Missing from radar screen - One Boeing 777

[Dangermouse]

if you turn up in the next few days/weeks with said 'plane and passengers all intact, then that's not so much terror as a very good magic act.

And a very good bargaining tool

 

[alecstilleyedye]

if the authorities are only now looking into the pilot's background, what about all the groundcrew etc?

has the guy who puts the fuel in the plane come in to work in ferrari the last week? has fuel been purchased but not accounted for?

 

[laurence]

if you turn up in the next few days/weeks with said 'plane and passengers all intact, then that's not so much terror as a very good magic act.

And a very good bargaining tool

most of the passengers are chinese, i don't think they'll bargain very nicely.

indeed, it will be a good trick, but not one that can be carried off too often.

 

[Dangermouse]

if the authorities are only now looking into the pilot's background, what about all the groundcrew etc?

has the guy who puts the fuel in the plane come in to work in ferrari the last week? has fuel been purchased but not accounted for?

A few years ago there was a program on TV and if I remember correctly, the pilot pays for fuel on a company credit card, a bit like a trucker does, surely there would be a time delay from buying fuel to it showing up on a statement.

Edit...the program was Airline, and a plane was stranded without fuel because the pilot picked up the wrong card and had to wait hours for the airline company to send payment.

 

[laurence]

maybe it was an assassination - what better way to do it than 'lose' an entire 'plane and then send search parties off in totally the wrong direction?

or a political kidnapping - return the 'plane to malaysia, cover up any details, then fly the 'plane off somewhere after the dissident has been taken off. dodgy as you risk a passenger sending a message out that the 'plane has returned to the airport or made an unscheduled landing.

either way, the rest of the passengers don't come out of it too well.

 

[Dangermouse]

maybe it was an assassination - what better way to do it than 'lose' an entire 'plane and then send search parties off in totally the wrong direction?

or a political kidnapping - return the 'plane to malaysia, cover up any details, then fly the 'plane off somewhere after the dissident has been taken off. dodgy as you risk a passenger sending a message out that the 'plane has returned to the airport or made an unscheduled landing.

either way, the rest of the passengers don't come out of it too well.

Was any passenger on board that would warrant such a hit, I have looked and there was the grandson of a political fella but the rest seem to be just normal people.

 

[laurence]

Was any passenger on board that would warrant such a hit, I have looked and there was the grandson of a political fella but the rest seem to be just normal people.

well, we know at least two were using fake passports, so who knows. if one was a spy fleeing the country, you wouldn't advertise that on the flight manifest.

i'm just being cynical as the malaysian gov seems intent to hinder the operation

 

[Dangermouse]

well, we know at least two were using fake passports, so who knows. if one was a spy fleeing the country, you wouldn't advertise that on the flight manifest.

i'm just being cynical as the malaysian gov seems intent to hinder the operation

I think with the sketchy information we have been given so far, anything is a possibility on the flight

 

[alecstilleyedye]

[QUOTE 2978512, member: 45"]Could be that the hijackers had a plan which failed when the plane ran out of fuel or just crashed into the sea. No one is going to own up to that.[/QUOTE]
in the context of how little we know, that's entirely possible...

 

[Dangermouse]

[QUOTE 2978512, member: 45"]Could be that the hijackers had a plan which failed when the plane ran out of fuel or just crashed into the sea. No one is going to own up to that.[/QUOTE]

Very likely if the plane was hijacked and the hijackers knew little about the range it could fly on the fuel it had onboard

 

[Dangermouse]

[QUOTE 2978521, member: 9609"]Wouldn't that be the most awful of bad luck for the two Iranian lads, they go to extraordinary lengths in gaining fake passports and traveling through many different countries all in a bid to make it to Germany and seek political asylum - all thwarted by getting on a plane that is then hijacked and flown to Iran.[/QUOTE]

It would certainly make their day a bad one

 

[Andrew_P]

Not sure where I read it but didn't some of the new information indicate it went quite a way up to make the turn, higher than the recommend I would imagine height would gift quite a few extra miles. Not sure which way the air currents are around there but 7.5 hours could equal more than the normal if they where working to a tight plan to get somewhere avoiding Radar using wind and altitude to extend the mpg.

The other theory is if it was hijacked the reason no claims have been made is because the object was to lay there hands on a medium/long range aircraft and pack with explosives and use as a weapon.

Anyway I prefer the LOST theory and they are all on some island fighting off smoke monsters

 

[Haitch]

Not sure where I read it but didn't some of the new information indicate it went quite a way up to make the turn, higher than the recommend

The Wall Street Journal, citing the Malaysian military, said the plane rose to 45,000 feet above the approved altitude for a 777 but then descended rapidly to 23,000 feet, below normal cruising altitude.

 

[hoopdriver]

All the way to North Korea

Were you thinking it was going all the way around the globe to get there?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

The Wall Street Journal, citing the Malaysian military, said the plane rose to 45,000 feet above the approved altitude for a 777 but then descended rapidly to 23,000 feet, below normal cruising altitude.

which might suggest some sort of struggle on the flight deck...