One would think that happened on about day two of this.

One would like to think.

No, it wouldn't work like that.

 

When the transponder's mode 3 is on, the transponder sends a short data burst reply every time it is interrogated by the ATC radar beam.  The idea is that, rather than just immediately ceasing to reply when the crew turns the transponder off in flight, for a few minutes after being selected off, it continues to reply, but using a specific mode 3 code that tells the ATC radar that mode 3 has been intentionally turned off by the crew.  Even if it were "stuck on" it would just be responding to the radar interrogation the same as if mode 3 were turned on...not really a problem.

 

Why wouldn't the pilot just pull the fuse to shut it off?

I'm assuming it's possible to manually depressurize the passenger cabin; as a previous author suggested, that, coupled with the climb to 45,000 feet (and the limited O2 supply) would take care of the passengers.

 

I lean towards the crazed pilot or co-pilot scenario, which of course has precedent, and I think it's more likely than a cockpit incursion by a passenger. Also, if the plane's disappearance is the result of bizzarely motivated pilots, as opposed to religiously or politically motivated hijackers, it would "explain" the inexplicable actions and bizarre flight plan, as well as the lack of credit claimed by any orginization.

 

As far as capturing the plane for the purpose of using it as a weapon, while possible, it seems that if you're trying to create panic and mass casualties - well, you already have a planeload of people you can spectacularly kill. Secretly stealing a 777, landing it, hiding it, and launching it??? Seems to be a pretty complicated plan with a high chance of failure. Plus, while there may be any number of runways a 777 could land and take off from, how many could it take off from with a full load, as you would if you're going to use it as a flying bomb?

 

I'd offer an alternative evil theory, if you're going to go the terrorism "master plan" route. I think the challenge for someone to reliably commandeer an airliner, other than the pilot, is breaching the cockpit. IF they'd figured out a way to do that, and their objective is spectacular mass casualties, they might want a "dry run" to see if they could effectively get into the cockpit. They'd want to kill the passengers to have a "news black-out." They may want to see if they could effectively navigate the plane without detection, and then ditch it where it would be difficult to find (assuming the lack of ability to locate the plane easily, which would be one of the things the terrorists would want to "test" by observing how quickly the wreckage could be located, as well as the specificity and precision of the electronic monitoring they can't disable, which we all now know.)

 

If terrorists had managed to figure out a way to reliably get into the cockpit, doing so in a coordinated fashion, and crashing multiple planes simultaneously, would be a more effective "terror" weapon than attempting to commandeer a single plane - if you've got the "keys to the kingdom," why waste that ability on a single plane? If that was your "master plan," the fact this flight has gone missing is evidence you can achieve it. So you'd stay quiet and not take credit until you can execute your plan.

 

At the end of the day, however, I think this unlikely - I think the simplest explanation, which is likely true, is that the people (or person) who had control of the plane at the beginning had control at the end, and the same bizarre motivations that led him to take these actions make trying to discern a rationale explanation for the plane's movements especially challenging.

Just an FYI... We have 417 registered users from Malaysia in our membership. It would be interesting to know what ISP's are available in the two areas where the Pilot and Copilot lived. We could possibly identify a group of users that are in those areas...

Posted to The Telegraph today...

 

An al-Qaeda supergrass told a court last week that four to five Malaysian men had been planning to take control of a plane, using a bomb hidden in a shoe to blow open the cockpit door.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10700652/Malaysia-Airline-MH370-911-style-terror-allegations-resurface-in-case-of-lost-plane.html

 

EDIT:  I didn't know this but a 'supergrass' is an informant.

Reports that the captain was a flight sim enthusiast. Wonder if he was on AVSIM or VATSIM.

Wouldn't a bomb powerful enough to blast open the door create a pressure wave that would blow up the whole plane?

 

And if they did get in then the weakest link continues to be the cock pit door and thats going to need to be addressed again

Interesting story, although since preliminary information (the accuracy of which is admittedly unknown) suggests that the aircraft's FMC was reprogrammed, I would think a pilot controlling the plane would have had the ability to actually navigate it towards the vicinity of a target, as opposed to 5 to 7 hours flying to nowhere...even the 9/11 hijackers could obviously do this.

Reports that the captain was a flight sim enthusiast. Wonder if he was on AVSIM or VATSIM.

 

My prayers are foremost for the passengers and their families. Given that, my next worst fear, which is now a week old, is that something about this will do damage to our flight sim community.  During the Avsim outage I was literally cast out of another retail oriented flight sim site for expressing that concern on a forum there. But it is a real concern.  I hope that when this all reconciles........

 

When my concern first arose, I was concerned due to the timing of both events that Avsim might have been sabotaged, and that it was all related.  Very relieved to know the Avsim outage was an event of its own.

Dear lord...and there's this too...

 

U.S. intelligence officials are leaning toward the theory that "those in the cockpit" -- the pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 -- were deliberately responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the commercial jetliner, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the latest thinking told CNN on Saturday.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

It still amounts to nothing more than speculation. We will not know until it is found. I have as much chance flipping a coin and coming up with a theory.

 

Sent from my Mobile thing

I doubt it was pilot or co-pilot suicide. I mean if it was why would he turn the plane a head west when he could of just put the plan in a nose dive and crash it in the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam?

 

I believe it was a hijacking gone wrong.

The primary concern I had for the flight sim community was IF the plane was hijacked by someone who acquired knowledge from a commercially produced add-on.

 

For example, I read an opinion that if the FMC had been programmed, that indicated it MUST have been flown by a professional pilot - the average person would not have been able to do that. My thought was, "Well, I'd never claim to be a professional pilot, but I've programmed a simulated airliner FMC a hundred times; I'd suspect that an actual airliner's FMC might be slightly different, but unless our add-on manufacturers deliberately make the simulated FMC unrealistic, then I might be able to program a real FMC." Then I thought, "I know PMDG, for example, deliberately (and logically) conceals some info, in particular related to cockpit entry, for security reasons. It would be a shame if someone using readily available software made for entertainment purposes put the knowledge to malicious use and there was an overreaction of attempting to limit the realism of our add-ons going forward."

 

As for it being speculation, I'd say using deductive reasoning, you can limit the possibilities to a little better than a coin flip. I don't think anyone claims to know what happened, but so far it's one of the most interesting aircraft disappearances since maybe Flight 19. Given the incredible depth of collective knowledge possessed by the members of this community, I often find the discussions here regarding rw aircraft incidents to be not only extremely interesting and informative, but also more effective in developing accurate theories regarding "what happened" than anything I read in "legitimate" media.

I doubt it was pilot or co-pilot suicide. I mean if it was why would he turn the plane a head west when he could of just put the plan in a nose dive and crash it in the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam?

 

A possibility is someone was trying to make a modern 777 disappear. We have had pilot suicide in the past but nothing like this. People are attracted to great mysteries and if someone could make a 777 disappear then that one will be a great mystery with years of speculation, or until it could be found. 

 

It is possible it was soft landed far out in the Indian Ocean with very little debris and sank to the bottom. If that is the case it could take a very long time to find it, or possibly never. It is possible that this is what somebody wanted to have happen.

 

My view is I don't know what happened but this day in age nothing surprises me any more. Anything is possible but many theories are being ruled out the more we learn about this situation.

A possibility is someone was trying to make a modern 777 disappear. We have had pilot suicide in the past but nothing like this. People are attracted to great mysteries and if someone could make a 777 disappear then that one will be a great mystery with years of speculation, or until it could be found. 

 

It is possible it was soft landed far out in the Indian Ocean with very little debris and sank to the bottom. If that is the case it could take a very long time to find it, or possibly never. It is possible that this is what somebody wanted to have happen.

 

My view is I don't know what happened but this day in age nothing surprises me any more. Anything is possible but many theories are being ruled out the more we learn about this situation.

Why would they take the plane just to ditch it? I have a feeling the Jet was stolen for some purpose.