Malaysia Airlines Loses Contact With 777 en Route to Beijing

[guamainiac]

I think they just did a brain fade and used the more common in the vernacular, term .."oil slick". Jet fuel is simply kerosene with some unique additives and I think those additives would explain a lot.

There are unique additives such as biocides to inhibit "algae" growth in the tanks that would fit the "fingerprint" for a jet crash versus bilge jetsam from a tanker.

[BoeingBobby]

news of the slick is interesting. how much oil is onboard a 777? as in used in the engines

I can't seem to find the max, but minimum for start is 16 quarts. I would guess around another 8 quarts would top er off.

[EconomyClass]

Besides "oil slicks" what other "slicks" are there on the ocean? There must be a fair number, but I've never heard any phrase but "oil slick". Do any products of petroleum refining float?

[Jpmkam]

I'm still very surprised that no floating surface debris linked to MH370 has been found yet.

[Highkeas]

Besides "oil slicks" what other "slicks" are there on the ocean? There must be a fair number, but I've never heard any phrase but "oil slick". Do any products of petroleum refining float?

Jet fuel floats because I've seen it burning on the surface of the ocean. I do not know how long a fuel slick would survive in a rough sea state.

[Jpmkam]

Oil slick

Oil slick info:

CNN aviation analyst Les Abend, who flies a Boeing 777, said the engines on the plane have about 20 quarts of oil each.

[guamainiac]

Training for all Naval folks, in the 60's, not just air crew, was to swim under the fuel and NEVER surface. Use a swirling motion to come up for air.

[Gabriel]

http://www.jacc.gov.au/media/releases/2014/april/mr026.aspx

At the recent media conference conducted by the Chief Coordinator of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston (Ret'd), said that the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield had detected an oil slick on Sunday evening in her current search area.

Preliminary analysis of the sample collected by ADV Ocean Shield has confirmed that it is not aircraft engine oil or hydraulic fluid.

Additionally, Phoenix International, with the assistance of Bluefin, have assessed that there is a small but acceptable level of risk in operating the vehicle in depths in excess of 4,500 metres. This expansion of the operating parameters allows the Bluefin-21 to search the sea floor within the predicted limits of the current search area.

Some media reports today state that it would take Bluefin-21 anywhere from six weeks to two months to scan the entire underwater search area. This is incorrect.

Since the US Navy provided comment some days ago, the underwater search has been significantly narrowed through detailed acoustic analysis conducted on the four signal detections made by the Towed Pinger Locator on ADV Ocean Shield.

This analysis has allowed the definition of a reduced and more focused underwater search area. This represents the best lead we have in relation to missing flight MH370 and where the current underwater search efforts are being pursued to their completion so we can either confirm or discount the area as the final resting place of MH370.

[starchyme]

The fact that they found the officer phone to be on and in breach of protocol is not surprising, given the testimony that the pilots also smoked in the cockpit while entertaining girls. no surprise to have found it on. The question is was it switched on because of attempts to call, or just because of breaking protocols again?

[andyb99]

The fact that they found the officer phone to be on and in breach of protocol is not surprising, given the testimony that the pilots also smoked in the cockpit while entertaining girls. no surprise to have found it on. The question is was it switched on because of attempts to call, or just because of breaking protocols again?

indeed.....if i read the report correctly...all the papers suggested he made a 'desperate call for help'....but when i actually read it it is just the phone connected to the cell tower then disconnected.....so that means it was just on right???

[EconomyClass]

The fact that they found the officer phone to be on and in breach of protocol is not surprising, given the testimony that the pilots also smoked in the cockpit while entertaining girls. no surprise to have found it on. The question is was it switched on because of attempts to call, or just because of breaking protocols again?

Did read somewhere about an estimable safety record? Were they just lucky?

[Highkeas]

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2014/...ended/7894717/.........................

From the above URL:
In addition to this newly revealed development, investigators have determined that the missing jet was equipped with four emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, which are designed to transmit a plane's location to an emergency satellite when triggered by a crash or by contact with water, the source added.

The ELTs were at the plane's front door, its rear door, in the fuselage and in the cockpit, said the source, who was puzzled over why they appear either not to have activated or, if they did activate, why they were not picked up by the satellite.

Relatives of the 239 passengers and crew have raised questions about the ELTs with Malaysian authorities, suggesting there were at least three aboard the plane, including two portable units and one fixed device.

Can anyone expand on 777 ELTs. I suspect some of these ELTs may be embodied in rafts and slides.

And of course the ELTs would sink upon a crash into the ocean (presumably like those on AF447).

[guamainiac]

You have "on demand" and positive pressure masks. Positive pressure blow constantly and would actually waste oxygen so I doubt if they would use them since those moments between breaths would be going out an exhalation valve. On demand is when you suck in which I would assume what they would use.

[Peter Kesternich]

(...)
Murder via hypoxia?

Perhaps a pilot (or someone gained access to the cockpit) decompressed the cabin, went on oxygen, went to 39,000 feet to incapacitate and do away with passengers. If I recall correctly the O2 system for passengers only last about 15 minutes. The type of masks for passengers are probably not the pressure type, so probably wouldn't be very effective at 39,000 feet.
(...)

Whether you're at FL350 or FL390 doesn't make much difference, if you ask me. At this moment, I am not putting much faith in the quote from WTSB Tampa Bay.
Actually, if the plane climbed after the last communication or not is irrelevant. Someone was at the controls during that phase of the flight and it was one of the pilots (I am 99.999% sure of that).

[Evan]

It's looking grim for ever finding the flght recorders and even if they are found they might very well reveal nothing about why the plane altered course and entered radio silence. Unlike AF447, one thing seems very apparent though: this was almost certainly a hijacking of some sort. Any hypoxia scenario alone fails to explain the course deviations or the transponder and ACARS deactivation.

So, whether it is found or not, things can certainly be done right now to prevent this from reoccuring. What frustrates me is that nothing is being publically discussed to prevent a crew-initiated 'murdercide' scenario.

The two obvious dialogues that need to be had concern pilot mental state assessments and methods to prevent one crew member from locking the other one out of the cockpit.

That should be happening NOW.