News Contact lost with 777-200ER of Malaysia Airlines

[Matias Saibene]

Here I have a question for those who know:
What is the most likely cause of the disappearance of this aircraft?

The cause seems more likely is a CTD.

It's been over a month since has started this search, if it happened with a plane of my country has begun searching decades after the disappearance:facepalm:.

 

[Keatah]

Hm, are there no AUVs rated for greater depths?
Or they just didn't get one yet?

I know they have vehicles rated for 10,000 meters, whether they have the AUV abilities of BlueFin (and kin) I do not know. I believe they are tethered, and that gives a completely different set of functions and limitations. Some good, some bad.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Relevant:
(CNN 'breaking news')

 

[mojoey]

Relevant:
(CNN 'breaking news')

Next we go live to Europe where Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been shot and killed tonight.

 

[Screamer7]

All that CNN does is breaking their reputation, or what is left of it.

 

[Urwumpe]

The second dive of the AUV was a full success, it resurfaced as planned after 16 hours and brought lots of 3D data home to the expedition crew. Now the analysis starts.

 

[JSwift]

...CNN 'breaking news'...

Lol, this drives me nuts. 99% of the time, whatever they're showing is neither breaking nor news. I think I could digest more of CNN if they labeled it 'Rampant Speculation' or 'Ratings Grab'.

On a related note, this:
(sim 'instructor' loses his job)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-canadians-in-mh370-coverage/article18052064/

Those of you that have watched CNN during the MH370 story have no doubt seen this guy (and his amazing toy). I did wonder about who this 'instructor' was and why he was dressed for a day at the beach. I guess others were wondering as well, including the owner.

On a more interesting note, turns out this simulator company sells time on their rig. http://uflysimulator.ca/ If you're in the Toronto area you can buy 4 hours of sim time for about $500. I know the first thing I thought about when I saw the first CNN story in the sim was "man would I love to spend a few hours on that thing".

 

[garyw]

Bluefin finds nothing after 6 full dives to 15,000ft

The search area for the missing MH370 plane has narrowed and will be at "a critical juncture" in the next two days, says Malaysia's acting transport minister.

Hishammuddin Hussein said an underwater drone would finish searching the area within the next week.

The Bluefin 21 mini-submarine has so far found nothing after six missions.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing in March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people.

The Bluefin is mapping the area of the sea bed within a 10km (six miles) radius of where acoustic signals were detected believed to have come from the aircraft's flight recorder.

It is operating at a depth of more than 4,000m (13,000 feet).

Mr Hussein said it was important to focus on the search on Saturday and Sunday.

"The narrowing of the search for today and tomorrow is at a critical juncture," he said.

"I appeal to everyone around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on in the next couple of days."

Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the MH370 ended its journey in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.

They do not know why the plane flew so far off course and finding the plane's flight recorders is seen as key to understanding what happened.

The Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.

It is searching in an area defined by four acoustic signals picked up by an Australian search team, and was deployed after officials concluded that the batteries on the plane's flight recorders would likely have expired, given their one-month shelf life.

The submersible has an operating depth of 4,500m (15,000ft) and on its first mission a built-in safety device returned it to the surface after it exceeded that depth.

The authorities have now adjusted the device to allow it to go as deep as 4,695m.

The Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said on Thursday that the machine could operate deeper than 4,500m at "a small but acceptable level of risk".

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27086583

If nothing is found over the next few days expect a lot of Diego Garcia theories to come back with full force.

 

[garyw]

This is interesting, a new theory is emerging. Could MH-370 have crashed due to a software bug in the ADIRU? This was supposed to have been fixed almost 10 years ago. In 2005 another Malaysian airlines aircraft had problems that almost mimic MH-370's flight profile:

Status: Final
Date: Monday 1 August 2005
Time: 17:03
Type: Boeing 777-2H6ER
Operator: Malaysia Airlines
Registration: 9M-MRG
C/n / msn: 28414/140
First flight: 1998-05-04 (7 years 3 months)
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 177
Airplane damage: None
Location: 240 km (150 mls) NW of Perth, WA ( Australia)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Perth Airport, WA (PER/YPPH), Australia
Destination airport: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL/WMKK), Malaysia
Flightnumber: 124
Narrative:
When climbing through FL380, en route to Kuala Lumpur, the crew reported that they observed a low airspeed warning on the aircraft’s EICAS. Then the crew got instrument indications that the aircraft was approaching the overspeed limit and the stall speed limit simultaneously. The aircraft pitched up and climbed to approximately FL410 and the indicated airspeed decreased from 270 kts to 158 kts. The stall warning and stick shaker devices also activated. The captain disconnected the autopilot and lowered the nose of the aircraft. The autothrottle commanded an increase in thrust which the captain countered by manually moving the thrust levers to the idle position. The aircraft pitched up again and climbed 2,000 ft. The captain notified air traffic control (ATC) that they could not maintain altitude and requested a descent and radar assistance. The crew was able to verify with ATC the aircraft speed and altitude. Both left and right autopilots caused the aircraft to bank and the nose to pitch down, so the captain decided to fly the aircraft manually. The flight made an ILS approach to Perth's runway 03. The wind at Perth was gusting from the north-west with moderate turbulence below 3,000 ft. During the approach, the aircraft warning system indicated a windshear condition but the crew continued the approach and landed the aircraft without further incident.

CONTRIBUTING SAFETY FACTORS: "An anomaly existed in the component software hierarchy that allowed inputs from a known faulty accelerometer to be processed by the air data inertial reference unit (ADIRU) and used by the primary flight computer, autopilot and other aircraft systems.
OTHER SAFETY FACTORS:
- The software anomaly was not detected in the original testing and certification of the ADIRU.
- The aircraft documentation did not provide the flight crew with specific information and action items to assess and respond to the aircraft upset event."

 

[Castor]

After eight dives of the Bluefin, about two-thirds of the proposed area has been searched. Still no sign of the aircraft.

“This morning, Bluefin-21 AUV completed mission eight in the underwater search area. Bluefin-21 has searched approximately two-thirds of the focused underwater search area to date,” Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) leading the search said in a statement.

“No contacts of interest have been found to date,” it said, as the search entered its 45th day on Monday.

Bluefin-21 AUV’s ninth mission will commence later on Monday.

 

[Melvin]

I wonder if the company that allegedly tracked the aircraft from satellite data (their name escapes me at the moment) has been trying the same technique on aircraft with known locations just to verify the accuracy of their claims.

I wonder because I'm starting to think there may have been an error in the maths somewhere.

 

[mojoey]

Rolls Royce?

 

[Castor]

Not to be insensitive, but isn't this more than just a coincidence:

From Wikipedia

Flight 370 was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER, serial number 28420, registration 9M-MRO. The 404th Boeing 777 produced, it first flew on 14 May 2002, and was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 31 May 2002.

 

[kamaz]

Rolls Royce?

Inmarsat.

 

[garyw]

Inmarsat.

Yup. Rolls Royce only have engine monitoring data and that data doesn't include the location of the engines, just their status.

I wonder if the company that allegedly tracked the aircraft from satellite data (their name escapes me at the moment) has been trying the same technique on aircraft with known locations just to verify the accuracy of their claims.

I wonder because I'm starting to think there may have been an error in the maths somewhere.

That's how they worked out the location in the first place. From my understanding there was little maths involved in the process. It is explained here -> http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=460769&postcount=325

However, if inmarsat were wrong what was the black box pings that were picked up?

 

[Urwumpe]

I wonder if the company that allegedly tracked the aircraft from satellite data (their name escapes me at the moment) has been trying the same technique on aircraft with known locations just to verify the accuracy of their claims.

I wonder because I'm starting to think there may have been an error in the maths somewhere.

As short summary: They first of all used the plain ping and pseudo-range data, and later refined this with the Doppler data by using the measurements of other aircraft below that satellite, to calculate the approximate velocity and direction of travel at each point of ping.

I think it is absolutely correct to assume that the aircraft is there. But: "There" is a huge region. And if the black boxes and most of the wreckage is now below meters of mud, the AUV will not have an easy field day. Its possible to find them even below the mud, but the sonar data then requires much more analysis.

 

[statickid]

It'll be found by a young, rich, research team funded by a documentary tv channel in about 30 years, and there will be a tv special about it. The black boxes will be long since ruined, but the truth will have been reduced to irrelevant historical curiosity by then.

 

[Quick_Nick]

It'll be found by a young, rich, research team funded by a documentary tv channel in about 30 years, and there will be a tv special about it. The black boxes will be long since ruined, but the truth will have been reduced to irrelevant historical curiosity by then.

 

[MattBaker]

He said young...

 

[Castor]

Bluefin's ninth dive has also not yielded any results. Aircraft has been called off the search operation due to the tropical cyclone 'Jack'.

It could be said that the search is finally drawing to a close....

---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------

In addition, the Malaysian government will now start issuing death certificates, which consequently opens the door to financial aid for the relatives, and to lawsuits against the airline.