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It is a very odd situation. As far as the phones go, calls will go thru, but unless passengers have a Satellite Phone, they would not receive the call. Unless a Sat phone is configured to the aircraft electrical system (certified for use), there's a strong chance that using one would shut down aircraft electronics or disrupt them in some way as it did on one of our GV Jets when a passenger pulled one out (without the crews permission) and activated his travel Sat phone during a flight some time ago. Luckily, The crew got the screens re-started back in the cockpit, but that's why Sat phones (not cellphones) are dangerous in an aircraft (not talking about the ones you see mounted on the backs of passenger seats for use to call out, as those are certified and configured into the aircraft and safe to use).

I suppose if that scenario occurred, and the crew lost power to their cockpit screens and Navigation equipment/transponder, and did not get them turned back on, they may have 'Lost' there way, run out of gas and crashed somewhere way off course. That, our the Chinese, North Koreans, or whoever, blew them out of the sky after it flew into their airspace without authorization, but the aircraft couldn't respond or transpond their aircrafts code due to radio/electrical outage...and the country is keeping mum about what they did. I see no benefit on some country hijacking a jet, as jets are easy to acquire with money.

Beyond that, I haven't any idea what may have happened without direct information from the investigation.

Duel of Fates wrote:

WD-40 wrote: I see no benefit on some country hijacking a jet, as jets are easy to acquire with money.

Not saying a country, more likely a terrorist organization backed by, say Iran. Those stolen passports shoot a lot of red flags up for me, but I am a paranoid individual to start with.

I believe that the passports were identified to a refugee that was trying to escape his home country, so it could be a terrorist, who knows. And yeah, the plane could've been hijacked as an act of terrorism for a ransom, or worse. But tell me, what is this "black box" transponder you speak of?

I personally think it was aliens. How come that possibility isn't being reported?

It's certainly very suspicious, planes don't just disappear.

If it had crashed into the ocean, there would be a giant oil stream.

If it had been shot down, it's almost certain that the giant fireball would have been seen by someone.

I think it was hijacked and landed somewhere else.

If this was done by terrorists, wouldn't the associated terrorist group have owned up by now? Terrorism is kind of pointless if it doesn't draw attention to your cause.

SB

Fa.iL.? wrote: But tell me, what is this "black box" transponder you speak of?

The 'Black Box' (Flight Data Recorder) is actually bright orange in color to help find it faster in plane wreckage. It is used to record to a high-impact memory drive all the planes flight data, such as airspeed, altitude, configuration, attitude, power settings and engine data. Their are airlines who receive this data continually via satellite which is sent to their headquarter office. I doubt Malaysia does. (I'm talking big-wigs like Delta, American, United, Air France, British Airways, etc) There is also a 'Cockpit Voice Recorder' which records each the pilots/radio communications (incoming and outgoing), general area cockpit communication, and communication on the PA system. That can be disabled only by Circuit Breakers in the cockpit or a total loss of power to the boxes to include the planes batteries, which run power to those boxes for a time till they also die, even with engine generator failure.

The plane's Transponder is squawk code (4 digits) assigned by controllers to identify each plane individually for radar coverage. Without radar, controllers wont see it. However, individual planes can see each other up to a certain range within certain limits. That can be turned off by simply turning the power switch to 'OFF' or a loss of main power. I do not know if this particular planes backup batteries power the transponders in event of loss of main power, nor am I certain they were even under radar contact during the supposed 4 hour long 'lost contact' flight time.

The 'Emergency Beacon', is integrated into the aircraft tail area to activate once it senses a high G impact. Planes have been using the 121.5 mHz signal which is line-of-sight, and limited in range. However, in the past year or so, all planes where to start using 406 mHz. (Not so sure all planes have it). This new signal transmits the plane's exact position (Latitude/Longitude) to within 3 feet, directly to satellites which relay the signal to receiving stations around the world. These stations would then send a message to the aircraft owner's coverage facility. As long as it is 'Transponding', the satellite keeps relaying. Unlikely down in deep water. I carry a hand-held one on flights. If we have to ditch (and survive), I can board a raft and turn it one, which will do the same thing the plane's built in one does. And the code identifies it as me, and relays my data to my home office. By that point, Search and Rescue' is already notified as well for that part of the world...or so they say. But at least they'd get my Lat/Long position eventually.

So now they are looking into one or both pilots backgrounds for terrorist ties. It is possible the manually turned off their transponder (Maybe disabled the boxes). I really want to see what pans out.

yeah very strange indeed. Now... I read in Reuters that there was only 30 minutes of fuel left after the moment the pilot evaded the radar. It must not be very far.