The Mystery of Missing Malaysia Airlines 370

[lustindarkness]

UFO abduction then?

[grumbler]

Something I don't get...there are devices for more serious hikers that will pinpoint GPS location. Friends and family can track where you are at all times, and you can issue distress calls, etc.  Why don't planes have something similar, made of something that won't blow up? Why should it be so hard to find a plane?

They do have such things (radio beacons).  They just don't work from underwater, or when buried under rubble, etc.

Also, don't they know where the plane disappeared?

Well, the plane disappeared from different radars at different times and places.  Radar systems that were not explicitly tracking the plane have to have their data for the time period reconstructed, and the right data for that flight identified and analyzed.  We may see additional data from other systems (like passing warships or other military air search radar systems).

[Beenherebefore]

UFO abduction then?

Either that or Lost 2.0.

[Razgovory]

This is weird.  They aren't even certain which ocean to look in.

[Caliga]

If it crashed in the Gulf of Thailand, it seems like it shouldn't be this hard to find.  The Gulf of Thailand isn't that big and is pretty shallow.

OTOH, if in fact it did change course and went off into the Pacific or the Indian, and they aren't sure where exactly, I doubt it'll ever be located.  It had enough fuel to go way out over both of those.

[Beenherebefore]

They do seem to have some clue about which planet to search on, which is good.

[Monoriu]

Saw an article earlier that said Malaysian military radar detected that the plane altered its course to the west and descended to a lower altitude and now appears to have been tracked as far as the Straits of Malacca.

The Malaysian military denied this. 

[Monoriu]

UFO abduction then?

You'll be surprised about how popular this theory is.  A lot of people over here, my wife included, simply won't acknowledge that the plane has crashed and everybody is dead. 

[Sheilbh]

To be honest I assumed planes were always being tracked. It is kind of extraordinary that one can just disappear in 2014

[Grinning_Colossus]

I think planes are always being tracked, if not by national aviation authorities.  After 9/11 the US probably created a system to track every passenger jet in the world, they just won't admit that they have it -- which would explain their skepticism of the Chinese satellite pictures.

[Sheilbh]

Amazing. Apparently the White House are briefing that the plane flew for four hours after it disappeared from radar. The Malaysians very strongly denying it.

This is really weird.

[Queequeg]

How do we know it was flying if it disappeared from radar?  Do we have ground confirmation.

[Monoriu]

How do we know it was flying if it disappeared from radar?  Do we have ground confirmation.

Apparently the US claim that they received automatic transmissions from the engines hours after it disappeared from radar.

[Sheilbh]

How do we know it was flying if it disappeared from radar?  Do we have ground confirmation.

I think it's data Rolls Royce have from the engines.

[Caliga]

I heard that several days ago.