This theory is not plausible as Malaysian authorities announced that primary radar returns suggest the plane turned SSW.[1]
Additionally the airspace at the Chinese coast is most likely closely monitored 24/7.<p>Another good source for information/speculation is the Airliners Thread, currently at part 12:
<a href="http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6018054" rel="nofollow">http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/re...</a><p>[1] <a href="http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2014/03/search-for-missing-malaysia-airlines-jet-moves-to-strait-of-malacca/" rel="nofollow">http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2014/03/search-for-m...</a>
Interesting development on this flight. The co-pilot has a history of welcoming people into the cockpit:<p><a href="http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/mh370-mystery-investigation-shifts-focus-to-thailand-crime-gangs-as-debris-discarded-as-evidence/story-fnizu68q-1226850965067" rel="nofollow">http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/mh370-mystery-i...</a>
Even if there was a slow decompression to 13,500 ft cabin altitude, almost no one would be unconscious. Hypoxia begins to set in as early as 5000 ft, but oxygen isn't even required in aircraft until you spend more than 30 minutes about 12,500 ft. Above 15,000 ft the average time of useful consciousness is still 30+ minutes.
Considering China sent ships into the suspected area others are in I tend to discount the idea they would have RADAR logs of it flying beyond that point. They have no reason to lie about this one unless we have an incident similar to the Russian shoot down of KAL 007
Some pilots report debris @ N9.72 E107.42 <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/9°43'12.0"N+107°25'12.0"E" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/place/9°43'12.0"N+107°25'12.0"E</a>)<p>Edit: satellite images are provided for a search: <a href="http://www.tomnod.com/nod/challenge/malaysiaairsar2014" rel="nofollow">http://www.tomnod.com/nod/challenge/malaysiaairsar2014</a>
This suggestion mentions "300nm" and "50nm" distances. To my eye these are 'nanometres', so is this a typo or am I missing something?
A few thoughts:<p>Anyone here who is stating categorically 'this' or 'that' cannot/must happen is uWotm8ing you. There is no compendium of mistakes. The systems layers of a modern jumbo jet are so fantastically complex there will be unknown bugs for a long time. The things cannot be flown or landed very well with out a computer <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuGYrbSSP4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuGYrbSSP4</a><p>The concept of flight is still enigmatic. Like Zicam, it is known only that it works most times. How things fly is still a bit of a mystery.<p>If we are going to use '70s era analog blackboxes, where are going to keep having these '70s era horror stories. I am completely miffed as to how NSA can gather so much data from a relatively cheap and simple device, but blackbox tech is still where it is at.<p>If you have the time,look into the US Military's crash record [if you can find data...]. on the face of it, it would appear the war branches of american diplomacy are slamming expensive gear into the ground almost daily. Are their pilots shitty? Are the aircraft obsolete? No and yes, but the second one is super interesting because even in the face of massive obsolescence the wreck rate is relatively low. Also, the more shit you have up in the air, the more likely it becomes that something will hit the ground. No matter the skill of your Operators, if you fly birds constantly you will have constant issues.<p>If there was one thing that would change this particular situation, it would be telemetry, but the facts of the matter are that there are places on our planet that are unreachable, there are bugs and errors of which we are unaware that we are unaware, and if you use outdated tech you give outdated info.
If oxygen masks don't deploy when cabin pressure falls enough to make the passengers unconscious, then what is their purpose? It's hard to believe they could have such a massive design fault. Is there no sensor that could detect the depressurization?
<i>Summary: It’s plausible that a fuselage section near the SATCOM antenna adapter failed, disabling satellite based - GPS, ACARS, and ADS-B/C - communications, and leading to a slow decompression that left all occupants unconscious. If such decompression left the aircraft intact, then the autopilot would have flown the planned route or otherwise maintained its heading/altitude until fuel exhaustion.</i><p>May be I am wrong, but If the gps failed, how can the autopilot work?
An aircraft flying unresponsive and undetetected into the most militarised areas on the planet (China, North Korea, Vietnam etc) does not sound plausible.
It seems crazy that 15 years after Payne Stewart's plane went down for this exact reason, there are no cabin sensors (measuring partial-pressure of the oxygen?) to alert the crew that there is a small leak. Am I missing something?
I guess spy satellites aren't as good as Hollywood has made out...<p>I would have imagined it wouldn't be that hard to point some satellites at the search area and look for something on the surface of the water, or a new impact area on land.
Most planes do not crash because of terrorism/hijacking. It is unlikely this one did either. Annoying to see media some stories harping on the possibility it was hijacked when there is zero evidence.
This guy was onto something. The plane was last seen by military at Mallaca Strait, opposite direction of search area.<p>Malaysian Military official tells Reuters plane flew for more than an hour after vanishing from air traffic control screens<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/malaysia-airlines-military-idUSL3N0M835C20140311" rel="nofollow">http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/malaysia-airlines-...</a>