Missing Malaysian Airlines B777

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Member for

13 years 6 months

Posts: 261

I'm aware it could sounds plainly stupid as a hypothesis, but provided both the pilots failed at some point to perform their duties (because one of them got mad, or because hijacking or anything else) couldn't it be a case of food poisoning lyke in paralytic shellfish poisoning?

Usually food poisoning results in pains, fever and swelling, but some kind of food poisoning could even results in cognitive hallucinations, intermittent loss of consiousness and so on, maybe incapacitating one of the aircrew and driving the other to repeatedly disengaging the autopilot trying to manually control the aircraft and then engaging autopilot again when realizing his inability to control the aircraft.

Member for

17 years 10 months

Posts: 784

To what aim would anyone do something like this?
Crew suicide?
Steal aircraft?
Lots of hostages? And who...dissident Chinese (given the makeup of the passengers)? Religious extremists? Non-religious extremists?

Even if it is foul play it doesn't make a lot of sense.

One angle which is a bit out there but not thought of....

WHO was on the plane? How do we know there wasn't someone important incognito on there?

Member for

12 years 3 months

Posts: 5,905

The question remains:
What was Hijacked ?

Was it for the passengers ?
or
Was it for the plane?
or
Was it for the cargo?

So who were the passengers ? We still have no clue.

The surfacing complexity of the operation and the profile of the pilots seems to discard a simple terrorist act. So would it have been for the money ?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 805

Seems to me the most likely objective of a hijacking is to crash the plane into some high profile target.

I'm thinking this is a United 93 scenario where the passengers and crew tried to retake the plane, forcing the hijacker to abort their mission.

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 403

If this were the case, then at least one passenger would have sent a message outside just like United Airlines Flight 93.
I, for one, am certain the passengers in the Malaysian Airlines triple-seven were silenced, one way or the other.

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

As it becomes ever more likely that the aircraft was hijacked it becomes ever more clear how spectacularly tragic an incident it was. Hijackings are carried out to inflict public chaos and damage, to draw attention to causes or beliefs or to carry out suicide in defence of a belief or cause, to be a martyr. So we can presume that the hijackers failed in their intent and that the lives of all the innocent people have been lost for nothing.

A dreadful tragedy.

Member for

14 years 1 month

Posts: 149

Lets assume the current data is correct, lets assume the aircraft was still sending out some form of data after 6/7 hours of flight, and based on the data, lets assume the northern and southern routes are the possible headings the aircraft could have taken. Of these two, I find it difficult to believe it could have been the northern route across southeast asia and into central asia, as any airliner flying with its transponders switched off would have been challenged at least once, if not more given the number of countries that route involves. So realistically that only leaves the southern route as the likely route it could have taken for flying so long without being detected, given that it's mostly over water. If it were my decision, I would look in the southern indian ocean. As to the motive, that can only be answered if/when the aircraft is found, or any of its wreckage.

To be honest I would expect the investigators to soon figure out the following:

1. As the Boeing 777 sent out consecutive satellite pings, how many and which satellites did actually received the pings.
2. If multiple satellites had received the pings, can the location of the sender be more-or-less triangulated (based on signal strength or relative time delay if the clocks on the satellites were synchronised)
3. If the location of the pings can be more-or-less estimated, did the location change between pings, and if so by how much.

It was confirmed that the investigators had enough evidence to narrow the MH370 flight path to one of the two flight corridors. To do that, the investigators must have highly detailed data from the satellite which has not been released to the public.

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Can anyone explain why, if criminality is suspected the aircraft would necessarily fly in corridors when it could just as easily fly wherever its "navigators" chose?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 805

If this were the case, then at least one passenger would have sent a message outside just like United Airlines Flight 93.
I, for one, am certain the passengers in the Malaysian Airlines triple-seven were silenced, one way or the other.

They wouldn't be able to. We already know this aircraft was not equipped for cellphone signals.

Member for

13 years 6 months

Posts: 261

I'll sound foolish, but can I ask why it's not conceivable that one if not both flight crew went nuts because of food poisoning?

There is at least a few types of seafood, Salpa being the most documented, forcing hallucynated behaviour similar to LSD's effects on people.

As far as I know, in some instancies of such hallucynated states of mind, people don't loss ability to perform practical and even complex tasks, just perform them in the context of an altered reality where sometimes demons hided well deep in one's own mind find a way to surface.

Have anybody investigated where and what the flight crew had eat before departure, or if they took with them some personal lunch on board?

That would not conflict with the hijacking scenario, just providing a different explanation about motivations and possible goals.

Member for

16 years 6 months

Posts: 282

I haven't read the whole thread, so I might be repeating something.

I wonder how close a hijacked airliner could get to Diego Garcia.

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 10,625

I find it saddening that many here are willing to assassinate the Captain's character simply because he lived and breathed aviation. It truly is sickening how readily you are all willing to suggest that a pilot having a simulator at home must be suspicious and ill intended!

The pilot was well known to the flight sim community. He has many hundreds if not thousands of forum posts on simming forums. He proudly posted pictures of his home simulator build and apparently also invited anyone to come along if and when in the area!
He never once tried to keep his simulator a secret. This was a guy who had been flying for 33 years and lived and breathed his job. I loved flying, he loved his job and never took it for granted. The simulator was an extension of this. He made his job his hobby.

Do these sound like the actions of someone planning an evil deed?
Why announce to the whole world you have a simulator that exactly duplicates an aircraft, if you plan to use it for nefarious plotting?
Besides, what would a home sim, running Microsoft Flight Sim X, teach a man that has 33 years of professional flying with unrivalled access to professional Level D simulators, hand books, etc under his belt?

This man is/was simply devoted to his career. He is/was the embodiment of someone "Living the dream".

I think what has happened here, is that a desperate media have picked up on an innocent hobby and twisted it into a suspicious act!

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 10,625

I haven't read the whole thread, so I might be repeating something.

I wonder how close a hijacked airliner could get to Diego Garcia.

Not too close:

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Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

I agree - there has been some constructive conjecture alongside the usual headline grabbing rubbish, but, sadly, that's to be expected.

Member for

13 years 5 months

Posts: 770

Any chance it went down on an island that has mysterious people on that we will call "the others" and a strange creature called "the smoke monster"?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 10,168

I see what you did there 19kilo10 ;)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,887

Breaking news, suitcases and other debris was found by Greek oil tanker Elka Athina in the Malakka Strait.

Member for

16 years

Posts: 1,059

I find it saddening that many here are willing to assassinate the Captain's character simply because he lived and breathed aviation. It truly is sickening how readily you are all willing to suggest that a pilot having a simulator at home must be suspicious and ill intended!

I don't think it's just because of the simulator that the captain is under suspicion.

The outcome could, of course, be completely different but at the moment, some sort of pilot hijacking or suicide looks the likeliest explanation.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

Breaking news, suitcases and other debris was found by Greek oil tanker Elka Athina in the Malakka Strait.

Can't find a link for that? ;)