Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crash

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Crash Flight
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
345 replies · 65K views
Physics news on Phys.org
jedishrfu said:
Lets not forget that this is an epic tragedy and many people are still grieving the loss of family and friends.

I agree but giving them false hope doesn't help. There is a point where you need to accept the reality of death of a loved one and move on with your life for the sake of the living. Some idiot (within the crash investigation) hinting at 'Wonderland' airfields deserves ridicule.
 
Last edited:
New search in the works.

With huge search area mapped, MH370 hunt resuming
http://news.yahoo.com/huge-search-area-mapped-mh370-hunt-resuming-055544313.html

SYDNEY (AP) — After a four-month hiatus, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is about to resume in a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean, with searchers lowering new equipment deep beneath the waves in a bid to finally solve one of the world's most perplexing aviation mysteries.

The GO Phoenix, the first of three ships that will spend up to a year hunting for the wreckage far off Australia's west coast, is expected to arrive in the search zone Sunday, though weather could delay its progress. Crews will use sonar, video cameras and jet fuel sensors to scour the water for any trace of the Boeing 777, . . . .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Unfortunately, we have heard nothing about this. My sympathy is with the affected families who still have questions that will be left unanswered.
 
Evo said:
Now this.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-former-airline-ceo-marc-dugain-30858077.html
That's unfortunate and unhelpful.

Looking at maps of the search area, Diego Garcia is no where near there.

DG is about 4,723 km (2,550.22 nmi) west-northwest of the west coast of Australia (at Cape Range National Park, Western Australia). The search was looking about 2300 km WSW of Perth. Not exactly a threat.

http://www.abc15.com/news/national/how-groundbreaking-number-crunching-found-path-of-malaysia-airlines-flight-370
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysi...ock-winding-down-on-black-box-beacon-battery/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As the search zone for MH-370 continues to yield no answers, an investigative reporter from the West Australian newspaper has interviewed people in The Maldives who at the time reported an off-course passenger airliner that passed low overhead, banked gently, and was shortly followed by a loud boom. The Maldives are a group of islands located on the Equator to the south of India. This aircraft was described as large, very noisy, flying so low they could count multiple doors, and carried red and blue markings, and it brought people out of their homes because the islanders say the only planes they ever see there are small local seaplanes.

At around this time, an array of sensitive underwater microphones off the west coast of Australia picked up a loud sound (not a bang, more like a groan) which triangulates to distant ocean NW of Australia and could be of geological origin, but could also be an aircraft crashing or an intact plane imploding at depth. The Maldives does have a defence radar station, so those who witnessed the aircraft pass overhead are puzzled by a press release from their Defence department denying any aircraft were in the air that morning. It is speculated to be a face-saving measure to cover-up the department's operational deficiencies, and likely explains why reports at the time that the flight may have been MH370 were hastily dismissed.

The reporter said that a flight path west of Indonesia was not inconsistent with the satellite data.

I heard this on a radio interview with the reporter after he returned from The Maldives, but here's a published report from a source that doesn't demand subscription: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/201...ssing-malaysia-airlines-flight_n_7003406.html

There are no reports of traceable wreckage being washed ashore.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa...-plane-debris-on-reunion-island-is-from-a-777

A US official says investigators have a "high degree of confidence" that debris found in the Indian Ocean is from a Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year.

The debris was found on Reunion Island, off the east coast of Africa, raising the possibility it could be from MH370. Malaysia has sent a team to verify the find, and by 10am Thursday (NZ time) investigators made the announcement there was near-certainty it was from a Boeing 777.

The large piece of wreckage appeared to be covered in barnacles, which would suggest it had been in the water for a long time.
 
Woah, it would be great to get some news of that incident, it really haunts me...But there's been so many false alarms to date. Hopefully there's something substantial.
 
Hmmmm off Madagascar sounds plausible to this non-mariner

41B-Image%2BCurrents.jpg
 
Debris Found in Indian Ocean Appears to be Boeing 777 - MH370?
https://gma.yahoo.com/mh370-debris-found-indian-ocean-appears-boeing-777-223631685--abc-news-topstories.html

If connected to the downed plane, the part –- which experts tell ABC News appears to be a wing flap about 2 meters long and 1 meter wide -- but from where, or which aircraft?

Réunion is located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southwest of Mauritius, the nearest island.

Debris on Reunion Island likely from MH370, US officials say
http://www.smh.com.au/world/debris-...m-mh370-us-officials-say-20150730-ginitv.html


Mysterious number BB670

A number found on the aircraft part should allow authorities to confirm whether it is debris from the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 within 24 hours.

The number BB670 on what appears to be a wing flap could link the part definitively, "possibly in 24 hours" to the jetliner that disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014, said Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who has been co-ordinating the search off the coast of Western Australia.

The part that washed up on Reunion was "not inconsistent with what we know" from the bureau's ocean drift modelling, Mr Dolan said.

"On the modelling, yep, something could come ashore at Reunion. It might even, possibly, get to Madagascar," Mr Dolan said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33707445
 
Last edited:
Based on a conversation from the PPRuNe Forums (Professional Pilots Rumor Network), the part is likely something called a Flaperon as seen here.
CuRFrx8.jpg

twitter_3391483b.jpg


That is pretty intact for an aircraft crashing into an ocean. When you compare it to debris from the 2009 Air France crash...

_73726861_624_debris-all.jpg


The Air France debris all shows obvious signs of tearing and deformation that are inconsistant with the piece that was found. I still believe that the aircraft soft-landed in the ocean which minimized the debris. The damage on the flaperon is consistent with being deployed as it struck the water. The bottom edge shows damage where it would have entered the water - eventually separating from its connection point at the front edge. It will be interesting to see what the bottom looks like and what the investigators conclude about the forces involved.
 
Even if it is MH370, they say that it's not probable that they can trace back the wreck from the island debris, that's too bad.
 
DiracPool said:
Even if it is MH370, they say that it's not probable that they can trace back the wreck from the island debris, that's too bad.
I have seen discussions in the PPRuNe thread suggesting that they may be able to analyze the sea life that is attached to determine where it came from. Just one of a hundred things that they will probably be checking. I wouldn't give up yet.
 
A part number on a piece of aircraft wreckage found in the Indian Ocean confirms the object is from a Boeing 777.

A Malaysian transport official said the information is from Malaysia Airlines.

"From the part number, it is confirmed that it is from a Boeing 777 aircraft. This information is from MAS [Malaysia Airlines]. They have informed me," Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said on Friday.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/70741702/mh370-part-number-confirms-debris-from-boeing-777
 
Let's add a volcano just for the hell of it... ?:)

Investigators evacuated from Reunion Island.
Investigators examining a piece of debris suspected to belong to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been forced to flee the site, according to news.com.au.

An emergency evacuation is underway on the island of Reunion where Le Piton de la Fournaise has recorded unusual activity.

Scientists at island's volcanic observatory, the OVPF, warned an eruption was "imminent and probable".
 
While reading through the pilot's thread that I mentioned earlier, one poster listed a number of ways that various types of damage to the flaperon could be distinguished. This one made me laugh.
Gnawing by great white sharks could easily be assessed by Mick Fanning.
 
Borg said:
Let's add a volcano just for the hell of it..

Yeah, unfortunately, this seems to have developed into something of an "MH370 curse." Kind of like the King Tut curse; don't ask too many questions or else...
 
Borg said:
That is pretty intact for an aircraft crashing into an ocean. When you compare it to debris from the 2009 Air France crash...

The Air France debris all shows obvious signs of tearing and deformation that are inconsistant with the piece that was found. I still believe that the aircraft soft-landed in the ocean which minimized the debris. The damage on the flaperon is consistent with being deployed as it struck the water. The bottom edge shows damage where it would have entered the water - eventually separating from its connection point at the front edge. It will be interesting to see what the bottom looks like and what the investigators conclude about the forces involved.
I agree with the last part, about it being deployed, but the rest I'm not so sure of: because it is a movable part, it could change position to avoid damage or rip off in a way to avoid damage better than other parts. I'd be interested to see, specifically, the flaperons from the Air France crash.
(edit: one of the more famous debris photos is of the entire vertical stabilizer, nearly intact, including the rudder).
 
russ_watters said:
I agree with the last part, about it being deployed, but the rest I'm not so sure of: because it is a movable part, it could change position to avoid damage or rip off in a way to avoid damage better than other parts. I'd be interested to see, specifically, the flaperons from the Air France crash.
(edit: one of the more famous debris photos is of the entire vertical stabilizer, nearly intact, including the rudder).
According to what I've been reading, those parts are designed to separate from the wing during a water landing to avoid overstressing the wing and tearing it off. I couldn't find any Air France wing photos other that some murky underwater shots. The wing is the top left photo. It looks like a wing part with separated flaps but it's hard to see how clean the break was.
AF447_DebriField-info.png


I then looked around for photos of the US Airways flight 1549 water landing on the Hudson to see what its wings look like. Both wings were completely intact except for the flaperon on the left wing. Not conclusive evidence I know but it's interesting that the only piece to be found from MH370 is a part that's designed to separate during a water landing. I look forward to seeing what the metallurgical tests reveal.
Gallery-US-Airways-plane--002.jpg


BTW, for those who are interested, Flight 1549 is on display in the Carolinas Aviation Museum.
 
Reply
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: russ_watters
NascentOxygen said:
The Reunion locals are seeing this as all a bit of a yawn. Ocean rubbish washes up on their shore all the time, and fishermen are saying that particular piece of metal has been lying on the sand since May.

... I can't see whether the barnacles on it appear [recently] alive or not.
Interesting. I had not heard that. Certainly it will make the backtrack estimates more difficult if they don't know when it landed.
 

Similar threads

News Malaysia Airlines flight crashes in Ukraine

  • Greg Bernhardt
  • · Replies 108 ·
  • General Discussion
4
Replies
108