Malaysian Flight Disappearance 'Deliberate' 436
An anonymous reader writes "Malaysia's Prime Minister announced at a press conference that Flight 370, which disappeared a week ago, was diverted as a result of 'deliberate action.' The investigation has now focused in two ways: first, they're looking more closely at the passengers and crew, and second, they've narrowed the search for the plane down to two corridors. One stretches from Kazakhstan to northern Thailand, and the other goes from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. 'That conclusion was based on a final signal from the plane picked up on satellite at 8:11 a.m. on March 8, nearly seven hours after ground control lost contact with the jet, he said.'
The Prime Minister said the plane's communications system and the transponder system were both disabled early on during the flight. The time of the plane's final satellite contact would have put its fuel reserves very low. 'Police on Saturday morning drove into the residential compound where the missing plane's pilot lives in Kuala Lumpur, according a guard and several local reporters who were barred from entering the complex. ... Experts have previously said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience. One possibility they have raised was that one of the pilots wanted to commit suicide."
The Prime Minister said the plane's communications system and the transponder system were both disabled early on during the flight. The time of the plane's final satellite contact would have put its fuel reserves very low. 'Police on Saturday morning drove into the residential compound where the missing plane's pilot lives in Kuala Lumpur, according a guard and several local reporters who were barred from entering the complex. ... Experts have previously said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience. One possibility they have raised was that one of the pilots wanted to commit suicide."
Ter'rists... or ALIEMS? (Score:4, Funny)
They landed on any of a hundred small island airstrips with the full knowledge of the Malay government, and by now that alien's body has made it back to the Pentagon and out of our reach.
Re:Tracking (Score:5, Funny)
not include any kind of built in, always-on, hard-wired tracking device
They experimented with hard-wired positional tracking, but the cables became very long.
Re:This plane was stolen for money. IMHO (Score:5, Funny)
The pilot(s) could sell it for $23 million dollars and live high off the hog.
Yes - there's a huge black market in 777s.
Re:Suicide By Jet Plane (Score:3, Funny)
If you want to commit suicide, why not ditch the plane straight down? Why would you plot a course somewhere into the middle of the Indian Ocean?
If you didn't want it to look like suicide, why not ditch into rural China? There has to be some way a professional pilot could make it look more accidental.
What if you're suicidal but still want to troll the entire world?
Re:Suicide By Jet Plane (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Watch out (Score:4, Funny)
I think we invaded iraq and afghanistan, not saudi arabia. but what do I know? I was too busy fiddling with my armaments and armor to see where they were shipping me off to.
More than you would think it seems. (Score:4, Funny)