From the BBC: "The passengers - travelling with Italian and Austrian passports that had been stolen in Thailand - purchased their plane tickets at the same time, and were both booked on the same onward flight from Beijing to Europe on Saturday."
RIP to all. My question would be, if it was terrorist, the majority of the passengers were Chinese. How will the Chinese react? Re: Answer found in The Dungeon?
A search plane spotted what looks like a cargo door off a plane floating in the area where the oil slick was spotted. Ships are headed that way. Doesn't look good at all.
You actually can turn the transponders off but if you're in a good radar coverage area, the controllers with still get a "primary" return from your big metal ass in the air. The transponders just give the controller a lot of info that they wouldn't otherwise have. This is what the control unit look like in most jets today. It's the section that says "ATC" in the bottom left...
Interestingly, CNBC just reported that the oil slick has been tested and it is NOT linked with the aircraft. Very strange
Frankly I don't think we'll ever know what really happened. If the U.S. was heading up the investigation, I think they would absolutely blame terrorists regardless of the evidence. With the Malaysian government doing the investigation, I don't think they'll have the resources to uncover the truth. And I would be shocked if the airline wasn't offering up a tidy sum for the investigation to blame the two 'terrorists' rather than a mechanical failure of the aircraft. to be blunt, I am skeptical of the reports of the stolen passports.
The Malaysian government won't be doing the investigation, they are most likely merely heading up the search effort. If it is ever found, the NTSB and FAA will most likely be heading up the investigation with a large amount of support from Boeing and Rolls Royce. It may never go public, but if any pieces of the plane are found, and especially the data and voice recorders, the FAA, NTSB, EASA, Boeing, and Rolls Royce will all certainly have a very good idea of the real probable causes.
Why would American federal agencies have any jurisdiction over a foreign carrier crashing on foreign soil? Is it customary to invite them in because they're good at what they do? If so, who pays for it?
What appeared to be a "door" floating in the area of the oil slick was not from the plane. Of course, since they couldn't find it how the hell do they know it wasn't from the plane?
Im not saying it never happens, but it isn't quite like that. We had a 2bbl (84gal) "spill" and the aftermath was ridiculous. Inspectors, auditors, reports that had to be filed and fines that altogether totalled millions of dollars. Oil shipments, transfers, waste oil etc is all logged and tracked...heavily. Im not talking about bubba's fishing boat, im talking about sure enough ships or rigs or platforms. Years ago it might have been a different story, but these days ships would much rather pay the cleanup costs. You get caught purposely dumping oil in International waters and the subsequent fines will be enough to put many companies under. Basicallly they have made so that companies would rather pay cleanup/disposal costs, because spill related costs could put you bankrupt.
Because US-flagged carriers operate the same aircraft, so they'll want to make sure a design defect or manner of operation were not at fault. They won't lead the investigation, but they'll be involved.
Because the FAA and EASA (formerly JAA) are the ones that certify the aircraft for revenue service. In the US, the NTSB supports FAA investigations. The Malaysian government probably isn't all that concerned with why the plane went down other than to possibly penalize the carrier, but the agencies that are responsible for saying that it is safe to fly, and the compaines that manufacture the airframe and engines certainly are extremely concerned with finding out exactly what happened. If there is a design problem with the aircraft or engines those agencies and manufacturers need to find out what it is to ensure this doesn't happen again on any of the other aircraft that are currently in service. Also, depending on what caused the crash, it could drive changes in the design and certification of future aircraft/engines. The 777 crash at Heathrow a few years ago has already prompted changes in the design and certification of the airframe and engine fuel systems.
What is so strange about it? A perceived leak not tie-in to the 777? Wrong leak that is all. Continue search.
They are still catching ships occasionally off the French coasts and assessing gigantic fines. I see it on the news once in a while. p.s. It's not always oils tankers. Actually, it rarely seems to be.
