Malaysian Flight 370

[tvieno 0]

It just came across the news that speculation is leaning towards the pilots because they found an elaborate simulator!!!!Straws and sadness for the family.

God, I hope they don't find out the pilot also drank coffee or tea because that might have influenced him as well.

 

The fact the pilot, who most likely has access to manuals and other documents and parts of the plane than the simming public does, practiced on how to fly the plane at home is just ludicrous. I suppose they are looking into his RC plane hobby as well. I hope he doesn't have an RC B777 too. Imagine if they were bank robbers and they found toy guns at the home.

 

If the pilot or pilots were complicit in the hijacking, it gives FS a lot more 'credit' than it desrerves. While I don't own any PMDG product, but for Pete's sake, it's an addon for a game. Yes, FS is a game, I said it. When it was sold in stores, it was with the entertainment software not the educational software.

 

The fact that the investigators took laptops et al, just says they are exploring all avenues. And are probably looking for emails and other communique as an initial incentive not some .pln file.

 

I understand why we here in the the FS community, and not just at Avsim, have a huge interest in this incident as with all incidents, but I am amazed at the credit the simulator is given.

 

Personally, knowing how nothing is ever said but conjecture and speculation until the investigation is complete, both by the media and the water cooler gossip crowd, I always steer clear of the news until it is over with because all said it doesn't matter until it's over.

 

And I put my soap box over there for the next guy.

[tf51d 284]

To be a modern day Amilia Earhart or the Hunt for Red October....

 

Evade all that modern equipment and never be seen ever again. Who knows how disgruntled people get this day and age and it is amazing what some people are capable of.

I hate to say it this way, but at this point, I sort of hope it was something like this. The other thought that it may have been taken to some remote site,  and planned to be used in some kind of 9/11 style attack by terrorists is just too horrifying to think about.

[xplanery 250]

It just came across the news that speculation is leaning towards the pilots because they found an elaborate simulator!!!! Straws and sadness for the family.

 

Nothing new there, it was known all the way from the start that the captain is FS enthusiast.

 

That alone should mean absolutely nothing, if you are a professional pilot you already have all the knowledge necessary to make your plane fly absolutely anywhere within fuel available, you don't need a simulator to train for that. 

 

To me it seems like the captain was simply a real aviation enthusiast, if anything having a sim would suggest he took his job very seriously & truly loved flying. 

 

 

 

and planned to be used in some kind of 9/11 style attack by terrorists is just too horrifying to think about.

 

If that was the case I'm sure they would have done the attack already, waiting would only increase risk of getting caught. 

 

Really landing a plane somewhere would most likely require some government co-operation... If such a group simply wanted to use an aircraft as a weapon why would they bother to hijack one? They could just buy some old aircraft for that purpose, old jetliners are surprisingly cheap. 

[KevinAu 441]

But what does the media and the masses know? If you have a flightsim at home, you're a freak and immediately suspicious. So you all better hide your addons and setups.

[tf51d 284]

 

 

If that was the case I'm sure they would have done the attack already, waiting would only increase risk of getting caught.



Really landing a plane somewhere would most likely require some government co-operation... If such a group simply wanted to use an aircraft as a weapon why would they bother to hijack one? They could just buy some old aircraft for that purpose.

 

I sure hope you are right, but as to why they would hijack a plane like this? One it's bigger, which would cause more destruction, and with the range of this plane, it can strike virtually anywhere in a 8000+nm Radius, from it's current location. (If they also have a fuel supply), and with a lighter payload probably a much wider radius.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

 

 

'Twould be interesting to know if the flight deck ordered any extra fuel prior to the flight plan departure for Beijing.

 

That was one of my questions as well.  According to this newspaper blog,...

 

The plane did not take off with any additional fuel on board, other than what would be needed for a normal flight.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-live-3248148#ixzz2w80bza2u
 

Other facts mentioned are interesting as well...

• It was confirmed police have searched the homes of the pilot and co-pilot - removing a flight simulator from the pilot's house - but the two men did not ask to fly together on flight MH370.

• It is possible that the last satellite signal received from the plane was sent when the plane was on the ground.

• The authorities are asked if they will search, "one-by-one", the 600+ sites that have been identified as possible landing sites for the plane.

 

[FLEX1978 373]

Wow, this place is turning into PPRune R&N...

[rquick 19]

I wouldn't doubt some knee-jerk reaction from a politician somewhere to go after consumer simulation products of real commercial airliners. Someone may determine it is too realistic. I worry that it could influence future decisions by Boeing to support simulation products that has yielded some wonderful products such as the PMDG 777. It always seems that after a tragedy, some benign part of normal life needs to be curtailed to make a 'statement'.

[IAF747 8]

I don't think that there will be a ban on flight simulation games. The truth is that a person can learn to fly any number of ways, in the RW as much as the PC world. Level D sims and such are out there for those who want to pay the money to fly them. And lesser full-on sims as well, but not full-motion.

 

Truth is, if a person wants to do wrong, it's pretty hard to prevent it. You can try, you can gather intelligence, network, and so on, but if the individual is nutso, he or she can present problems, and not just with aircraft piracy.

 

Defending a nation, or even just a simple city or town is no can of corn these days. My hat is off to those men and women who bust their tails on a daily basis so that we can live our lives in peace and safety. Our fine military, and our great law enforcement teams on the civilian side. Great job to one and all, and sincere thanks and appreciation!

Great post Robert.

 

Yes, I agree that I don't think there will be a ban either. The US can't (and shouldn't in my opinion) ban guns, so I doubt there will be a case for this unless it is in North Korea......

 

I doubt the pilot is responsible here. I could be wrong though as their attitude at letting ladies in the cockpit dring flight shows their disrespect for the rules and law.

 

There are a few agendas at play here and Malaysia is highly politically charged with internal affairs over the last decade.

 

The fact that the Malayian Government wouldn't release information last week on the flight path known is suspious in itself. Why would it do this when other countries have committed resources to finding the airliner.

 

I think the one possibility out of all the posible expanations of where MH370 is and how it got there that hasn't been looked at yet is the Malaysian Government.

 

It is well known that the Government of Malaysia is not truthful. To me it sounds like the Opposition Leader was deliberately put in jail. Not getting into the politics, but that is one perspective I have been seriously thinking is a possibility in all this.

 

The Malaysian Goverment in my opinion has mislead not only the media but foreign powers who have readily offered assistance in finding the 777.

[IUBrian 151]

I wouldn't doubt some knee-jerk reaction from a politician somewhere to go after consumer simulation products of real commercial airliners. Someone may determine it is too realistic.

That was my concern if it was determined to be someone other than the pilots; it's much less of a concern if it was the pilots.

 

As for why, if it was suicide, would the pilot not simply fly it into the sea, you're attempting to assign a rational decision to a personal acting irrationally, but there actually is a perfectly logical and obvious reason why a pilot committing suicide might want to disguise it - if he had named a beneficiary in a life insurance policy.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

 

 

I wouldn't doubt some knee-jerk reaction from a politician somewhere to go after consumer simulation products of real commercial airliners. Someone may determine it is too realistic. I worry that it could influence future decisions by Boeing to support simulation products that has yielded some wonderful products such as the PMDG 777. It always seems that after a tragedy, some benign part of normal life needs to be curtailed to make a 'statement'.

 

Well, it's possible...but, given that he was a real-world 777 pilot anyway, I think it's pretty unlikely that the sim played into this much.  More likely some psychological event played a bigger role and they should look into that.  Also, there are some benefits to sims.  It probably boils down to the winds when the public outrage and finger pointing that will and is happening.  But, I have my doubts as to how much they end up going after sims.

[IAF747 8]

 

That was one of my questions as well. According to this newspaper blog,...

 

The plane did not take off with any additional fuel on board, other than what would be needed for a normal flight.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-live-3248148#ixzz2w80bza2u

Other facts mentioned are interesting as well...

• It was confirmed police have searched the homes of the pilot and co-pilot - removing a flight simulator from the pilot's house - but the two men did not ask to fly together on flight MH370.

• It is possible that the last satellite signal received from the plane was sent when the plane was on the ground.

• The authorities are asked if they will search, "one-by-one", the 600+ sites that have been identified as possible landing sites for the plane.

 

Great post Greg.

 

I'm sure the Spy Agencies of the super powers would be aware of this by now. I would have checked every possible land site by now. But saying this, hangars and camouflage may make it a somewhat difficult task.

 

I would also wonder if a shorter runway or 'hidden runway' could have been used to totally evade S&R and the signals intelligence directorates of world Super Powers.

 

North Korea apparently has a runway in a mountain for fighter aircraft.

 

Iran I would say might be similar since they are mutual friends.

 

Anything could be possible.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

One thing occurred to me.  They are saying that the airplane flew for nearly 7 hours now.  If he was flying for 7 hours that means he was, almost certainly, at high altitude because fuel consumption would stink down low.

 

BTW, here's a 'black' box...

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BixHU3yIMAAUDKP.jpg:large

[CrewF16 26]

 

Nothing new there, it was known all the way from the start that the captain is FS enthusiast.

 

That alone should mean absolutely nothing, if you are a professional pilot you already have all the knowledge necessary to make your plane fly absolutely anywhere within fuel available, you don't need a simulator to train for that.

 

To me it seems like the captain was simply a real aviation enthusiast, if anything having a sim would suggest he took his job very seriously & truly loved flying.

 

I think you misunderstood my post. I was aware of his status in the community. I was simply pointing out that the media was linking the fact that he had an elaborate flight sim to something possibly bad that could cause him to be part of this tragedy. "Grabbing at straws and feeling bad for his family".

[hayser75 1]

Now the news is saying they are looking more into the pilots and looking at the captains flight simulator.  Apparently he had quite a nice home cockpit with FSX.  I'd be real curious to see his .PLN files.  I plotted the waypoints they released of the 777 into skyvector the other day, I wonder if there is a match....