of them seem pretty unconvinced also. But it's just my opinion, and I am no expert on the issue, I concede this.

Matt

First to SS, sorry for the thread drift but I'm sure it will return to planned track as soon as I get off the keyboard .

Matt, stay unconvinced .
I know that PC's argument is the "standard" response and has some merit / truth but hidden away in the background in another truth not so often publicised. The various insurance carriers need to know what happened so they can transfer the liability away from their company and onto others. Put another way, they need to fix the blame and dodge the claims. Manufacturers fault, design fault, airline fault, pilot fault, security fault - some ones gotta pay.

I'm another aviation professional but a cynical one...

[ravinracin]

SS I followed this tragedy closely from the start. If I remember correctly, 2 or 3 fisherman in the same area say they saw a burning plane, but I believe they were dismissed. I thought it odd that they were not taken seriously at the time. Your observation sure collaborates their story. I think they also dismissed the guy who saw the plane on fire, or catch fire from the oil platform. I wonder how the dismissed so many witnesses and are searching such a long way away with not much reason to do so. Just my thoughts on this and thanks for contributing.

[Wotname]

Now back on track
Yes, SS, is good to report such sightings. Not your job to work out if what you saw is helpful or not; that job rightly belongs to the brains behind the search to make what they can with all the data available.

By not reporting, you limit the available data and thus limit the outcome.

I hear you re the press .

[MarkJ]

Because those other witnesses were on the Vietnam side of Malaysia.

Several ground witnesses claim they saw Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - CNN.com

And some indonesiand fishermen reported seeing a plane 11 hours later...

[ravinracin]

I thought there were some fisherman from somewhere near the Banda Aceh area very early in the reporting who claim they saw a burning plane.

[bill good]

I hope you do pass on this info as it is important to locate this aircraft.
Regards Bill

[Gclark8]

SS your post has been picked up by one of the Scientists doing satellite research into the missing aircraft.

See: An immediate response to the Inmarsat information now released | Duncan Steel

You can follow the research there.



I am not a sailor, however lived on board in the Brisbane River for 18 months in the mid 1980s. Had lots of fun with Amateur Radio in those days.
Cheers, George

[cwyckham]

I think the public has learned a lot from this incident. Largest of which is that air traffic isn't all that well tracked if something goes wrong. Next time any of us see an aircraft on fire, I think that it will be more obvious to us that we need to report it asap, including a mayday relay by HF or a call to the RCC on a sat phone (if either are available).

As far as how long an aircraft on fire can fly? There is no answer to that. If the fire compromises the structural integrity of the aircraft, it can break up in the air. If it compromises the engines, then it will turn into a glider. There's no way of knowing whether the aircraft was generating thrust when SS saw it.

If the aircraft was gliding when she saw it at between 15-20,000', then we can estimate that it would have glided something like 75 nm (jet liners have pretty good lift to glide ratios, I used 25:1).

[KKat]

There Was a report made by a Local in the Maldives that he saw a plane flying unusually low over the Island at the same time the plane went missing. Just go on to the net and find it, if it looks like at the same time or near the place where you saw it then do a report , it will then make two reports from the same direction.

[Gclark8]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

If the aircraft was gliding when she saw it at between 15-20,000', then we can estimate that it would have glided something like 75 nm (jet liners have pretty good lift to glide ratios, I used 25:1).

This will give you a better idea of glide performance:
An immediate response to the Inmarsat information now released | Duncan Steel

The RAT Kicks in and re powers the aircraft NAV systems and electronics including the SatCom and it will immediately begin transmission in Emergency Alert Mode for Data Dump, while controlling the aircraft into a 10ft to 1ft ratio Glide Scope.
The B777 was the first Plane to Glide in Balance instead of drop out of the sky, also the ATM does not distinguish land versus Sea, so landing Gear would also be coming down as aircraft trajectory comes in for emergency Auto Land Control.