Malaysia Airlines loses contact with plane carrying 239 people

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

Malaysia Airlines says it has lost contact with a plane with 239 aboard enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The airline said in a statement early Saturday it was attempting to locate the Boeing 777 after it lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2:40 a.m. It was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m.

China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported the plane was lost in airspace controlled by Vietnam, and did not make contact with Chinese air traffic controllers.

The plane is carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members. The airline said it is working with authorities to locate the plane.

Boeing said on its Twitter account it is monitoring the situation, and "our thoughts are with everyone on board."



http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03...ing-23-people/









Malaysian jet probe sharpens focus on passengers, crew as new clues emerge


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03...-indian-ocean/

[Dante84]

Maybe this is dumb

but

Cant they find a satellite photo of the plane in flight and then just follow its route by following satellite photos of where it goes?

Something tells me they've thought of this already...

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

If Southwest would assign me a seat I'd use them. But I hate the stress of finding my own seat. Will my seatmates like me? Will I have to sit next to a 1.4-seat obese person? I don't like the feeling of racing other people just to sit next to the 90-pound Asian woman. Just charge me ten bucks more and give me a seat.

Frontier was my favorite airline at one point, but wow, this new system is horrific. It felt like being a prisoner in a POW camp. They're stalking around and making people put their carry-ons in the box, and I think the gate agent gets a commission for each person she screws over with a $100 "gate fee".

United is probably going to get my business whenever I have a choice, but I wish I could tolerate Southwest's seating system better.

Yeah, the new policy about sizing your bag is really annoying. I know that my wheelie bag fits, since it's been on the planes hundred of times...

Same here on Southwest.

United is still United.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Donger

Since any such system would have to be VSAT-based, I would imagine the reason for it not being done is cost and bandwidth.

How much data do you think there is? We aren't talking about high-res images or anything. Current VSAT systems could easily handle it.

There's something else preventing them from doing it but it's not bandwidth...

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

How much data do you think there is? We aren't talking about high-res images or anything. Current VSAT systems could easily handle it.

There's something else preventing them from doing it but it's not bandwidth...

Which was Bob Dole's point. SOME data is better than no data. The tech is there, but for some reason there is no will (or vision) to collect it.

[scho63]

This is such a selfish statement but I wish they would hurry up and find this damn plane because all the stupid news shows with 20 hours of guessing and speculation of what might have happened is more painful then the plane disappearing.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by srvy

BBC video showing how easy to redirect airplane and turn off transponders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seir6EHhVc0

Looks so easy even a caveman can do it.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

If Southwest would assign me a seat I'd use them. But I hate the stress of finding my own seat. Will my seatmates like me? Will I have to sit next to a 1.4-seat obese person? I don't like the feeling of racing other people just to sit next to the 90-pound Asian woman. Just charge me ten bucks more and give me a seat.

When Southwest took over AirTran it was thought it was to open up international flights for SW. If SW moves to international flights they are required to have assigned seating. As it is now SW and AirTran operate separately under the SW umbrella.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Stewie

When Southwest took over AirTran it was thought it was to open up international flights for SW. If SW moves to international flights they are required to have assigned seating. As it is now SW and AirTran operate separately under the SW umbrella.

They've only got a limited number of international flights, but they don't have assigned seats on those to my knowledge.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by DaFace

They've only got a limited number of international flights, but they don't have assigned seats on those to my knowledge.

I haven't looked for a while, but in the past if you wanted to fly to Mexico or the Caribbean, etc., you were booked on an AirTran flight to get to the international destination.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Stewie

I haven't looked for a while, but in the past if you wanted to fly to Mexico or the Caribbean, etc., you were booked on an AirTran flight.

I suspect it's just an AirTran thing then. They specifically say it's the Southwest-style seating on this page:

http://www.southwest.com/html/air/in...rip/index.html

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I suspect it's just an AirTran thing then. They specifically say it's the Southwest-style seating on this page:

http://www.southwest.com/html/air/in...rip/index.html

I was curious, too. I've never flown SW for anything other than domestic flights. When I clicked on a couple flights to the Caribbean and Mexico I was redirected to AirTran. You don't have to select an assigned seat, but they'll assign one for you.

Whether you select your seat assignment in advance or not, all customers will receive a seat assignment prior to boarding their flight.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Stewie

When Southwest took over AirTran it was thought it was to open up international flights for SW. If SW moves to international flights they are required to have assigned seating. As it is now SW and AirTran operate separately under the SW umbrella.

and will see for the indefinite future. They've decided their systems just don't interface well.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Dante84

Maybe this is dumb

but

Cant they find a satellite photo of the plane in flight and then just follow its route by following satellite photos of where it goes?

Something tells me they've thought of this already...

I've read some stories on this before, we usually have roughly 5% of the earth photographed per day, and thats just a snapshot not even several shots of that 5%. Obviously cities and places of military interest get more attention, but they aren't going to find several shots of the plane and probably not even 1 unless they got incredibly lucky.

[Dante84]

Originally Posted by alnorth

I've read some stories on this before, we usually have roughly 5% of the earth photographed per day, and thats just a snapshot not even several shots of that 5%. Obviously cities and places of military interest get more attention, but they aren't going to find several shots of the plane and probably not even 1 unless they got incredibly lucky.

Damn.

I was hoping it worked like a security camera, where we could just type in the location and time and pull up images.

[Buzz]

Watching the news, the extent someone would have to go to turning off all the tracking devices would have to take considerable skill and knowledge. If this plane is sitting on the ground some where, what the heck would they do with all those people?