Plane Missing

[Mahone]

Further information revealed by Inmarsat as to the final destination of the plane: BBC News - UK firm behind Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 breakthrough

[NeuroTypical]

Wanna understand. They figure they have good data that the plane crashed into the ocean, but they haven't found the plane yet, so that's why they're using terms like "flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean" Do I have that right?

[Just_A_Guy]

sure it was down for 70 some odd years enough time for stuff to "settle".

FWIW (historical geekery coming)--When Titanic sent its distress call, their calculated position was about 15 miles off. But it was "close enough" that the rescue ship found the lifeboats the next morning; and a ship was on scene within a week to begin picking up bodies. Ships were still coming across floating Titanic victims and wreckage two months later.

[Mahone]

Wanna understand. They figure they have good data that the plane crashed into the ocean, but they haven't found the plane yet, so that's why they're using terms like "flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean" Do I have that right?

From the bits of pieces of information I've read today, my understanding is that the data provided by Inmarsat only provides conclusive evidence that the plane crashed into the ocean, a long way from any land. That means that after this much time has passed, it's extremely unlikely that there are any survivors based on past statistics.

However, the data cannot provide a more precise location, so they are still searching for the wreckage of the plane across a big area.

[Palerider]

Are we getting any closer on learning anything ?

[Guest]

Is it just me, or has CNN become the exact same as HLN???

It's been days and days that CNN has not talked about anything else besides the plane. I have not caught a single time that they discussed Crimea or any developments on Obamacare - end of March is pretty important milestone for this and that's getting closer without any news coverage!

I'm getting sick of it. It's becoming like Jodi Arias' trial over at Nancy Grace!

And you know - the problem with this is - it doesn't matter anymore what happened to the plane. Nobody will believe Inmarsat when they say it dropped in the ocean... because the sensational stories - terrorism, alien invasion, etc. - are so out there that the simplest explanation will just not fly anymore.

[carlimac]

Is it just me, or has CNN become the exact same as HLN???

It's been days and days that CNN has not talked about anything else besides the plane. I have not caught a single time that they discussed Crimea or any developments on Obamacare - end of March is pretty important milestone for this and that's getting closer without any news coverage!

I'm getting sick of it. It's becoming like Jodi Arias' trial over at Nancy Grace!

And you know - the problem with this is - it doesn't matter anymore what happened to the plane. Nobody will believe Inmarsat when they say it dropped in the ocean... because the sensational stories - terrorism, alien invasion, etc. - are so out there that the simplest explanation will just not fly anymore.

Are they still focused on it? I gave up watching CNN last week. I got saturated after a few hours. How do they keep it up? Have they mentioned the WA landslide yet?

[Guest]

Are they still focused on it? I gave up watching CNN last week. I got saturated after a few hours. How do they keep it up? Have they mentioned the WA landslide yet?

Yes, they're still focused on it. I have not heard them cover ANYTHING else. Not even the mudslide. Not the storm. Nothing. MORNING NOON AND NIGHT! But I have to admit, I have the TV on low volume as I work so I only glance at it once in a while trying to catch any "Breaking News" and everytime I glance at the TV it's the plane.

I changed the channel to Fox today. I just got tired of waiting for news in CNN. And here's a big difference, in addition to the plane, this is what I caught on Fox for the 30 minutes that I spent catching some news: Fox was talking about the jumpers off the Freedom tower getting arrested, Obama on Ukraine and Russia, a giant car pile-up on the freeway due to the storm, updates on WA mudslide, Obamacare's contraception lawsuit with Hobby Lobby, Freedom of the Press issues with the NSA.

[pam]

CNN has the story of the mudslide on their front page as one of the headliners.

Washington state landslide claims 14 lives, up to 176 are missing - CNN.com

[Just_A_Guy]

It's been days and days that CNN has not talked about anything else besides the plane. I have not caught a single time that they discussed Crimea or any developments on Obamacare - end of March is pretty important milestone for this and that's getting closer without any news coverage!

Think that's a coincidence, do you?

[MarginOfError]

Are they still focused on it? I gave up watching CNN last week. I got saturated after a few hours. How do they keep it up? Have they mentioned the WA landslide yet?

I gave up on CNN in the late 90's.

[Blackmarch]

There is something like 7-10 methods used for tracking flights. This is the technology that I am talking about.

sure, mostly involving radio to microwaves in some manner or another. We've had these for years the main improvements today is how fine they can get the resolution and also use adaptive and predictive programming to clear out clutter and false returns (which allows for further ranges, looking closer to the ground, as well as more reliable and quicker identification).

As well as having more installations out in the world today with generally better intercommunication between all the various agencies and equipment that use them.

the problem with communications tracking is when the communications stop.

the other big improvement is having more satellites with better resolution. Dunno why it seems they are turning to satellite data now rather than earlier.. if going by what the media has been reporting has any accuracy.

Another thought occurred to me; is that I can not think of any civilian agency that uses satellites to actively track planes (especially through any means other than communications).

if the plane was primarily being covered by radars that are still 70s-80s stuff they probably still have pretty significant ground to altitude gaps, plus earth curvature problems. The best way of tracking the plane disappeared when the transponders and other communications devices went out or were turned off. Or just went out of range

second best source would have been the ground radars covering the area. And once all transmissions from the jet ceased, it pretty much disappeared once it was out of any ground radar range.

optical and infrared if you are already have a fix on the target or the area its in or on the contrail (don't have a lot of time to track a contrail tho). Infrared also could have helped if there was something like a fire from the crash. (but I doubt there was one)....... and the agencies that have the best satellite ones of those are probably not going to share ( supposing they were eyeing the area that the jet was covering in the first place).

oceanic chemical analysis after the crash, but that only works if youre in the right area down stream and supposing that there are enough chemicals being put out.

I suppose magnetic field disturbance or electric field disturbance can be used but as far as I'm aware you'd have to be pretty much on top of something to get a reading.

Edit:

lol just found this link, may be helpful: BBC News - How do you track a plane?

according to the article, the reason its believed the flight did fly for at least a couple hours after it "disappeared" was because the gps satellite did get 2 gps requests from the plane's gps system)... and unfortunately most gps systems don't give location info back to the gps satellite.

once we find the wreck, or enough wreckage we may be able to determine how it crashed, possibly why. but most likely until we get the black boxes we won't have a good idea of either.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Blackmarch

[Guest]

Okay, it's 12:30 EDST. So, from 12:30-12:45 this is what's being talked about (I'm flipping between CNN and Fox just to compare)

On CNN - Legal View with Ashley Banfield

- Same thing, they are still talking about the plane. They have this news woman out on a boat somewhere in an ocean talking about high-tech sonar. Even the news banner running down the bottom of the screen is all about the plane.

On Fox - Happening Now

- They are interviewing this guy who wrote a book about TSA. The banner on the bottom has Crimea, mudslide, and plane, Bulk Phone records staying in the hands of phone companies for 18 months, NSA for 5 years. Oscar Patronus murder case closing.

- That lasted about 5 minutes then they're now talking about Crimea's oil pipelines and natural gas to Europe and how it is going to affect price of energy worldwide. They're interviewing this energy guy who is saying that if Putin is not careful, this could unleash the US' energy grab in the world economy which, according to this energy guy, is a better response than sanctioning certain Russian individuals or doing a military response.

I almost didn't want to flip back to CNN because I'm curious what he has to say. But, I flip over just to see what's happening now on CNN - same thing. Plane. The banner - plane. They're not talking about anything else!

Guys, it's a media black-out over in CNN. It really is HLN now! It's really quite interesting! CNN is on its way to become a joke of a news station.

[applepansy]

When things like this overtake the media I often wonder what they are NOT talking about that will adversely affect my life.

[Guest]

1:00 PM:

CNN - plane. Narrowing search area for missing plane. That's all they're talking about.

But there are more stuff on the banner now. Russia kicked out of G8. Obamacare and Hobby Lobby. NSA's phone data collection. But they're not talking about it.

Fox - This is what they're talking about: No women allowed to serve lunch in the Nuclear Summit 2014. Obama reacts to Romney's "I told you so" comment. Nov election fate of Dems and Repubs due to anti-Obamacare political ads. Reid refusing to extend enrollment per vulnerable Dems repeated requests. Hobby Lobby. And plane.

Yep, all that in 5 minutes...

[Blackmarch]

no mention of the missing radioactive material on any of the channels? yep news media is a joke.

[Guest]

2:35PM

CNN - Plane! Still! Non-stop plane plane plane.

Fox - NYT Reporter fighting to avoid revealing his sources... having some debate going on between two people. This is after a short clip on the Blade Runner's trial and a short update on the plane about relatives getting 5,000 bucks and some commentary on debris analysis. And then some tidbit on panic when Southwest 4013 lands on the wrong airport.

Lots of news over at Fox. Only Malaysian plane worth news at CNN.

Interesting, isn't it?

Edited March 25, 2014 by anatess

[Palerider]

When things like this overtake the media I often wonder what they are NOT talking about that will adversely affect my life.

Same here.....there are still things we have no answers to and makes me wonder if we ever will.

[Guest]

2:43:

CNN - Plane!

Fox - DAVID ARCHULETTA IS HOME FROM HIS MISSION! And then plane.

That's it. I'm officially dropping CNN and setting my TV to Fox for my work-day background hum...

[carlimac]

The thing that's interesting about this laser focus on the missing plane and so little on the WA landslide is the discrepancy in the number of Americans involved and the real potential for more harm.

The plane is missing. Only ideas of possibly where. 3 Americans on board- probably deceased. Weeks of continuous coverage by CNN.

Landslide in WA- known location. 14 Americans for sure deceased and over 100 missing. The hillside is unstable and could shift more plus a river has backed up creating a dam that could cause severe flooding. A few minutes coverage every few hours by CNN.

Makes no sense.

[Palerider]

Both events are horrible.....feel sorry for all families affected by these events. I want to know if the plane was an act of terrorism.

[carlimac]

I agree Palerider. Both are horrible. I don't believe it was terrorism. I think one of the pilots just wigged out.

[Palerider]

I agree Palerider. Both are horrible. I don't believe it was terrorism. I think one of the pilots just wigged out.

I hope you are correct.

[Guest]

10:15

CNN - Oil spill! yeay! No plane!

Didn't bother checking Fox. Went to watch Epic at HBO.

[pam]

The thing that's interesting about this laser focus on the missing plane and so little on the WA landslide is the discrepancy in the number of Americans involved and the real potential for more harm.

The plane is missing. Only ideas of possibly where. 3 Americans on board- probably deceased. Weeks of continuous coverage by CNN.

Landslide in WA- known location. 14 Americans for sure deceased and over 100 missing. The hillside is unstable and could shift more plus a river has backed up creating a dam that could cause severe flooding. A few minutes coverage every few hours by CNN.

Makes no sense.

It makes sense...journalism sensationalism. All of these theories of what could have happened to the plane make much better news than a mudslide in Washington. It's unfortunate but it's how it is. And we all feed into it.