Missing 777

[HotRodZilla]

It showed his correct position on Spotwalla, but it gave first responders the wrong response coordinates; which doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

I thought for sure it landed somewhere......what purpose does it serve to just crash it in the Indian Ocean??

 

[bigjohnsd]

I was certain it had taken the Northern Route and ended up somewhere in SW Asia being packed with material to make a statement somewhere when it would be flown into something.

My guess now is that it suffered a fate similar to the Payne Stewart decompression flight, possibly a combination of a asphixiating fire in which the efforts to control it involved shutting down many electronics/electrical circuits followed by asphixiation and a long auto pilot flight until fuel exhaustion and an ultimate crash in the IO/Western Ocean.

Sure hope they recover the flight data recorder, otherwise we will never know for certain.

The doppler shift tracking done by scientists on the INMARSAT communications data is amazing stuff.

 

[Fred W]

So this whole situation has me somewhat confused (a completely natural state for me, I might add).

Why would people continue to spend so much effort and money (has to be costing millions) searching for this one aircraft which has clearly either crashed on shore or at sea, by what means or cause we are unlikely to ever determine, and the likelihood of there being any survivors is effectively zero. Even if we did determine the cause for the demise, of what value would that be? Would that knowledge possibly be worth the expense?

 

[Bustanut joker]

I'm with ya Fred. Maybe Elvis was onboard?

 

[PhilJet09]

So this whole situation has me somewhat confused (a completely natural state for me, I might add).
Even if we did determine the cause for the demise, of what value would that be? Would that knowledge possibly be worth the expense?

To prevent another crash of this type from happening again and losing another 239 people. What dollar amount would you put on the life of a stranger? How about a family member?

We learn a lot from crash analysis. Air France taught us a lot about the gaps in training that was trending through the industry. That's all changed now and hopefully we're all a bit safer because of it. Unfortunately, safety increases have been historically reactionary.

 

[Lauren_TK]

Air France taught us a lot about the gaps in training that was trending through the industry.

Is that the one where they suspect a blocked Pitot tube? I remember seeing a TV program about that, and, while tragic, the analysis was fascinating.

 

[Fred W]

So this whole situation has me somewhat confused (a completely natural state for me, I might add).
Even if we did determine the cause for the demise, of what value would that be? Would that knowledge possibly be worth the expense?

To prevent another crash of this type from happening again and losing another 239 people. What dollar amount would you put on the life of a stranger? How about a family member?

We learn a lot from crash analysis. Air France taught us a lot about the gaps in training that was trending through the industry. That's all changed now and hopefully we're all a bit safer because of it. Unfortunately, safety increases have been historically reactionary.

That is a good point, if there was some sort of a malfunction or mistake(s) made. But I thought at this point there was enough evidence to conclude that this was an intentionally induced situation, but maybe not.

 

[Lauren_TK]

That is a good point, if there was some sort of a malfunction or mistake(s) made. But I thought at this point there was enough evidence to conclude that this was an intentionally induced situation, but maybe not.

I think it is fair to say that "intentionally induced situation" is the best fit for the current evidence, but there isn't enough evidence to say absolutely that is what happened.

 

[Bugnatr]

Seems like conflicting reports on the debris are still being reported. Nobody really knows what happened yet, I could not imagine what I would do if I had a loved one on the plane and they quit looking for answers. Governments waste much more money on things much less important than this.

 

[TomInPA]

The analogy that stuck with me from a few days ago:

"We're not searching for a needle in a haystack, we're still trying to define where the haystack is.

Mark Binskin, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force

 

[PhilJet09]

That is a good point, if there was some sort of a malfunction or mistake(s) made. But I thought at this point there was enough evidence to conclude that this was an intentionally induced situation, but maybe not.

It's best to try to go into a crash analysis completely free of speculation. Learn what you can from the pieces and information recovered, then put together theories and see what fits. Even if this turns out to be a case of malicious acts, there is a lot that can be learned.

The Air France crashed Airbus was supposed to always protect itself, so pilots were trained with that philosophy in mind. Unfortunately, this led to a training lapse of some fundamental flying skills, as hard to believe as that is. Technology and human nature can be their own worst enemies, especially when pitot tubes freeze over, air data becomes corrupt (or non-existent) and the airplane returns to a low tech beast that now must actually be flown...at night with no horizon surrounded by massive thunderstorms.

 

[Bugnatr]

Can you believe 2 months later and nothing.....wow. Really weird shit man.

 

[dcarver]

Yep. And nothing in the news. Imagine that.

 

[HotRodZilla]

It took 2 years to find Air France, didn't it?

 

[08FJR4ME]

After working for a defense contractor for 15 years you cannot tell me the US of A does not know where this plane went. I worked on shit that is up in space and under water. I don't think there is a spot on this planet we don't monitor.

JSNS, maybe to much.

 

[Bugnatr]

It took 2 years to find Air France, didn't it?

They found 50 bodies within 2 weeks of the crash and knew where it had crashed in general terms but was difficult to locate the actual wreckage due to the depth and rugged sea floor bottom.

2 months later and nothing found yet with this one.

 

[ionbeam]

They are probably out surfing and partying with Amelia Earhart.

The Indian Ocean is more than 28 million square miles with an average depth of more than 12,000 feet and they are looking for an object that is ~200' x ~210' in a T shape if it remains intact. Lessee, if we cover 10 sq miles/day how many days until the job is done?

Also, the USA indeed *may* have a good idea of where the airplane is, but revealing the information could compromise a surveillance program and tell the opposition how our system works. None the less, if we do have a good idea where the plane is, it will eventually be leaked to a third party so they can 'accidentally stumble' onto the find. (The optimistic view.)

Look at Google Maps in the satellite mode and Google Earth, go through all the satellite pictures and pictures taken from airplanes. Spend some serious time. Now, how many airplanes did you see pictured in the sky?

 

[Bounce]

This thread skated during the admin hiatus. Let's avoid it spinning off into politics, please.

 

[russperry]

This thread skated during the admin hiatus. Let's avoid it spinning off into politics, please.

Huh? not trying to be confrontational but what's over the edge? Just trying to make sure I don't ask the wrong question or make a troubling statement in the future.

Maybe the question about how much money to spend on the search? Since there's no person or party being blamed in the question, seems to be a fairly neutral and logical question to ask. Or is it something else?