General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI don't think they'll ever find Flight 370.
I'm starting to think "they" don't want to. Every time we hear about suspicious objects floating on the ocean, by the time anybody gets around to going down there and checking, the objects are gone. Either nobody cares enough to get there ASAP, or finding the objects will create more problems than the world wants.
Benton D Struckcheon
(2,347 posts)but not for the reason you state. Amelia Earhart was never found either. There's a Boeing plane that was stolen in 2003 or so that disappeared and no one knows what happened there either.
It's a big world. If you drop into the middle of the ocean, chances of being found if no one even knows where to begin to look aren't exactly high.
former9thward
(32,077 posts)The other two you mention are apples and oranges. Were there satellites when Earhart went missing in her tiny plane? This plane disappeared in an area of the world with the highest population density and intense radar and satellite coverage.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)The empty expanse of water is one of the most remote places in the world and also one of the deepest, posing potentially enormous challenges for the international search effort focusing on the area, one of several possible crash sites.
Even Australia, which has island territories in the Indian Ocean and sends rescue planes to pluck stricken yachtsmen from the cold, mountainous seas in the south from time to time, has no radar coverage much beyond its Indian Ocean coast.
In most of Western Australia and almost all of the Indian Ocean, there is almost no radar coverage, an Australian civil aviation authority source said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the record.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/16/if-mh370-crashed-in-southern-indian-ocean-it-wouldnt-be-seen-or-heard
uppityperson
(115,679 posts)Thanks for the link
Response to uppityperson (Reply #10)
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hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)uppityperson
(115,679 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)uppityperson
(115,679 posts)And don't call me Shirley
Response to uppityperson (Reply #35)
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former9thward
(32,077 posts)said they could detect flashes (explosions) anywhere in the world and there were no flashes that night. That would indicate there is satellite coverage anywhere. So much for the "source" who refuses to be named.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)[and not really sure if it matters...
div class="excerpt"]In May of 2003, a completely airworthy Boeing 727 once owned by American Airlines, taxied out of maintenence and made an unauthorized takeoff from Luanda, Angola.
There was no radio communication, and the transponder was off. It simply disappeared, and would have been another aviation footnote except for two things.
The alleged hijacking came less than two years after 9-11 when we were still on our witch-hunt, so the CIA was very interested in a jetliner disappearing.
And a Mr. Ben Padilla, an American, was supposedly at the controls when the jet took off. It's been ten years, and like Star Dust, this plane is simply gone without a trace.
Source.
Just wanted to put that out there.
former9thward
(32,077 posts)It was a stolen plane and the only people on it were the thieves.
The search for Malaysian Airlines MH370 is the longest yet for a commercial flight that has gone missing, and there is still no end in sight.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/03/20/Missing-MH370-longest-ever-search/
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)The reason the airplane might never be found is simply that the Indian Ocean is very big and very deep. "They" would have to know where it is if "they" want to be sure nobody ever finds it.
Jgarrick
(521 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)It is tragic and it is frightening (I am a very terrified flier/ irrational, I know) .... but, it is what it is.
former9thward
(32,077 posts)That satellites can read license plates from space. But now that they are needed they have no idea whether a 80 foot object is a piece of wreckage or a cargo carton that is adrift. Someone is lying.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Would do this type of search. At least as far as that region of the world.
We now have a type of radar more in line with our need to support the drone warfare of the future.
http://qz.com/190937/drone-warfare-is-why-we-cant-find-malaysian-airlines-flight-370/
Also check out Synoia's theory over at Firedoglake. Like someone over there said, her conception of what happened would make a very decent thriller, even if it is not what actually occurred.
Then there is Jim Stone's version of events.
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/03/case-closed-hijacked-by-awacs-2916516.html
applegrove
(118,778 posts)when they were spotted. A satellite can take a photo. But it has to be looked at with a set of eyes before it becomes useful.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)and once in the area planes have only two hours for the search.
They ought to have an aircraft carrier out there.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)Do we not have any more aircraft carriers??
TheCowsCameHome
(40,168 posts)with a 'Mission Accomplished' banner in the background.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)Thank gawd I rarely think about him anymore.
Terra Alta
(5,158 posts)I hope they do eventually though, for the families' sake. They deserve closure.
malaise
(269,157 posts)may whip up the ocean and deliver some more debris.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)Never thought about that angle.
malaise
(269,157 posts)and friends of those on board - including those of the pilots and cabin crew.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)The search area is not really an easy one to do any search on. If they find it. we are talking of ocean depths that ROVs will be used.
lob1
(3,820 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)The only manned that could go down that deep is Alvin iirc. Why unmaned will be used.
Mojo Electro
(362 posts)The satellite photos are days old, you can't just go to where the object is, you have to take currents into account and go to where the object might be. Not to mention in it's a very remote area of the ocean. 4 hours 1 way by airplane just to get out there. Nobody is staring at a video monitor watching a satellite camera sitting over one spot. Satellites photograph a strip of ocean as they pass overhead, and then later somebody has to search through what must be hundreds if not thousands of photos looking for something.
I believe it will eventually be found, because I don't think they will stop looking. Worst case is that years go by and the search is massively scaled back, but there will always be some effort to find it, even if just by passing ships or by NASA. Or, some debris may eventually wash up somewhere.
Logical
(22,457 posts)JI7
(89,264 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)and then find them at that location.
It's a huge area they are searching, and cargo ships pass through and leave debris as well.
They haven't spent the time, effort and money because they don't want to find them. This is harder than a needle in a haystack.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)I just turned on CNN, and they are still in that 777 simulator..don't think has changed his clothes in days...do they ever let him out
malaise
(269,157 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)must stay busy...and Richard Quest is just annoying...what the hell does he know about aviation?
malaise
(269,157 posts)The coverage is atrocious on steroids. It's an insult to the public's intelligence - on the level of National Enquirer.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I'MMMMMMMMMMM RIChARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD QUESSSSSSSSSSSSST
*makes stabbing motions*
Warpy
(111,339 posts)but it isn't because no one wants to find it, it's because the southern Indian Ocean is very deep and the water often treacherous.
As long as they've ruled out a landing in Kazakhstan, and as long as no group has claimed responsibility for a hijacking, chances are it was some sort of catastrophic failure that wiped out the transponder and incapacitated the people in the cabin. That wild turn looks more and more like a last ditch attempt to find a runway fast.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)I've said since day one the most likely scenario is something catastrophic happened and it either ditched into the ocean right away, or the pilots became incapacitated and the plane flew for awhile on autopilot before it fell into the ocean somewhere farther away. Now that we know about 'the turn' I agree, they were probably trying to find a runway right away but perhaps something happened after that that caused them to continue along the same trajectory until they ran out of gas and fell into the Indian ocean.
rumdude
(448 posts)and then sank, it simply may never be found.
rickford66
(5,528 posts)in the last place they look.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)How's that for CT theories.
Barack_America
(28,876 posts)We know that now.
While I do feel for the families, the simple truth is that sometimes we don't find out what happened to our loved ones. I fear this is one of those instances.
CK_John
(10,005 posts)of li batteries. Someone in the ground crew or airport front office was looking the other way and paid well.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)all 239 lives...
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)Throw that one out for the RW crazies and see what they do!
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)It took 5 hours to get to the target area, once there they had two hours to search and then 5 hours back.
Why the US is not using it's surveillance drones is a mystery.