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i have not heard them talking about how much fuel was on board and the maximum range with that amount of fuel
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When its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love..... -
Could YOU solve the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight? Satellite images made public to help locate MH370 jet
The high-resolution satellite images were captured by DigitalGlobe
Over 25,000 people have already signed up to help search for the plane
The popularity of the search has caused the site to repeatedly crash
Approximately 1,300 sq miles of imagery has been uploaded onto the site
More images are being added as and when they become available
One user believes he has found what appears to be a underwater wreckage
Sighting is now being investigated by experts to confirm its authenticity
As police and search crews scour the seas around Malaysia and Vietnam for missing jet MH370, a satellite company is letting web users around the world help in the hunt online.
DigitalGlobe has spent the last five days uploading high-resolution satellite and aerial images to its Tomnod site that let people explore the seas for clues about the crash, as well signs of a wreckage or oil slick.
Images are then tagged by users and analysed by experts before the most significant sightings are sent to the search teams in Asia.
Tomnod user Mike Seberger tagged an image taken on Sunday morning, which appears to show the outline of a plane underwater.
He is unsure of the exact location but is hoping the sighting will soon be verified.
Seberger told CNN: ‘At first, I skipped past it, thinking, 'Nah. No way I would find anything that quickly, but then I kept scrolling back to it and thinking to myself, It does resemble a plane.’
The Malaysia Airlines flight went missing on Saturday on its way to China - there were 239 people on board.
About an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Boeing 777 flew over the south of Vietnam before vanishing from radars.
The last communication the Malaysian authorities received was as the plane crossed the boundary between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.
Air traffic control in Malaysia said it was handing the jet over to controllers in Ho Chi Minh city before contact was completely lost.
DigitalGlobe has already uploaded 1,300 square miles (3,200 square kilometres) of imagery on to its crowdsourcing site, Tomnod, and is adding more as and when it becomes available.
More than 25,000 people have already signed up to help search for the plane, and as a result the site has repeatedly crashed.
Initial search efforts concentrated on waters between Malaysia and Vietnam before being extended to the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea.
DigitalGlobe’s imagery is being uploaded to reflect this search area – although it covers approximately 27,000 square nautical miles (92,000 square km), meaning there may be a delay.
To use the site, users zoom in on each satellite image and drop a pin if they spot anything they believe could be related to the crash.
The system additionally has a tool that will search for and automatically flag any overlapping tags, suggesting more than one person has found something significant in that region.
All of these tags are analysed by experts and the top ten most likely and significant spots will be shared with the Malaysian authorities.
DigitalGlobe's Luke Barrington said that before passing any information over to the authorities, the experts are working on being 100 per cent sure its relevant so not to waste the search teams’ time or give anyone false hope.
This is not the first time Tomnod has been used in this way.
Following Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines in November, thousands of people signed up to search for and identify missing objects and damaged landmarks.
‘We are working to best handle an unprecedented level of web traffic and interest in supporting the Malaysia Airlines jetliner search,’ the Colorado company said in a statement.
‘Please check back soon. We have new imagery collections planned for today and hope to make those images available online for the crowd as soon as possible.’
There is still no trace of the plane and a total of nine aircraft and 24 ships have already been deployed to search for the wreckage.
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No debris, no Mayday, but a host of questions: GUY WALTERS offers theories to the mysteries surrounding MH370
Endless theories are swirling about what became of Flight MH370. Was it hijacked by fanatics, led into unknown territory by Vietnamese MiGs, or did one of the pilots simply decide to end it all?
And questions abound as to why it seems that passengers' phones still seem to be ringing, why radar was unable to track it, and why search parties have been unable to locate its black box signal.
Here, the Mail offers answers to the questions everyone’s asking...
1. How could there be reports from relatives that some of the passengers’ phones are still ringing?
If the phones are ringing, that could mean they are on land and near a mobile cell site. If that is the case, it seems bizarre nobody noticed the plane land or crash.
However, experts doubt the phones are ringing. If you call someone whose phone has no charge, it sounds as though the phone is ringing, before you go through to the voicemail.
‘The phones definitely won’t be working,’ says Professor William Webb, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
‘They will be underwater, out of coverage and by this time out of battery.’
2. One theory says the plane was escorted to a secret location by Vietnamese fighter jets. Could that happen?
The Boeing 777 is a large aeroplane – 242ft long, with a 200ft wingspan. It’s difficult for an aircraft of that size to land somewhere unusual without people spotting it.
‘A 777 needs a runway that is a good 2,000m (2,180 yards) long,’ says Robin Durie, an experienced commercial pilot.
‘You don’t just land a plane like that in a clearing in the jungle.’
3. Why is the ‘black box’ not revealing the plane’s location?
The black box, or flight data recorder, stores much of the information about the flight, including the conversations of the pilots.
The boxes are almost indestructible, and resilient to impact and heat.
After a plane has crashed, the black box transmits a homing beacon, but the range is only 2,000 or 3,000 yards, and even less if it is deep underwater.
‘A device such as a black box doesn’t make the aircraft safer,’ says Mr Durie. ‘They just tell you where its wreckage is. But airlines are very reluctant to add numerous pieces of technology, as they are expensive to buy and maintain.’
There has recently been discussion within the industry about the possibility of sending data from aircraft during their flights to a remote server, thereby negating the need for a black box, but this is regarded as being too expensive.
4. Why can no debris or wreckage be found? It seems inconceivable that an aircraft of this size could leave no trace.
‘I find that very odd as well,’ says Mr Durie. ‘Aeroplanes are not just made from metal, and there are lots of parts of them, such as seats and luggage, that can float.
‘Even after the Air France crash over the Atlantic in June 2009, a whole piece of rudder was found on the water.’
However, Mr Durie also cites the example of the 2005 crash of Helios Airways Flight 522, which flew on its own for almost three hours after the crew members were incapacitated by a lack of oxygen. It crashed near Athens, killing all on board.
With several hours of fuel, it is possible that MH370 crashed hundreds of miles away from its last known location.
5. Are there areas of the world where a plane can just ‘slip off the radar’?
Plenty. Tracts of Africa, much of the interior of Russia, jungles in Malaysia, for example.
Modern airliners use transponders, which transmit a unique four-digit code that is identified with the flight. It is these codes that are picked up by air traffic controllers and used to locate the aircraft.
If the transponder stops transmitting – either because it is turned off or as the result of a sudden, catastrophic incident – then over many parts of the globe, the plane would be invisible to air traffic controllers.
6. Why was no distress signal sent?
‘If you have some form of emergency, then the first thing the pilot does is to change the transponder code,’ says Mr Durie. ‘If you change your code to 7500, that means you have been hijacked.
‘Back at Air Traffic Control, a big red box appears around your flight, and people take notice very quickly.’
In the event of a serious malfunction, the code changes to 7600, and in a Mayday situation, to 7700.
Changing the code is as quick as entering your PIN on a cash machine.
‘The fact that the transponder code didn’t change suggests to me that whatever happened, happened really quickly,’ says Mr Durie. ‘This might mean an explosion.’
7. A pilot on another aircraft claims to have made contact with MH370 shortly before it went missing – but all he heard was mumbling. What could this mean?
'All pilots have frequencies that we use to chat on,’ says Mr Durie. ‘Often this is company traffic, when crew from the same carrier are simply talking to each other.
‘Technically, it’s not legal, but the practice is widespread and many pilots tune into the easy-to-remember VHF band of 123.45.’
If another pilot heard some mumbling, it is possible that it was chat coming from another pilot on the same frequency. However, it could have been a crew member from MH370.
‘The mumbling suggests to me that the pilot was passing out from a lack of oxygen,’ says Mr Durie, ‘which could mean that the aircraft had suffered an explosive decompression, such as a window popping out, or a small hole appearing in the fuselage.’
8. Would it be possible for a deranged or psychotic passenger to seize control and cause a disaster?
The door to the cockpit is locked, and can be opened only from the inside. However, large airliners carry an axe in a secret location in one of the galleys.
A fanatic who found the axe could break into the cockpit, but it is unlikely the axe could be found without the knowledge of the cabin crew.
9. Could the pilot have hijacked or deliberately crashed the aircraft?
Pilots have been known to hijack their own planes. One theory behind the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 into the Atlantic in 1999 is that the Relief First Officer wanted to commit suicide.
‘A pilot can turn off his transponder, thereby making his plane invisible to Air Traffic Control,’ says Mr Durie.
‘Then, if he takes control of the cockpit, he can fly where he wants – either somewhere to seek asylum, or horribly, to kill himself and all on board.’
10. Reports suggest that radar showed the aircraft descending rapidly and possibly turning before it disappeared. Can a pilot simply turn around in the event of problems?
In theory, pilots are not permitted to simply turn their aircraft around. The globe is criss-crossed with air routes, which are like motorways, and are strictly policed by Air Traffic Control.
However, in the event of an emergency, a pilot is entitled to change direction, especially if he is losing altitude and threatening to cross through other routes beneath him.
Mr Durie said: ‘The usual procedure is to turn 90 degrees, and to get out of the airway – almost like pulling on to the hard shoulder – and to inform Air Traffic Control that you are in jeopardy.’
10. If the flight was downed by an explosion, why wasn’t it captured on film by a US satellite?
Not even the United States has the capability to record what happens everywhere in the world all the time.
If the plane did explode, then it is perfectly possible that the event would not have been captured by satellite.
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Originally posted by Emperah View Posta lie dat, wid all dem satellite updeh a watch everyting plane jus doan go missing.
Dem cyan find sat pix of Osama inna one cave but cyaan find a big dutty plane an wi fi bleeve dem kinda joke deh
realitee yuh a chattComment
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Originally posted by RichD View Post
wat dem meen bye cansiracee theories? iss itt addar reason theories dat mainstream tryinn fe discredit?Comment
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is that what lasers do?Originally posted by blugiant View PostWhen its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love.....Comment
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they have used the term loosely but i don not see than trying to discredit anythingOriginally posted by blugiant View PostWhen its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love.....Comment
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wan aff da phd woo studee da world trade center collapse affered dat as a compellinn theory?Originally posted by RichD View PostComment
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yes in some cases. But it seems to me that in this particular story it is used to encompass all current theoriesOriginally posted by blugiant View PostWhen its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love.....Comment
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so if the plane was taken down by laser where is the wreckage?Originally posted by blugiant View PostWhen its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love.....Comment
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from iran
the US kidnap the plane to damage relations between iran and china
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dat was da phd argument da laser can be use fe eliminate awl da eveedenceOriginally posted by RichD View PostComment
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to me if you hit a flying plane with a powerful laser it would break it up and you would have to be able to hit all the individual pieces as well to get rid of them...Originally posted by blugiant View Post
When its hot in the jungle of peace I go swimming in the ocean of love.....Comment
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