I’ve avoided this topic, waiting for another shoe to drop. Now it has.
Malaysian Air Flight 370 has been an enigma almost right from the beginning. Large jet aircraft do not simply disappear. Not in 2014. A little voice in my head kept saying that there’s a lot more than we’re being told.
No debris field was found. Had the jet exploded high in the air, a large debris field would have been spotted, as seen following the loss of TWA flight 800. If the jet dove into the water, the debris field would have been smaller, but most definitely findable. The black boxes are designed to send signals following a crash or an explosion. It hasn’t. The 777 has redundant communications systems, which are not easy to disable.
We were told the aircraft just disappeared without a trace. Later we learned that that was not true. The Malaysian government has been the biggest pain in the ass during the time the flight has been missing.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian authorities said on Thursday there was no evidence that a jetliner missing for almost six days flew for hours after losing contact with air traffic controllers and continued to transmit technical data.
Those in the know knew better:
U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for up to four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky.
The investigators believe the plane flew for a total of up to five hours, according to these people, based on analysis of signals sent by the Boeing 777’s satellite-communication link designed to automatically transmit the status of certain onboard systems to the ground.
Throughout the roughly four hours after the jet dropped from civilian radar screens, these people said, the link operated in a kind of standby mode and sought to establish contact with a satellite or satellites. These transmissions did not include data, they said, but the periodic contacts indicate to investigators that the plane was still intact and believed to be flying.
But those dopes in Kuala Lumpur denied it:
“Those reports are inaccurate,” Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference. “As far as both Rolls-Royce and Boeing are concerned, those reports are inaccurate. The last (data) transmission from the aircraft was at 01:07 a.m.(local time) which indicated that everything was normal.”
Now the big question- is the Malaysian government that stupid or are they inept? Or worse?
It stinks. It stinks bad.
Now come some amazing revelations:
The pilot is described as a “fanatic” and there is more eyebrow raising news:
An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet wearing a T-shirt with a ‘Democracy is Dead’ slogan as it has been revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a ‘fanatical’ supporter of the country’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim – jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.
It has also been revealed that the pilot’s wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.
It comes as FBI investigators say the disappearance of MH370 may have been ‘an act of piracy’ and the possibility that hundreds of passengers are being held at an unknown location has not been ruled out.
Officials also revealed that it is possible the aircraft could have landed and transmitted a satellite signal from the ground. If the plane was intact and had enough electrical power in reserve, it would be able to send out a radar ‘ping’.
The second we learned that officials were seeking to search the pilot’s home it was apparent something curious was ongoing, and we weren’t privy to it.
Malaysian officials are now certain that the jet was hijacked.
The jet is described as having climbed to 45,000 feet, possibly to cause the passengers and crew to lose consciousness, before plunging rapidly. The accuracy of the altitude changes is in dispute, however:
Goglia said he is very skeptical of reports the plane was flying erratically while it was being tracked by military radar, including steep ascents to very high altitudes and then sudden, rapid descents. Without a transponder signal, the ability to track planes isn’t reliable at very high altitudes or with sudden shifts in altitude, he said.
There seems little doubt that the aircraft was hijacked and given the complexity of the actions taken, it appears that it was conducted by those with specially trained skills.
TRANSPONDER
One clue is that the plane’s transponder – a signal system that identifies the plane to radar – was shut off about an hour into the flight.
In order to do that, someone in the cockpit would have to turn a knob with multiple selections to the off position while pressing down at the same time, said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board. That’s something a pilot would know how to do, but it could also be learned by someone who researched the plane on the Internet, he said.
ACARS
Another clue is that part of the Boeing 777’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was shut off.
The system, which has two parts, is used to send short messages via a satellite or VHF radio to the airline’s home base. The information part of the system was shut down, but not the transmission part. In most planes, the information part of the system can be shut down by hitting cockpit switches in sequence in order to get to a computer screen where an option must be selected using a keypad, said Goglia, an expert on aircraft maintenance.
That’s also something a pilot would know how to do, but that could also be discovered through research, he said.
But to turn off the other part of the ACARS, it would be necessary to go to an electronics bay beneath the cockpit. That’s something a pilot wouldn’t normally know how to do, Goglia said, and it wasn’t done in the case of the Malaysia plane. Thus, the ACARS transmitter continued to send out blips that were recorded by the Inmarsat satellite once an hour for four to five hours after the transponder was turned off. The blips don’t contain any messages or data, but the satellite can tell in a very broad way what region the blips are coming from and adjusts the angle of its antenna to be ready to receive message in case the ACARS sends them. Investigators are now trying to use data from the satellite to identify the region where the plane was when its last blip was sent.
GUIDED FLIGHT
The third indication is that that after the transponder was turned off and civilian radar lost track of the plane, Malaysian military radar was able to continue to track the plane as it turned west.
The plane was then tracked along a known flight route across the peninsula until it was several hundred miles (kilometers) offshore and beyond the range of military radar. Airliners normally fly from waypoint to waypoint where they can be seen by air traffic controllers who space them out so they don’t collide. These lanes in the sky aren’t straight lines. In order to follow that course, someone had to be guiding the plane, Goglia said.
I do not know what happened to 370 but flying and landing it without ground contact would require a really good pilot. Simulators don’t teach one how to land jumbos.
Still, we’re beginning to see a little more clearly. The pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, is described as a “fanatic.”
By whom? Officials of the Malaysian government?
Captian Shah was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Ibrahim. And hours before the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is understood 53-year-old Shah attended a controversial trial in which Ibrahim was jailed for five years.
Campaigners say the politician, the key challenger to Malaysia’s ruling party, was the victim of a long-running smear campaign and had faced trumped-up charges.
Police sources have confirmed that Shah was a vocal political activist – and fear that the court decision left him profoundly upset. It was against this background that, seven hours later, he took control of a Boeing 777-200 bound for Beijing and carrying 238 passengers and crew.
Shah was wearing a t-shirt that read “democracy is dead.”
That could be the tell.
Malaysia, once leaning toward democracy, has been drifting toward fundamental Islam over the last few years.
The vast majority of Indonesians are still moderate in their practice of Islam, and the fundamentalists have limited appeal. But they’re gaining traction, and there is a danger that the population can be swayed by the loudest voices, especially when they blame poverty on corrupt, secular politicians in the government. Wahid says that the moderates must initiate an open debate–which societies in Indonesia and Malaysia have thus far tended to shy away from–on what kind of Islam they want. Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, head of the Institute of Islamic Understanding, Malaysia’s Islamic think tank, agrees. “The Muslim idea of tolerance means that you have mutual respect, forgiveness and magnanimity [for others],” he says. “If you ask now if those [attitudes] have weakened, the answer is yes.” The region’s moderate leaders must work harder to strengthen them, or risk seeing two anchor countries slide into extremism.
And it has continued:
Rise of strict Islam exposes tensions in Malaysia
Over the last two years, churches have been firebombed and Bibles have been seized in an ongoing row between Christians and Muslims over the use of the word ‘Allah’.
The religious minority insists that they have been using the term for centuries in the Malay language to refer to the Christian god.
But in 1986, the government banned non-Muslim from using the word ‘Allah’ in publications. This ban was not usually enforced until recently when the government began to act upon it at the behest of some Muslim groups.
In a move seen as a bid to win Malay-Muslim votes, the government argued that for non-Muslims, calling their gods ‘Allah’ would be confusing to the Muslim-majority and threaten national security.As a result, Malay-language Bibles have been impounded by customs officials. Some Muslim activists fear that Christians are using the Bibles to convert Muslims.
Attacks on places of worship came after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled in December 2009 that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to Islam. The government has appealed against the decision but no hearing date has been set yet.
Use of ‘Allah’ still unresolved for Malaysia’s Christians
Christians in Malaysia have endured steady attacks on their faith during the past year. There have been taunts, such as a banner declaring “Jesus is the son of Allah” attached to railings of a church in the popular resort island of Penang. There have been threats, including petrol bombs hurled at a church, and the seizure of bibles. And there has been the hounding of Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of a Catholic newspaper, who insisted his paper will continue to use the word “Allah” to name God when appropriate, despite his effigy being burnt, protests outside his church, and a charge of sedition being laid against him.
Malasia is becoming less secular and more Islamic:
Rising Islamic conservatism in Malaysia
Former premier Mahathir Mohamad believes that Islam is under siege in Malaysia. He is not alone.
With religion fast becoming the most contentious source of disputes in Malaysia, this perception has given rise to a host of conservative Islamic groups becoming more vocal.
At the root of their grievances is their belief that non-Muslims and “liberal” Muslims are attacking the dominance of Islam in Malaysia, and Malays in general.
For them, the “Allah” issue – where Christians want to use “Allah” to refer to their God – is simply the last straw.
Since the 1970s, Malaysia has had many Islamic groups which have taken conservative stances on issues relating to human rights, women’s rights and homosexuality, and in their relations with non-Muslim groups. Probably the most well known, started by a young Anwar Ibrahim in 1971, is Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia, or Abim, which pushed for more Islamisation of public life including legal and financial systems.
Democracy is deteriorating in Malaysia:
Most democracies achieve political legitimacy from a popular perception of effective and upright governance. Malaysia’s self-described “best democracy in the world” is looking increasingly tarnished these days, following the recent election and return to power of its long-ruling Barisan National party. As President Obama plans a long awaited trip to Malaysia in April he should be aware of the toxic mix of racial politics being fomented by the Malaysian ruling party.
Despite losing the popular vote, the BN triumphed again in the country’s 2013 elections, disappointing a growing opposition that had high hopes after a strong performance in 2008. The entrenched political hierarchy, instead of being humbled by its near defeat, is attempting to strengthen its hold on the country and its institutions, ignoring the need for change. Its autocratic insistence on adhering to past practices of repression, racism, corruption and cronyism have led observers to qualify its system of government as semi, quasi or limited democracy.
In the latest World Press Freedom index, Malaysia has hit an historic low, ranking 147 out of 180 countries, reflecting the government’s increased repression of media freedoms by suspending publications that dare to criticize the Prime Minister, denying licenses to media outlets, censoring publications and restricting access to information.
The declining popularity of the Naijib Razak government is reflected in the increasing popularity of Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat coalition which is calling for ending the erosion of democracy in Malaysia. The fact that Ibrahim’s party won the popular vote is an indication that the current electoral system is due for reform based on the principle of popular sovereignty, not on the basis of a selective franchise. In Malaysia all votes are not equal, with the apportionment of seats to states not based on their populations, with the result that rural votes have more weight than urban votes.
Anwar Ibrahim is a believer in democracy:
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was deputy prime minister of Malaysia from 1993 to 1998 and served as Malaysia’s minister of finance from 1991 to 1998. He is a well-known advocate for democracy and international dialogue. He was internationally recognized for his management of the 1997 Asian financial crisis in Malaysia and has served as Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1998. After numerous requests for government reform, Ibrahim was dismissed from the Malaysian government in 1998, legally tried, and jailed until international pressure resulted in his release in 2004. Since then he has lectured widely, including at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is currently an advisor to the People’s Justice Party in Malaysia. He was one of the 138 Muslim signatories in October 2007 of A Common Word Between Us and You, a letter addressed to Christian leaders in an appeal for peace and cooperation between the two religions.
Ibrahim is the opposition leader in Malaysia. After multiple accusations, Ibrahim was found innocent of sodomy, a crime under Islam. In what appears bald political abuse, prosecutors repeatedly appealed the acquittal. On March 7, Ibrahim was found guilty of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison.
Anwar, 66, is the most potent threat to Najib, whose popular support has weakened over the last two elections. If he loses the appeal, Anwar will have to give up his Parliament seat and go to jail. He would also be disqualified from contesting any elections for five years after his release.
Sodomy, even consensual, is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia and is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
International human rights groups say the legal moves against Anwar are politically motivated.
Captain Shah attended the trial and then headed to the airport.
On March 8, Malaysian Air Flight 370 disappeared.
It is against this backdrop that Captain Shah’s consternation must be viewed. That is why if Shah hijacked the aircraft I would fear less for the passengers than had a radical Muslim done it. If the plane is intact, I doubt it’s in Pakistan.
And I don’t think the Malaysian government is really interested in the world learning the whole story.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
@Rich Wheeler:
That doesn’t wash RW, the attack on the embassy when Stevens was killed was an attack on American soil. You were a Marine, you should know that.
RICH WHEELER
TOUCHEY
@Dr. John #47:
“Possibly, George, but I wonder why, when Malaysia is already sliding toward conservative Islam, would a guy desirous of conservative Islam do this?”
Dr., I believe that you have answered your own question. Your question is precisely MY question. Why WOULD he? (I remind you that at this point, we do not KNOW that Shah did this. EVERYTHING we are reading is bold speculation. If there are tiny morsels of fact buried in the mountain of media coverage we are being barraged with, how would we recognize them?
This mystery might someday be solved. Maybe it will be when the missing plane shows up headed toward Tel Aviv. Maybe it will be when some traceable fragment floats ashore somewhere. Maybe it will come with an announcement by an incoming regime in a country where the replaced regime had conspired with the hijacker for reasons unknown and kept the plane’s whereabouts a closely guarded secret. (It seems to me that if the plane has successfully landed ANYWHERE, there is at least one, radar-operating country that knows about it and again, for reasons unknown, isn’t talking.)
So many nefarious possibilities, and so few innocent ones. No wonder that conspiracy theories abound.
Wait.
@Redteam #50:
Pin it on Obama. Obama’s election may be blamed on an American electorate that was tired of G.W. Bush’s military adventurism and concurrent tax relief that combined to wreck the country’s financial ability to wage such mischief in the first place. Obama’s empty pockets saved us from what otherwise may have invited Armageddon, as Russia is not nearly so weak an adversary as Iraq and Afghanistan. No, Putin MAY have demurred in the Crimean if we were in tip-top shape… IF he believed that we were crazy enough to risk thermo-nuclear annihilation over our marginally allied friends in the Ukraine. But it is just as likely that he would gamble that we were more rational than that, and thus could be bluffed by an adversary known for his irrational behavior. No, we weren’t “punked”. We were out-played.
@Redteam: How many died on 9/11? Obama’s watch still has a pretty good cushion.
Tom’s disagreement with Nan was over an existing U.S treaty (??) with The Ukraine.
I believe plane was hi-jacked–went down in Indian Ocean and may never be found.
If Crimea wants to return to Russian rule–good riddance. Same with Texas lol
@Rich Wheeler: you are the one that said Obama would respond if there was an attack on American soil. So tell us, what did he do? Latest info says he hasn’t even authorized an investigation. Now that is a STRONG CIC.
@Redteam: Where did I say that? I spoke of Bush watch casualties vs. Obama watch casualties to date. Not close.
Bees got it.
@Rich Wheeler: in 39, you said:
As a result of 9/11 some foreigners have been exterminated. As a result of 9/11/12, no foreigners have died. Not even investigated, as I said.
@Rich Wheeler:
Are you saying you would be ok with Mexico sending troops into Texas? Say all the illegal Mexicans in Texas asked them to come in? would you be ok with that? How about if they sent troops into southern Cal?
@Redteam: You missed MY point twice–as usual.
1) domestic casualties to date.
2) Crimea succession/ Texas threatened succession.
KISS
I got Gators/Shockers final.
@Rich Wheeler: 2)
How many troops did Russia have to get into Crimea to make the Crimeans vote their way? How many Mexican troops would need to come into Texas to make them vote for Mexico?
Sounds good.
Your point was that if foreigners killed Americans on America soil, he would do something. I don’t consider ‘nothing’ as ‘doing something’. How many Americans do you think it is permissible for foreigners to kill on American soil before he should do something?
Ah Rich, do you remember? The bulk of our fighting men come from the heartland, and Texas has been a major contributor. Liberal parents don’t encourage their sons to pick up arms, but in this age of a political army and not allowing Marines to carry the chrome bolts for their obsolete M-14’s in parades with the president, maybe it is easier to forget about the willingness to serve by those from our Western states. Why not ask why these people are so mad they are willing to secede? Isn’t that a core tenant of Liberalism or have we devolved into totalitarianism and such questions are rhetorical?
@Redteam: My point was a lot less Americans have been killed by terrorists. To me that means something is being done.
Crimeans have always preferred the Russians to the Ukranian govt.
No amount of Mexican troops could coerce Texans or Californians.
George Wells
YOU GOT SOME NERVE ON 54 TO BASH GEORGE BUSH, LIKE AN IGNORANT WITH A BIG MOUTH.
IT’S NOT THAT THE PEOPLE WHERE TIRED, IT’S OBAMA CONSTANTLY PUSHING HIS BLAME
ON GEORGE BUSH from THE FIRST DAYS OF HIS MANY SPEECHS TO THE NATION , CONSTANTLY ,
GEORGE BUSH EARNED THE CREDIBILITY OF ALL PEACEFULL NATIONS WHO STOOD WITH HIM,
WHILE THE DEMOCRATS WHERE PICKING ON HIM , DEMONIZING HIM,INSTEAD OF SUPORTING HIS GIANT EFFORTS, TO SHOW THE ENEMY THAT THEY WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH NOTHING, he was and is a true AMERICAN WITH ROOTS HEALTHY AND DEEP IN THE GROUND, and his ALLEGIANCE was totaly to AMERICA,
OBAMA MADE HIM A VILAN, THERE IS NO COMPARISON WHITH THE TWO,
TO THE POINT THAT THE PEOPLE HATED HIM TO KILL HIM, IT WAS BUSH FAULT ON EVRY SPEECH,
HE STARTED HIS INDOCTRINATION WITH PROMOTING THE BLAME BUSH, AND CONTINUE ON CHANGING THE FOUNDAMENTAL SPIRIT OF THIS NATION,
YOU HAVE THE NERVE,
TO CALL BUSH A MILITARY ADVANTURIST, IT SHOW HOW FAR OUT YOU HAVE BECOME, SO OBAMA SAVE YOU THAT’S WHAT YOU SAID, IT’S UNBELIEVEBLE TO HEAR THAT,
GEORGE BUSH DID WHAT HE HAD TO DO, AND HE HAD THE COURAGE AND,
DID NOT BLAME ANY OTHER FOR HIS DECISIONS, HE KEPT AMERICA SPIRIT HIGH, AND ALL KNEW
NOT TO CROSS HIM, HIS LEGACY IS WITH THE BEST PRESIDENTS TODAY,
NOT STAINED BY OTHER EXTERIOR INFLUENCE,
NO WEAKNESS IN HIS BEHAVIOR AND HE WAS RESPECTED MORE , BECAUSE HE DID WHAT HAS TO BE DONE,
AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT,
you are just a little twirt not suited to talk,
against GEORGE BUSH, HE WAS MUCH BIGGER THAN YOU,
DISAPEARANCE PLANE
In the initial stages of the plane disappearance, our government assured us, there is no chance of this being a terrorist operation or a Muslim fanatic, but now, they realize those assurances may come back to haunt them.
Oh, they made those assurances without complete information; now, they realize they may have protected the fanatics prematurely, why?
We are now accused of jumping to conclusions prematurely with the gathering evidence; yet, our leadership has once again expressed its sympathy to the only group that has attacked America in over 200 years, a group they refuse to admit we are at war with; a group to whom, they are willing to squander our military victories in an effort to appease. Unfortunately, no one has convinced them the war is over and they won. Yes, you can win a war, but lose the peace. Sun Tzu wrote of this 2400 years ago in the Art of War. We had no defined objective; another mistake described by General Sun; in fact, he wrote, unless you are committed to complete victory and willing to destroy your enemy until he has lost the will to fight, you should not go to war. Our generals studied Tzu’s book in the war college’s but the lessons have been forgotten as they concentrated on fighting Obama’s politically correct war.
In Obama Speak, we declare victory and prepare for the inevitable wave of terror of the future. We should have told Obama that General Sun’s book might have helped him pick his NBA brackets, he might have made time to read the little book before losing the wars on terror.
Skookum
it remind me of the rules of CONSERVATIVES,
we had on a post not so long ago some weeks ago,
and one of them is to win war,
i really liked that list, specialy the rules of war for CONSERVATIVES,
BYE
Chinese have ruled out Uighur passenger
MalayMail 3/15: “…the Uighur is still in Turkey and apparently was never on the plane..
MySanAntonio 3/18: China finds no terror link to its nationals on jet
And consider this morning’s update:
MalaysiaToday 3/18: Cops find five Indian Ocean practice runways in MH370 pilot’s simulator, BH reports
wtd
thank you for the new news for a change,
bye
@bees #64″
“YOU GOT SOME NERVE ON 54 TO BASH GEORGE BUSH”
Bees: in #54, I pointed out that it was BUSH who started the Iraq and Afghan wars, and it was Bush who signed into law massive tax cuts. Give credit where credit is due: Bush did both of those things. If you think that recounting the achievements of OUR 43rd president is “bashing” him, well, then you probably like what he did as much as I do. I have the courage to tell the truth. You should try it.
The government in Kuala Lumpur is a clown car
@George Wells:
It is also true that Bush’s budget deficit was down to $160 million in 2007, just before 1. democrats took control of Congress and 2. the Clinton financial IED went off.
@Dr. John #72:
You ARE aware that tax cuts have a delayed impact on budget deficits…
But to the point of this thread, there IS increasing evidence that the captain and/or co-pilot were at the heart of what happened to MA370. And the media is insisting that the reported tee shirt WAS “pro-democracy,” a curious direction for a extreme fundamentalist faction of Islam to have taken, wouldn’t you say? I’m wondering how this fits in with “the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend” thinking…
@George Wells:
Oh, I am aware
And yes, I too am convinced the crew is behind this, if not all the crew. Simply crashing the jet didn’t require all this skullduggery. In speculation, if this is a pro-democracy protest, the jet is not likely intended for a US destination.
English is the universal aviation language, but why not a tee shirt in Malay?
That government is so screwed up it’s hard to make sense of anything they’re saying so even further speculation is difficult but that pilot knew how to make the jet disappear. A rise in altitude could be used to either incapacitate or kill the passengers yet that seems cruel for a guy who by most accounts didn’t seem like he’d ever do something like that. It’s not as though he was Mohammed Atta in a new land. Shah was home.
We’ll see.
FWIW:
Malay Online
Maldives ‘sighting’ of low flying plane
Maldives ‘witnesses’ report seeing ‘low flying jet’ on morning that MH370 disappeared
Five Indian Ocean runways found on Captain’s simulator
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/10704769/Malaysian-Airlines-MH370-live.html
OK, that might put it south of the west coast of Australia.
The Aussies are taking this seriously enough to have set up a search grid over there.
Their map:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02855/Malaysia-map2_2855013b.jpg
Every day we go further afield as far as theories are concerned.
I like that – in this case at least – this one is based on an eye witness,whether the media uses scare quotes or not.
@Nanny G #76:
The Maldives? Wow!
If this captain was good enough to fly a jumbo jet under the radar that HAD to be working SOMEWHERE amongst the four international airports and handful of regional ones scattered around the Maldives, he should be trying out to pilot a spaceship! Either this guy is an uncelebrated (as yet) genius (and partly wacko to boot) or we’re still chasing the wrong wild goose. I can’t wait for the finale – hope it’s not a cliff-hanger!
@Rich Wheeler:63
Tell us what that ‘something’ is.
Especially when a rifle is pointed at their heads, right? How do you know that about the Crimeans? Who told you?
So you’re saying that if 15000 Mexican troops moved into Brownsville, Tx and surrounded them and the US did nothing about it and Mexico told the people in Brownsville they had to vote as to whether they wanted to be annihilated or be part of Mexico, that they would choose to be annihilated?
@Redteam: What’s being done?–don’t know but keep up the good work!
Every student of history knows people of Crimea have always been pro Russian.
How the heck are 15,ooo Mexican troops gonna “move into” Brownsville Tex?
@George Wells: I’m not speculating as to where that plane is, but if an airplane is flying low (say at 5000 ft) it is detectable by radar for only about 20 miles. And most likely then, only if someone is on a radar looking for them. (assuming transponder is turned off). If you look at a map of the world, there are no sites between Malaysia and the Maldives where a radar set would be located that would detect the aircraft. No one has said that the GPS control was not operating on the plane. Auto pilots on planes do not require any external communication. GPS does not require transmissions from the airplane, only a receiver. Any qualified pilot of a 777 should have been able to fly it from Malaysia to Maldives with no assistance from anyone assuming either aircraft or handheld GPS receivers. Seems that to land in Maldives, someone would have to know. Runway in Maldives is long enough.
@Rich Wheeler:
good work? 4 persons, including an Ambassador on American territory is ‘good work’? Well, some people just have different standards, I guess.
Ah, so you’re now going with “everybody knows it” theme? So, are you a student of history?, I have a grandson with a PHD in History and he said he didn’t ‘know it’. Were there polls done over the years to see if Crimeans were ‘pro Russian”?
In the air, on land and by sea. How did the Russians move into Crimea? Same way. I think you’re either trying to dodge the question, or to be funny.
@Redteam: Again I say, Crimean residents over 80% Russian, were glad Russian troops came in.
Brownsville residents AND American govt. would not be so welcoming of Mexican troops ( Mex. air force and navy-that is a joke.)
@Rich Wheeler:
Well, we don’t know how the real Crimean residents (only Russian immigrants) feel about it and we know that Ukraine was not happy about it, but, hey, put a rifle barrel against most persons heads and you can likely get them to vote however you want them to vote.
and was the Ukrainian govt welcoming of Russian troops?
Just watched presentation of Medal of Honor to 24 heroes. These are real heroes, it is remarkable to hear of some of (actually all of) their acts of heroism. I only wish Obama hadn’t chose to cheapen the awarding of these medal by doing it in a ‘wholesale’ fashion. Each recipient is/was entitled to their own ceremony/award. I don’t know who’s idea this wholesale presentation was, I’m not blaming Obama for the idea, but he should have vetoed it because each person should have their time. It’s like they decided to figure out how to make Obama looked good and this is what they came up with. Shameful, but it does not detract from the individuals that did the acts of heroism to help their fellow comrades.
Malaysia just threw a monkey wrench into all the theories, folks.
They vastly changed when the co-pilot said, ”All right, good night.”
Read it and recalibrate all theories:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/18/malaysia-s-sinister-timeline-for-flight-370-unravels.html
@Rich Wheeler: I got Spartans vs Cardinals in the final. Gators and Michigan in final four.
@Common Sense: Lotta people like Spartans (Izzo a winner) and Cardinals (Pitino best coach in the game.)
My heart if not my head with Shockers. Fla, with another great coach–Donovan- is probably best all around on paper.
My huge sleeper Harvard $1 WINS $1000. Good luck and enjoy.
Richard Wheeler
ON 79,
you surely know that it take only one skunk to stink a whole neighborhood,
and it took VLADIMIR PUTIN to stink UKRAINE AND CRIMEA,
ONE MORE DESPERATE SCENARIO,
WHAT IF THEY HAD TO LAND THE PLANE, YES BUT FAIL TO CHECK IF THAT SPOT IS SOLID,
[ HOW COULD THEY?]
AND THEY SUNK IN THE EARTH MUDDY LAND DEEP INSIDE, NO WAY TO BE SEEN, MIGHT NOT BE COMPLETLY SUNK,
NO WAY TO TRANSMIT , BECAUSE THEY HAD SHUT OUT THE TRANSPONDER WHILE IN FLIGHT
AS A MATTER OF FACT IT WAS JUST AFTER THEY LEFT,
SO THEY CAN’T GET OUT THE DOOR ARE STUCK CLOSE IN THE MUDD, OR QUICKSAND, OR OTHER SPONGIOUS MATTER OF THE EARTH,
AND ALL THE PASSENGERS MIGHT BE SUFFOCATING, OR ALIVE, UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING,
BUT HOPING THEY WILL BE FOUND,
ANYONE KNOW IF YOU CAN OPEN A WINDOW, SO TO BE GETTING OUT, I THINK NO THEY MUST BE SEAL IN THE PLANE,
OTHER WISE SOME WOULD OR ALL WOULD HAVE CRAWL UP
AND OUT,
IT’S TERRIBLE ON THE PASSENGERS AND THEIR FAMILY,
WE FEEL FOR THEM, AND PRAY GOD TO USE HIS POWER TO MAKE IT RIGHT,
PLEASE GOD YOUR POWER IS SO SUPER STRONG, YOU CAN SEE THOSE PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDE,
IN HURTING MIND, PLEAS MAKE IT RIGHT,
ONE JUST SAID FROM AN EGYPTIAN SAID THEY HAD A PROBLEM AND DROP IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN,
I CAUGHT ONLY THOSE WORDS,
THAT MAKE ME THINK OF WHAT I SAW THE DAY BEFORE THE NEWS CAME,
THE PLANE I JUST HAPPEN TO be outside feeding birds,
and out of nowhere i raise my head up and up more and
LOOK UP AND SEE IT SO HIGH UP, IT STRUCKED ME, HOW COME I DID LOOK SO HIGH ABOVE, NO SOUND
SHE WAS WHITE AND STREAMLINE GOING TOWARD NORTH EAST,
I VERY SELDOM LOOK UP SO HIGH, ONLY ON CLOUDS LOWER,
AND THE DAY AFTER IT STRUCKED ME TO HEAR THE DISAPEARANCE, BUT THERE WAS NO ATLANTIC OCEAN REFERENCE UNTIL JUST NOW ON FOX OREILLY, that EGYPTIAN
MAN TELLING ANOTHER OFFICER,
FBI analyses pilot’s flight simulator data as search for MH370 enters 13th day
Missing Malaysia Airlines plane lacked $US10 upgrade that could have provided crucial satellite data for search
Missing MH370: Flight simulator’s info erased
FBI analyses pilot’s flight simulator data as search for MH370 enters 13th day
Missing Malaysia Airlines plane lacked $US10 upgrade that could have provided crucial satellite data for search
Missing MH370: Flight simulator’s info erased
WTD
thank you for updating again,
IT HELP US TO SITUATE IT,
BYE
New MH370 satellite data calculations narrow hunt to remote stretch of ocean off Australia: Search area cut to the size of Arizona
WTD
IT COULD RE-ENFORCE MY DESPERATE COMMENT ON MY 89
ABOUT SINKING IN THE SOIL UNABLE TO GET OUT,
BYE
Just for yucks & giggles:
Obama says search for flight MH370 ‘top priority’
‘Jailed’ Malaysian opposition leader admits having links to missing MH370 pilot
@WTD:
Is that a higher priority than getting the people that killed Ambassador Stevens?
Insurance payments made for missing 777