world

Malaysia, Vietnam search for airliner carrying 239

45 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2014 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

45 Comments
Login to comment

Scary. Never want to read something like this.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Malaysia Air was the first international carrier I ever rode and still my favorite. This is very scary though. Let's hope a miracle happens and it turns up ok

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Fireproof model (seats and stuff) and the GPS went offline. Not the first time this same plan has had an accident.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

It's very strange. It's still relatively a fairly newer airliner. I'm wondering if there were any problems with their maintenance? Also what was the history of that particular airline. Any aviation experts on JT? What would your guess be as to what possibly could've went wrong?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Cant comprehend how they cant locate it immediately with satellite and gps technology today. Malaysian Airlines has been continually losing $$ to competitors (AirAsia) and has ceased many of its flight routes. If I had a relative onboard id be pissed they cant figure out where it is let alone what happened. Both China and Thai air traffic say it didnt enter their airspace. Plane lost contact over Vietnam.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I hope they are OK.....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I think airlines get complacent.....or pilots do......they do the same flight every time and never have any expectation of worst case scenario....so when it does happen......they are never prepared...and it's all over in a few seconds

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Xinhua also quoted Chinese aviation authorities saying the plane did not enter China’s air traffic control sphere.

Perhaps China has a new southern ADIZ and forgot to tell the world?

But seriously, this is really bad news assuming the plane is lost, which is almost a certainty at this point, since this will be the first in-flight mishap that resulted in a hull loss and fatalities of all souls on board.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Hope they find it and all is well. But, flights are never lost this long.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Very mysterious. The pilots reported nothing wrong, no beacons, distress signals etc. so midflight malfunction seems unlikely. And it should have been cruising at full altitude, so crashing into a mountain isn't likely. Its 7 hours of fuel ran out a while ago. I'm guessing that whatever happened, it was extremely sudden and devastating (explosion?).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just in: The Vietnamese have detected a signal belonging to this flight, most likely it's emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Not good news at all...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-vietnam-detects-signals-missing-place-22829399

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Cant comprehend how they cant locate it immediately with satellite and gps technology today.

Well, for starters, the world is really, really big. I mean really big. Even a small country like Vietnam is still really big.

Next, satellites for the most part are not stationary over a position, they are generally zooming around above the planet.

Finally, GPS is passive, not active. You can tell exactly where you are by reading GPS signals from satellites, but your receiver does not broadcast your position to those same satellites.

So, to find them, they have to first get close enough to the location of the plane to receive any SOS it is broadcasting, and since as I mentioned in my first point, the world is a really, really big place, this can take a little while.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

According to the Aviation Safety Network this same plane, with registration # 9M-MRO, was involved in an accident at Shanghai-Pudong Intl. airport on Aug. 9, 2012. During taxiing it hit the tail of an A340 with the tip of one of its wings, which was broken off and "hung on the tail of the China Easter Airbus, 340-600, according to pictures posted by passengers on the Internet." The airplane damage (to 9M-MRO) is listed as "substantial."

Source: http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=147571

2 ( +2 / -0 )

think airlines get complacent.....or pilots do......they do the same flight every time and never have any expectation of worst case scenario....so when it does happen......they are never prepared...and it's all over in a few seconds

You are absolutely wrong. Pilots, at least among the major airlines of the world, are very prepared people. If you think that all we do is take off and kick back for several hours until landing then you are mistaken. We are very involved in the operation of our aircraft. Does complacency happen? Of course, but considering just how many flights there are every day the few mishaps that occur are an amazing thing. There are reasons why air travel is the safest form of transport, one of which are well-prepared crews.

As for what happened I have no idea. The mishap occurred during cruise, which is a very unusual time. The vast majority of accidents happen at take off or landing. I seriously doubt it was fuel starvation unless there was a severe leak. Granted, they took off with "just enough" fuel, but that is a common thing. You don't need to top off the tanks on a route that is less than half the max range of the aircraft. IF there was a leak the flight crew should have been able to handle it.

The only good thing about what might have happened is that the majority of that flight takes place over land. If there was any chance for the crew to control the aircraft being over land increases the chance of survival. Unfortunately I do not think they had a chance. If they did there would have been some sort of distress call be it a Mayday or Pan. From what I have read there were no such calls. Not looking good.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Lets all hope there is simply a communications problem and that the plane will land soon - and that all passengers will be OK.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Interesting. Here is a list of the worst maintained airliners. The industry all have the same maintenance instructions for repairs, cleaning and follow up repairs, but sadly NOT every country follows these guidelines. Nothing is scarier than being on a doomed plane or having troubles with a plane in mid flight. My heart just bleeds for these people, but what can you really say. I love to fly, it's still the safest way to travel, but when I fly, there is always a tiny bit of apprehension, I don't care how tough a person might be, there's always that 1% anxiety, even though you believe everything will be alright. Again, I hope it's not as bad as one could imagine.

http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/holidaytype/weird/7939387/airlines-with-the-worst-safety-records

http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-airlines-in-the-world-2010-12?op=1

And here are the top liners.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chandni-rathod-10-best-international-airlines-2010-11#

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Until they recover the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), we really can't say exactly what happened to the plane.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Vietnam media: Navy confirms flight MH370 crashed into the sea.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/mas-aircraft-goes-missing--says-airline-023820132.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Perhaps China has a new southern ADIZ and forgot to tell the world?

USNinJapan2

Glad to hear the possible deaths of 239 people two of them infants is a joke to you people. You must have been the life of the party on 9/11

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Peace Please, that is not necessarily a joke. Even complete loss of engine power would not deprive the cockpit use of its communications due to backup batteries, and the fact that no communication at all was received hints at a sudden, catastrophic midair breakup. Structural failure I think is unlikely; even loss of part of a wing would have left time for a mayday call. More likely is an internal (bomb?) Or external (missile?) explosion.

Love the 777, but now that my kids are flying around by themselves, I worry. I hope something can be salvaged from this tragedy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Peace Please

You are so absolutely correct. China unilaterally establishing ADIZs over other nations' sovereign territory and airspace is definitely not a joke...

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Apparently one flight path tracking site says that the plane suddenly dropped 200 meters and then changed course but not sure of the reason for that yet. Sudden extreme turbulence? But it is strange that the pilots didn't make any distress calls. It certainly doesn't look good.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is getting spooky. Plane is still missing 14 hours later. Daylight is fading. An aviation specialist said on CNN that the circumstances are really strange.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@strangerland, thanks for taking the time to write, however I think my point stands wrt today's technology. Whether the world is really as big as you think it is doesnt change the fact that in 2014 airline companies should have full knowledge of what their planes are doing and where they are at all times. Just my opinion.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

USinJapan:

Perhaps China has a new southern ADIZ and forgot to tell the world?

I'm glad you can think of ADIZ at a time like this. But I think the passengers' relatives and friends have more important things to worry about than ADIZ. Perhaps you can console them by telling them this. The passengers would also include 4 Americans (including one child) - just for your information.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Pukey2

It was a joke, and you obviously missed the sarcasm of my response to Peace Please. Sorry but I don't agree with some that feel that you have to switch off your sense of humor, as dark as it may be, or your sarcasm because you're commenting on a news article. And please don't tell me that I need to worry about offending a passenger's relative, friends, etc. I'm sure the first place they go is the comments section of a "news" site like this one...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

bass4funk: It's very strange. It's still relatively a fairly newer airliner.

It's been flying for 19 years and has essentially replaced the 747, so it's old enough that systemic problems would have surfaced long ago. In fact it's widely regarded as a very safe aircraft. The Asiana 777 crash in San Francisco last year was due to "pilot error" but it was clear the communications in the cockpit had completely failed. Even with the total devastation of that airplane, all but 3 people survived. If you look at the photos of the crash you can't help but marvel at the great design and construction that protected all those passengers. I'm not an employee of the aircraft industry but I do know that implying the 777 isn't safe is like implying that a Ferrari isn't a fast car.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I hope this was not an act of TERRORISM!! I really doubt anyone could survive, most likely everyone is dead, I hope I am wrong.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Always maintain hope until the facts are known. Survivors-I hope! Terrorism-Not until proven. Too much negativity here.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Well, according to the news, there were two passengers on this flight using stolen passports. One belonging to an Italian fellow and one to an Austrian fellow, both of whom were not on this flight and are actually alive and well. Both had their passports stolen earlier, so who knows.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I have had many comfortable rides on Malaysian Airlines in the past. I hope all is fine.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

forzaducati

If that is true then that sounds bad too. Let's hope it wasn't a terrorist act by two people using fake passports. I bet a growing number of Chinese people are wondering if Uighurs had something to do with it. It is starting to sound more and more like a bomb or something that happened so quickly the pilots didn't have time to make a distress call. But, yes, I know we shouldn't point fingers yet.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@photoman333 Thanks for the info. News just came in, they have found an oil slick, which is definitely NOT a good sign, but some aviation experts were saying that given the normal circumstances, the plane shouldn't have just disappeared like that. One expert said, that there is a slight possibility that something catastrophic happened and he wouldn't be surprised if there was a terrorist connection, but he said, it was his personal gut feeling and just pure speculation at this point.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's very strange. It's still relatively a fairly newer airliner. I'm wondering if there were any problems with their maintenance? Also what was the history of that particular airline. Any aviation experts on JT? What would your guess be as to what possibly could've went wrong?

The last big one was Air France 447 and that was caused by human error, if I am not mistaken.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

My prayer goes to family of passengers. Honestly, survival chance is zero. I think terrorism may be involved because crash without alert. The accident looks like mid air explosion.

According to BBC, two passengers who were listed on the plane's manifest - an Italian and an Austrian - were not actually on the flight but had had their passports stolen in the past two years in Thailand. So other peoples have used boarding with their Passports on Flight MH370.

Two passengers who used stolen Italian and Austrian Passport were could not be genuine tourist to China. That Italian and Austrian passports were reported as stolen to Police in Thailand two years ago. Those two passports can be bough them for $ 300 - $ 500.

Some one who used stolen Westerner Passport are usually flying to US, Canada and Australia for to seek asylum in those countries. It’s unusual for two peoples who have used stolen European Passport and fly to China.

You can buy Passport from $ 300 to $ 10,000 in Thailand. Most of passports were sold to broker by owner and reported to police as lost or theft. Actually peoples are sorting out their financial problem by selling passport to Nigerian or Thais brokers.

FBI should track down two passengers who used Italian and Austrian Passport for boarding to Flight MH370.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Fox and AP are saying the flight was lost on radar was less than a hour after the plane departed. Now add two flying on stolen passports and it looks grim. I pray that against all odds the passengers and survived the crash. However it looks more and more like terrorism.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

My prayers.God bless everyone.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Terrorism and no claims from them! They are proud when they pull off cowardly deeds.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Italy's Foreign Ministry said an Italian man who was listed as being a passenger, Luigi Maraldi, was traveling in Thailand and was not aboard the plane. It said he reported his passport stolen last August.

Austria's Foreign Ministry confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matched an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Thailand. It said the Austrian was not on the plane, but would not confirm the person's identity.

This gets stranger by the moment, if it were a possible act of terrorism, why? How is it that these 2 Italian and Austrian if they are indeed tied to this tragic accident are connected. This is really scary stuff.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe rotten terrorists overpower pilots and sink the plane so no one will find it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I don't think that might be the case, but there is a possible chance of some serious foul play. The NTSB can take a couple of months to a couple of years, before we might find anything remotely definite as to what the case was of this accident.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why didn't Japan send out rescue ships too?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I think Japan could send ships to the region, but then you would be hearing the CHINESE complain about their liberty, territorial water issues etc...so with all of these other countries helping, I think that is enough, and I really doubt anybody could survive this kind of incindent or accident. Are we going to hear about our right of privacy and how the TSA etc...are just wasting our time checking for weapons etc...???

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Although the few things we do know would seem to indicate foul play, someone on another news blog I'm in, noted that terrorists normally like to announce what they did. And that's true - otherwise terrorism has no purpose.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites