(From AP, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"Messages of support for those aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 lie in the viewing gallery at Kuala Lumpur airport"
Sadly, the facts I posted with a prayer request Monday is still true:
- Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on shortly after takeoff.
- The 239 folks on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are still missing.
- The flight left Kuala Lumpur at 16:41 GMT, March 7; and was expected in Beijing at 22:30 GMT.
- No trace of the airliner, or the people on board, has been confirmed.
- Folks on MH370 included artists, children, and at least one engineer.
- Their homes were in China, Malaysia, and other countries.
- Their family, friends, and associates are understandably concerned.
- I suggest prayer: for the missing people, searchers, and all connected with this situation.
I've been over this before:
- " 'Religious People aren't Reasonable?' "
A Catholic Citizen in America (December 18, 2011) - "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic"
A Catholic Citizen in America (November 3, 2008) - "Qantas Flight 30, Chicken Little Wingnut Pundits, Ziofascists, Bushistas, Conspiracies of Silence, and the News"
(July 28, 2008)
"Deliberately Diverted"
(From BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted' "The good news is that investigators seem to have learned from blunders made after the London/Glasgow car bombings, and accusations of Steven Hatfill and Richard Jewell.
BBC News, (March 15, 2014)
"The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.
"According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours.
"He said the 'movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane'....
"Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows 'with a high degree of certainty' that the one of the aircraft's communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System - was disabled just before it had reached the east coast of Malaysia.
"ACARS is a service that allows computers aboard the plane to 'talk' to computers on the ground, relaying in-flight information about the health of its systems...."
No official has said "terrorists did it," as far as I know. Granted, the Malaysian Prime Minister came close.
He may be right. Whatever happened to Flight MH370 is looking more like a deliberate act, and less like an accident.
Lithium Batteries, Signals, and Questions
(From BBC News, used w/o permission.)
Some folks suggested that a shipment of lithium batteries on the airliner might have caught fire. causing a crash. A few cargo aircraft did go down after lithium batteries ignited: but that probably didn't happen to MH370.
Someone turned the aircraft's ACARS off: but either couldn't stop some of the Boeing 777-200ER's automated systems from pinging: or didn't realize that today's aircraft "talk" to the global information network on their own.
Either way, 'I'm alive' signals kept coming from Flight MH370 several hours after it disappeared from radar.
It's remotely possible that Flight MH370's transponder just happened to fail before the airliner just happened to start an unscheduled turn:
"...near the cross-over point between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic controllers, the plane's transponder - which emits an identifying signal - was switched off, he said.But I think it's much less unlikely that someone wanted MH370 to disappear: and has, so far, succeeded.
"According to a military radar, the aircraft then turned and flew back over Malaysia before heading in a north-west direction...."
(BBC News)
Speculation
It's possible that one or both pilots decided to take the airliner off its route. Someone else could have taken over control of the airliner. Or maybe the disappearance of Flight MH370 is the result of an incredible string of coincidences.My guess is that someone wanted the airliner to disappear.
Maybe Flight MH370's Boeing 777 was supposed to be the weapon in a 9/11-style attack on a target in India, or another country within the airliner's range. If that's the case, we may eventually learn that people on Flight MH370 followed the example of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93.
As attacks in Mumbai and elsewhere show, America isn't the only place hated by some folks.
Or maybe this is a case of Grand Theft Airliner: with kidnapping thrown in for good measure. That might make for a good action movie, along the lines of "Thunderball" and "Airport," but I don't think it's likely.
I would like to hope that the passengers and crew of Flight MH370 are still alive: in life rafts, near a crash-landing in the Himalayas, or even as hostages. But a fear that they are dead.
Maybe someday, years from now, we'll know what happened. Today, we have very little information, a vast array of rumors, and a great many questions.
Profiling and Memory
If investigators find evidence that one or both pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went rogue, I think profiling of pilots and air crews should be reconsidered."Profiling" today is a little like sex was supposed to be in Victorian England. It's something we're not supposed to think about: but do, anyway. I'm not enthusiastic about profiling, racial or otherwise, because it can be an excuse for exercising blind prejudice.
It's not always 'the other guy' who gets hurt. I strongly suspect that Richard Jewell would not have been punished for discovering a bomb, if he hadn't been an overweight white guy. There's the well-publicized sort of profiling that confuses Mexicans, Arabs, and terrorist. That, in my considered opinion, is daft: and wrong.
As a member of a religious minority, I see a very real danger in official sanctions against individuals based on their beliefs. We have enough trouble with individuals who attack Americans who aren't sufficiently "American." (A Catholic Citizen in America (November 25, 2010; April 19, 2011))
That said, it is possible that lives could be saved by not letting pilots with suicidal ambitions fly aircraft.
Finally, although I think it's very unlikely, Flight MH370 may have gotten lost because of some accident.
Remembering Air France 447:
- "Air France 447: Equipment Problems; Stall Warnings; Pilot Error"
(July 5, 2012) - "Air France 447: Part of a Black (Orange, Really) Box Found"
(April 28, 2011) - "Air France Flight 447 Wreckage Found: My Take"
(April 4, 2011) - "Air France Flight 447 Investigators Find Terror List Names: Suggestive, But Far From Proof"
(June 10, 2009) - "euronews, " 'Dustbin' Airline," Cultures, and the War on Terror"
(July 2, 2009)
Particularly
- "Search for Malaysia Airline plane widens, becomes more difficult"
Ed Payne, Chelsea J. Carter, Jim Clancy, CNN (March 16, 2014) - "Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted' "
BBC News, (March 15, 2014) - "Satellite Firm Says Its Data Could Offer Location of Missing Flight"
Chris Buckley, Nicola Clark, The New York Times (March 14, 2014)
- "Malaysia Airlines Flight 370"
Wikipedia
Excerpts from the news:
"Search for Malaysia Airline plane widens, becomes more difficult"
Ed Payne, Chelsea J. Carter, Jim Clancy, CNN (March 16, 2014)
"Nine days in, things have gotten a whole lot more difficult in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
" 'This is a significant recalibration of the search,' Malaysia's acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Sunday. 'The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, which brings new challenges of coordination and diplomacy to the search effort.'
"The new developments come as U.S. intelligence officials are leaning toward the theory that 'those in the cockpit' -- the captain and co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 -- were responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the commercial jetliner, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the latest thinking told CNN.
"What we know about the cockpit crew
"The official emphasized no final conclusions have been drawn and all the internal intelligence discussions are based on preliminary assessments of what is known to date.
"Other scenarios could still emerge. The notion of a hijacking has not been ruled out, the official said Saturday.
"The Boeing 777-200 ER disappeared on March 8, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The airline's CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said Sunday the missing passenger jet took off with its normal amount of fuel needed for the route, and did not have extra fuel on board that could have extended its range...."
"Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'deliberately diverted' "
BBC News, (March 15, 2014)
"The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.
"According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours.
"He said the 'movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane'....
"...The flight left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on 8 March and disappeared off air traffic controllers' screens at about 01:20.
"Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows 'with a high degree of certainty' that the one of the aircraft's communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System - was disabled just before it had reached the east coast of Malaysia.
"ACARS is a service that allows computers aboard the plane to 'talk' to computers on the ground, relaying in-flight information about the health of its systems.
"Shortly afterwards, near the cross-over point between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic controllers, the plane's transponder - which emits an identifying signal - was switched off, he said.
"According to a military radar, the aircraft then turned and flew back over Malaysia before heading in a north-west direction.
"A satellite was able to pick up a signal from the plane until 08:11 local time - more than seven hours after it lost radar contact - although it was unable to give a precise location, Mr Razak said...."
"Satellite Firm Says Its Data Could Offer Location of Missing Flight"
Chris Buckley, Nicola Clark, The New York Times (March 14, 2014)
"As the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet expanded into the vastness of the Indian Ocean, a satellite communications company confirmed on Friday that it had recorded electronic 'keep alive' ping signals from the plane after it disappeared, and said those signals could be analyzed to help estimate its location.
"The information from the company, Inmarsat, could prove to be a valuable break in the frustrating search for the plane with 239 people aboard that mysteriously disappeared from radar screens a week ago, now hunted by a multinational array of ships and planes that have fanned out for thousands of square miles.
"Until now, that search has turned up false leads: oil slicks, chunks of foam, life vests and other debris unconnected to the vanished plane.
"But a series of electronic pings sent by the aircraft could help the search, which is shifting focus from the confines of the Gulf of Thailand and nearby waters to include the Indian Ocean on the western side of Malaysia.
"Investigators also are looking at the possibility that a shipment of lithium batteries in the cargo hold may have caught fire and felled the aircraft. A senior American official who had been briefed on the contents listed on the plane's cargo manifest said a 'significant load' of lithium batteries had been aboard — raising suspicions because of previous cargo-plane crashes attributed to lithium battery shipments, which can overheat and cause intense fires. But that possibility is inconsistent with information that the plane may have kept flying for hours after it vanished."
