Stolen passports on Malaysian flight

[seven]

Thailand radar may have picked up missing Malaysia jet, but military said nothing The already bizarre saga of vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went farther down the rabbit hole Tuesday. Thai officials say they didn't report a radar blip because Malaysia never asked; Chinese relatives are threatening a hunger strike.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/thailand-detected-missing-malaysia-jet-didn-article-1.1725721#ixzz2wMF04RJF

[ArchieBunker]

Just heard about the Thai "believing" they picked up MH 370 on its radar.  They didnt tell anyone because nobody asked??  Come on how stupid is that?  Have they turned over the data to a competent body to verify if it was, indeed, MH 370?  I am so skeptical of any info coming from this abortion of an "investigation".  I am convinced that the Malaysians would withhold anything that it found to be embarassing.  Its a crying shame it really is.

 

I dont think they will EVER find  out what happened.  Its 10 days + and they dont even know where to look!!!

 

In the case of Air France 447, they had a pretty good idea where to look as they found debris quickly.  Even then, it took them two years to find what they needed to find in order to find out what happened.

[seven]

Just heard about the Thai "believing" they picked up MH 370 on its radar.  They didnt tell anyone because nobody asked??  Come on how stupid is that?  

Thais being on top of things as usual.

[pacman]

It's all settled, the plane has gone down in the Indian Ocean. This fits completely with the scenario of a fire on board that has caused everyone to lose consciousness. And the news that the plane was carrying a load of Lithium batteries which are notorious for igniting only adds "fuel to the flames"...    pun intended, bad taste not intended.

 

This morning I read that *experts* say the loss of the plane into the ocean helps prove that it was pilot suicide. I do not understand how they arrive at that conclusion unless they know something they are not saying. We still haven't been offered an explanation for why the pilot's family moved out of the family home the day before the flight took off. Or if we have I missed it.

[seven]

It's all settled, the plane has gone down in the Indian Ocean.

 

 

 why the pilot's family moved out of the family home the day before the flight took off. Or if we have I missed it.

Yes, west of Perth.

I didn't know that about the family.

[SiamSam]

This tragedy should cause the authorities to review their policy on non access to the cockpit. Since 9-11 the cockpit entry is like Fort Knox. I get it but once a rogue pilot goes crazy no one can get in there. This is stupid. Do flight attendants have code key access into the cockpit? If not, they should. If so, can the crew override that access? Does anyone know? 

[JaiDee]

I'd also like to know......does anyone ever believe they will find the wreckage?

 

  It's probably 5000- 10,000 feet down, I know we have advanced sonar technology these days and all that,  but still seems unlikely. And we also may never know why it crashed in the first place.

 

Hard to believe something like this can happen in 2014.

[ArchieBunker]

It's all settled, the plane has gone down in the Indian Ocean. This fits completely with the scenario of a fire on board that has caused everyone to lose consciousness. And the news that the plane was carrying a load of Lithium batteries which are notorious for igniting only adds "fuel to the flames"...    pun intended, bad taste not intended.

 

This morning I read that *experts* say the loss of the plane into the ocean helps prove that it was pilot suicide. I do not understand how they arrive at that conclusion unless they know something they are not saying. We still haven't been offered an explanation for why the pilot's family moved out of the family home the day before the flight took off. Or if we have I missed it.

 

 

Theres NO WAY the aircraft will continue to fly on for HOURS if there were a fire.  It does point to something nefarious happening due to the actions of the crew.  There really is no plausible explanation for turning off the transponders unless it was for something sinister.

[ArchieBunker]

This tragedy should cause the authorities to review their policy on non access to the cockpit. Since 9-11 the cockpit entry is like Fort Knox. I get it but once a rogue pilot goes crazy no one can get in there. This is stupid. Do flight attendants have code key access into the cockpit? If not, they should. If so, can the crew override that access? Does anyone know? 

 

Dont know about Malaysian Airlines but in the USA, flight attendants do have the access code to the cockpit keypads.  There is an override in case the pilots are incapacitated.  Thats all I am goin to say about that.  Most if not all airlines in the USA have a "two person cockpit" rule.  Whenever a pilot comes out to a toilet break, you will see a flight attendant replace him/her. 

 

There is a very simple reason for this.  In the event of an attempted breach of cockpit while a pilot is in the toilet, that door will NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be reopened.  Not even for a pilot.  The procedure is to get the aircraft on the ground DOUBLE ASAP!!!  The reason they want two people in the cockpit is to go thru the checklists.  Pilots do most everything via a checklist.  Thats why.

 

Now, there is a nasty crash axe in the cockpit that could have been used to incapacitate one pilot in case only one of them had the idea of taking over the aircraft.  Food for thought....

[pacman]

Theres NO WAY the aircraft will continue to fly on for HOURS if there were a fire.  It does point to something nefarious happening due to the actions of the crew.  There really is no plausible explanation for turning off the transponders unless it was for something sinister.

 

Yes, good point about the transponder but if someone was in control, what earthly reason could they have to just fly on until they ran out of fuel? If suicide was the reason, they could have crashed the plane long before then. I know we can't understand the workings of the pilot's mind but it's almost as if they (whoever "they" were) were interrupted before they could complete their task.

 

By the way Arch, I was talking to my pilot mate & asked him about the oxygen bottles again. He claimed he never said they could have been empty, there is one well known case where they had been filled with nitrogen rather than oxygen but the bottles are checked as part of the pre-flight check list. I am sure he said they could be out of gas but I wasn't going to argue with him. He did say there have been cases where the valve was turned off but they are all trained to check that. And I never knew there's only enough O2 for everyone to breath for about 20 minutes. Enough time for the plane to get to a low altitude where there is air.

 

The presence of the lithium batteries in the hold does make for some interesting possibilities. They are a very real danger of them starting a fire & there is a call for them to be banned from cargo holds. 

[ArchieBunker]

Just because it were a suicide (if it were) doesnt mean they would crash it ASAP.  The highest profile pilot suicide was Egypt Air in 1999 I think it was.  He did it over the Atlantic Ocean.  The Egyptians put a lot of pressure on the American investigators NOT to rule it a pilot suicide.  In fact, the Egyptians STILL call that a mechanical accident.

 

If it were a pilot suicide, perhaps they didnt wish to be found for whatever reason..........

 

They still dont know for how long the aircraft actually flew.  I think they are just guessing at this point.  They had an idea where Air France 447 crashed and they narrowed it down.  It took them two years to find the black boxes.  It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  In this case they have very little idea of even where the freaking haystack is!!!!!

[pacman]

We still haven't been offered an explanation for why the pilot's family moved out of the family home the day before the flight took off. Or if we have I missed it.

 

 

I didn't know that about the family.

 

Now we're starting to get somewhere, it seems the pilot's marriage was in trouble & the wife moved out taking the children. And the pilot was seeing another woman & that was ending too. He's reported by a friend to have been in no fit state to be taking the controls of an aeroplane. Any plane, not just a 777 full of passengers. The Malaysian government will naturally deny there was any such problem.

 

They've just lost a plane & all the passengers, now it's a case of saving the airline's reputation.

[pacman]

Oh lovely! Now we have a conspiracy theory explaining the crash of MH370. It all revolves around the US base at Diego Garcia which surely must have picked up the plane on their radar. The theory postulates that the pilot was planning on flying the 777 into the US aircraft carrier based there. 

 

This would account for there being no word from Diego Garcia confirming or denying they ever spotted the plane. Once it breached their air space with no transmission of its identity they would have shot it down. 

 

Who knows, it might have happened. I don't believe it one way or the other, what does excite me is the thought of JaiDee's head exploding at the idea of another conspiracy theory concerning the US government....        

[pacman]

A follow up to the theory I speculated on above. There are 15 ships that have gone all over the search area for the past month. There has not been one skerrick of wreckage found. Not a scintilla of fuselage or baggage or anything that floats from the plane. There have also been 100's of ships, yachts, fishing boats, etc that have criss crossed the entire area  -  NOTHING!

 

If they find the wreck at the bottom of the search area then there is no cover-up. If it is never found then theory about Diego Garcia looks very good. 

 

And if the alleged clean-up by the US navy missed something & wreckage is picked up by a passing boat somewhere near Diego Garcia then all hell will break loose.

 

Three weeks ago I didn't believe it, today I am not so sure. 

[pacman]

The intensive search is being discontinued. After combing the sea bottom with remote controlled submarines there's nothing there.

 

A mining company claims to have found wreckage in the Bay of Bengal. Before their claim can be verified there are counter claims that they must be wrong. I have no idea what they have found but is it not odd that efforts to discredit this claim are so strong so quickly after their announcement?

 

And yes, I do believe the pilot's intention was never just to fly the plane off into the ocean until it ran out of fuel. Diego Garcia as a destination is making more & more sense. In fact it is the only place a Muslim terrorist could do any harm to the *enemy*.

 

And Obama's trip to Malaysia? Does anyone know if that was announced a long time ago or was it a sudden inclusion to his itinerary? I find it a strange coincidence that the US President deemed it necessary to drop in on Kuala Lumpur so soon after this tragedy. 

 

Could it have been one of those conversations where the President says we know you know what happened but if you don't mention it we'll make some generous accommodation for Malaysia. I will wait for some big announcement which will indicate Malaysia has been placated.

[pdogg]

The Thai General who heads Immigration said that this incident is one of the main drivers of the tightened Immigration policy which clamps down on visa runs.

[mardhi]

The Thai General who heads Immigration said that this incident is one of the main drivers of the tightened Immigration policy which clamps down on visa runs.

 

The impression I am getting is that not only were the stolen used on that flight, that they had left Thailand and been stamped out by an immigration officer.   Otherwise, why would Immigration be giving this so much attention.   So it was probably done either by someone actually using it and walking through (thus should have a photo of the person), or it got stamped and no photo. In which case, they will be trying to pick off a visa run outfit who may have slipped those dodgy passports in with another dozen genuine runners.      Sounds like they are aware of some corruption somewhere and are trying to lock the doors to prevent it happening again.   That may explain why they are looking at fingerprinting each arrival and departing passenger.   The use of fingerprints more leans toward someone walked through but it was not the actual passport holder (who had reported it stolen, but could equally have sold it).   

[pacman]

An interesting comment by Malaysia's Minister of Defence & acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein while being interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission's program 4 Corners last night. When asked why weren't air force jets scrambled to intercept an unidentified plane flying over Malaysian airspace which was actually MAS flight MH370, he replied: "Why would we do that? We are not at war with anyone, it was not posing any threat, we don't shoot down every plane we can't identify....  <pause>....     BUT AMERICA DOES!"

 

There was nothing in the questions referring to America yet he felt the need to add his comment as an after thought. I wonder if he let his political mask slip for a moment to tell us what he really thinks? It was a most telling moment & the first sign I have seen from the Malaysians of any attempt to cast suspicion further afield.

[Torurot]

No, the U.S. REALLY has "recently" been putting pressure on Malaysia on quite a few fronts. A popular search enginge will give you much more.

This flight is the gift/mystery that keeps on giving. A new variation every few days.

[Torurot]

This is beyond beleievable. Initially it was a new variation on the story everyday, and as time has gone on the time between variation has draw out. Next... abduction by aliens?

U.S. Navy official says 'pings' unlikely from missing Malaysia jet: CNN

May 28th 2014 10:20PM

(Reuters) - A U.S. Navy official said four acoustic pings at the center of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in March, are no longer believed to be from the aircraft's black boxes, according to a report by CNN.

Australian search authorities narrowed the search for the missing jet last month after picking up a series of pings near where analysis of satellite data put the last location of the Boeing 777, some 1,600 km off Australia's northwest coast.

CNN said authorities now almost universally believe the pings did not come from the onboard data or cockpit voice recorders, but instead came from some other man-made source unrelated to the jetliner that disappeared on March 8, according to Michael Dean, the U.S. Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering.

"Our best theory at this point is that (the pings were) likely some sound produced by the ship ... or within the electronics of the Towed Pinger Locator," Dean said.

The discovery of the pings on April 5 and 8 was hailed as a significant breakthrough but no further promising signals were heard before the expiry of the batteries on the black boxes' locator beacons.

A scan of the area around the pings with an unnamed submarine failed to find any sign of wreckage and no debris linked to the plane has ever been picked up despite the most extensive and expensive search effort in aviation history.

Australian authorities leading the search did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MH370 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished on March 8. Authorities have not ruled out mechanical problems as a cause but say the evidence, including the loss of communications, suggests it was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometers from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

[strocube]

I realize you guys will think this woo, woo nonsense, but of everything I've read, to me, this guy's take on what happened to that plane seems about as good an explanation as we're ever gonna get.

There is indeed something very odd happening. The thing wreaks of psy-ops.

http://thevicarslamp.blogspot.com/2014/03/wheres-plane.html?m=1

[pacman]

I realize you guys will think this woo, woo nonsense, 

 

I am not dismissive of psychics, I have seen cases where they knew things impossible to know. I neither embrace this vision nor reject it. It's no more than another opinion until more proof comes available.

 

I can't help but wonder if the writer hasn't read of the same theory I mentioned on the previous page. We both have MH370 flying to Diego Garcia, in my post I wrote that the flight was shot down when it breached the base's airspace, this person has a vision of it landing at Diego Garcia. I cannot imagine a plane with all its identifying communications switched off would be allowed to continue unhindered to the landing strip.

 

The search received new impetus yesterday when it was announced that there were no pings from the black box & the search to date has been in the wrong place. As I predicted, they weren't going to find the plane, there has been a cover-up from the start. The authorities are suggesting the pings emanated from their own sonar equipment. I find that comment extraordinary. Maybe they were from the British submarine that was diverted to the search zone in the days after it was decided where to look. It is strange that not another thing has been heard about that sub, did it arrive? Did it help search? Or was it asked to go there & create some undersea confusion to keep hopes up?

 

I wonder why we have heard nothing more from those in the Maldives at the time who reported seeing a low flying jet airliner heading in a westerly direction. If either of the above stories are correct, that would fit exactly with the theory that the pilot was heading to Diego Garcia. And if the psychic *saw* the plane there, maybe he'll have another vision & see it being shot down. Which is what happened in my opinion. And that of many others who are all trying to make sense of why the plane was flown off course in the first place. 

 

The pilot intended to crash it into the US aircraft carrier that is permanently based there. Only that scenario makes sense, the pilot was committing jihad & the US were defending their interests. Stories of somebody taking the controls & veering deliberately off-course simply to crash the plane defy logic, what's the point? No one sacrifices that many lives of innocent people without good cause. 

 

All these red herrings pointing to exactly that scenario are only designed to confuse. Plus I can't get the vision of Hishammuddin Hussein out of my head when during the TV interview I wrote about in post 46 above when he interrupted himself when he said "we don't shoot down unidentified planes  .....   BUT AMERICA DOES!"  

 

I watched with a distinct feeling I had just seen & heard the real reason from the "horse's mouth". He wasn't asked about it, his face didn't belie his official stance, it was a totally impromptu outburst from someone who must know what happened. 

[Torurot]

Yet another wildcard. There is another of these acoustic Buoys about to pulled up. Apparently they are SO SENSITIVE that they record INDIVIDUAL Icebergs breaking off the Ice shelf in AntarcticaSome useful pictures and graphics here https://www.flickr.com/photos/106331196@N07/sets/72157644591711570/

Curtin researchers in search for acoustic evidence of MH370http://news.curtin.edu.au/media-releases/curtin-researchers-search-acoustic-evidence-mh370/Wednesday 4 June 2014Curtin University researchers have been examining a low-frequency underwater sound signal that could have resulted from Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.The signal, which was picked up by underwater sound recorders off Rottnest Island just after 1:30 am UTC on the 8th March, could have resulted from Flight MH370 crashing into the Indian Ocean but could also have originated from a natural event, such as a small earth tremor.However, there are large uncertainties in the estimate and it appears it is not compatible with the satellite ‘handshake’ data transmitted from the aircraft, which is currently considered the most reliable source of information.Scientists from Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology along with colleagues from the United Nations’ Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) and Geoscience Australia have been involved in the search for sounds that might help with search efforts.Dr Alec Duncan, Senior Research Fellow and part of Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology team, explained that a passive acoustic observatory 40 kilometres west of Rottnest Island that forms part of the Commonwealth-funded Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) had provided the potential lead.“Soon after the aircraft disappeared, scientists at CTBTO analysed data from their underwater listening stations south-west of Cape Leeuwin and in the northern Indian Ocean. They did not turn up anything of interest,” Dr Duncan said.“But when the MH370 search area was moved to the southern Indian Ocean, scientists from Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology decided to recover the IMOS acoustic recorders located west of Rottnest Island.“Data from one of the IMOS recorders showed a clear acoustic signal at a time that was reasonably consistent with other information relating to the disappearance of MH370.“The crash of a large aircraft in the ocean would be a high energy event and expected to generate intense underwater sounds.”Dr Duncan said the signal could also have been due to natural causes – such as a small earth tremor – but the timing made it of interest in the search for MH370.“It has since been matched with a signal picked up by CTBTO’s station south-west of CapeLeeuwin.“A very careful re-check of data from that station showed a signal, almost buried in the background noise but consistent with what was recorded on the IMOS recorder off Rottnest,” Dr Duncan said.“The CTBTO station receives a lot of sound from the Southern Ocean and Antarctic coastline, which is why the signal showed up more noticeably on the Rottnest recorder.“Using the three hydrophones from the Cape Leeuwin station, it was possible to get a precise bearing that showed the signal came from the north-west.“Comparing the arrival time of the signal at the IMOS recorder with the time of its arrival at the Cape Leeuwin station, it was possible for Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology team to come up with an approximate distance to the source of the sound along this north-west bearing.Dr Duncan said Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology team would continue to work with search authorities.“Although we have now completed our analysis of these signals, Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology still has several recorders deployed that could conceivably have picked up signals relating to MH370.“Due to various factors, we consider it very unlikely that they would have done so and have therefore not recovered them to date. We will, however, be carefully analysing their recordings when they are recovered in due course,” Dr Duncan said. PacMan, I see Dieago Garcia on that track

Here is oneMap showing estimated uncertainty region (yellow polygon) for the source of the signals shown in Fig. 1. Magenta points and text show the locations of the various recording stations. RCS is the CMST recorder west of Rottnest Island, HA01 is CTBTO station off Cape Leeuwin, and HA08S is the southern CTBTO BIOT/Chagos Archipelago array. The fix was calculated using data received at RCS and HA01. The signal was not received at HA08S which could be due to it being blocked by shallow water to the north or northwest of this station or poor coupling of the signal into the Deep Sound Channel due to an unfavourable seabed slope.

[Torurot]

and so it continues

Kiwi loses job after MH370 email

LAURA WALTERS Last updated 05:00 08/06/2014

The Kiwi who spotted what may have been the burning missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 off the coast of Vietnam was sacked from his position on an oil rig after reporting the incident.

Mike McKay was working on the Songa Mercur oil rig off the Vietnamese coast in March when the Boeing 777 jet with 239 passengers and crew went missing.

McKay sent an email to his employers after he saw what he believed to be a burning plane, which was leaked to the media.

Following the publication of his email, name and place of work, the rig operator, Idemitsu, and McKay's contractor and rig owner, Songa Offshore, were inundated with inquiries that blocked their communications, McKay said.

"This became intolerable for them and I was removed from the rig and not invited back."

McKay said he was paid up until the end of his hitch, or work period, but released from the rig five days early.

The subcontractor that he was working under, M-I Swaco, said McKay was being released early as it had a local-salary engineer to take his place, he said. "Contracts meant little in the oil field," McKay said. "The oil patch is a rough, unforgiving game."

The drilling fluids consultant has worked mostly in Southeast Asia for the past 35 years and in Vietnam waters almost continuously since 2008. He is now back in New Zealand and is waiting for a new contract.

McKay saw what he believed to be a burning plane at high altitude, which appeared to be in one piece. "I believe I saw the Malaysian Airlines plane come down. The timing is right."

In his email he described his exact location on the oil rig, the compass bearing of where the plane was in relation to the rig, the approximate distance of the plane from the rig, the surface current and wind direction. The plane was off the normal flight path, he said, explaining he knew that because "we see the contrails every day".

He signed off the email with "good luck" followed by his full name and New Zealand passport number.

Vietnamese officials interviewed McKay in Vung Tau and were going to act on his sighting but the search moved to the Andaman Sea two days after the interview, McKay said. But neither the Malaysian nor Australian search teams had been in touch, he said.

McKay also made a statement to New Zealand Police for Interpol on his return home.

Last week another person, a woman sailing between India and Thailand in early March, came forward and told Australian authorities she may have seen the missing airliner on fire on the same day as McKay, but in a different location. Katherine Tee, 41, was on night watch on the deck of her yacht in early March when she claims she saw a plane surrounded by bright orange lights and with a tail of black smoke pass above her.

She only recently reported her sighting to the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre in Australia because she said she and her husband were not talking and she did not think anyone else would believe her.

McKay said his sighting was over the South China Sea, which would place it around 2000 kilometres away from Tee's sighting. He was unsure if MH370 could have flown that far: "How far can a burning aeroplane fly?"

The ongoing search for the missing airliner raised a lot of unanswered questions, he said. "The investigators do not inspire trust."

Investigators searching for MH370 have now ruled out an area in the Southern Indian Ocean where acoustic signals were detected, after an unmanned submersible found no trace of the airliner, the Australian agency co-ordinating the hunt said last month.

The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau is calling for tenders for vessels and sonar equipment to continue the hunt, but the new commercial arm of the search would not start for another couple of months and could take up to a year.

Last week Wellington-based space scientist and physicist Duncan Steel told news agency Bernama the search should be extended thousands of kilometres north to a Kyrgyzstan valley where a cloud of smoke was seen at about the time the plane could have crashed. Steel, who works with Nasa, said consideration should be given to the northern corridor of the plane's possible flight path.

[pacman]

PacMan, I see Dieago Garcia on that track

 

Of course it's on that track because that's where it was flying!

 

I see the relatives of those lost on the flight are trying to raise five million dollars to offer it as an incentive for someone to break their silence. They want to flush out a whistle blower who knows what happened. I think that's the cleverest move anyone has come up with yet. Among the men who went out to clean up the wreckage (and someone has because NOTHING has been found anywhere) there would be a few who would take the money. 

 

If they're smart they'll do it by proxy because there are powerful forces lined up against anyone who speaks out. Just when you think the story can't get any more interesting, they come up with the idea of a reward to buy the truth. I can't wait to see how this develops.