Investigators in Malaysia say that the lack of debris from the disappeared Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight could indicate it "disintegrated" in mid air.
"The fact that we are unable to find any debris so far appears to indicate that the aircraft is likely to have disintegrated at around 35,000 feet," a source, who is involved in the investigations in Malaysia, told Reuters.
Asked about the possibility of an explosion, such as a bomb, the source said there was no evidence yet of foul play and that the aircraft could have broken up due to mechanical issues.
But David Learmount, operations and safety editor for Flight International, said he would be very surprised if the authorities knew for sure that the plane "disintegrated" in mid air.
He added that it was not unusual to fail to find debris immediately after a crash, pointing out that it took time to find the evidence and uncover the facts.
"We just have to accept that, for the moment, we do not know what has happened," he said.
"It's also worth remembering that it took two days for any wreckage from the Air France crash in June 2009 to be found – and two years for the full operation to be completed."
What was initially believed to be a piece of debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane (EPA)
In a further development - initially deemed to be significant - Vietnamese authorities said a military plane had spotted at sea an object suspected to be part of the missing airliner. But less than an hour after the statement was made, Vietnam said the objects had turned out to be nothing to do with the plane.
The crew of the DHC-6 plane saw the debris, some 60 miles south-south west of Tho Chu islands, but could not see any marks or identifiable signs.
Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's department of civil aviation, said that the debris was not from the plane.
"In the meantime, we are still verifying if the oil slick it matches the MAS Boeing 777-200 with relevant authorities," he said.
He added that the search radius has also been expanded from 20 nautical miles to 50 nautical miles.
"At present, we have 34 aircraft and 40 ships currently combing the search and rescue areas," he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...crash-as-Vietnam-denies-finding-wreckage.html
Floating in a bag which separated from the aircraft somehow or a large enough chunk is sitting on a small island perhaps? Maybe they can use the signal to refien the search pattern a little.
Bloody hell, how did you arrive at that conclusion? Malaysia having illegal workers doesn't imply nobody else does.
I haven't compared Malaysia to any other country.
Heathrow is of course used for human trafficking, but it's not just about the numbers using planes. Malaysia has a significant number arriving by sea and from the border with Thailand. It also happens to treat them particularly badly, compared with the UK.
Every country has a significant number arriving by sea, air or land, the US being the best example. And Malaysia has a whole lot refugees here as well. Bosnians, Rohingyas etc. That Sulu thingy was a one off incident. Can happen anywhere else IMO. So kind of bull to use that as a yardstick.
They do have a comprehensive database and they know about the stolen passports. But if countries don't use that information, it's not like Interpol can force them.
it should be mandatory to check. I wonder what kind of legal claims will now be filed as well. negligence....
What's the name of it, or is there a link to that documentary? Would love to watch it.Watched the Air France 447 documentary. This one looks eerily similar.
Youtube. Search it by the name "Air France 447 Disaster". You will get it in the first couple of videos. About 45 odd minutes in length.
Translated from: http://www.tienphong.vn/xa-hoi/truc-tiep-xac-minh-thong-tin-nhieu-manh-vo-gan-vung-tau-684926.tpo
I just took a look myself, though informative it has its uncomfortable moments, as a bit like with the series on National Geographic [at least the Air Accident Investigation one is on that channel in the UK] you almost can't help but put yourself in that situation.
Any idea how far that is from where the search has been taking place thus far? Presumably with nightfall fast approaching any further investigations may have to wait until tomorrow.
It's quite far - it's basically next to Ho Chi Minh City.
I see, and then the searchers have to allow for three days worth of drift assuming that this is indeed related.
Our Far East correspondent.
Given the fact that the sightings of potential debris have been ruled out as being from the plane, then it looks as though there is still sign of the plane.
That was caused by a blocked pitot tube wasn't it? Supposedly the Boeing 777 has systems to negate airspeed errors due to a blocked pitot tube.Watched the Air France 447 documentary. This one looks eerily similar.
Yup. What I was implying was this plane could have had an unknown failure which resulted in the crash. The sudden disappearance from the radar, no distress signal, no communication sort of indicates to that only. What's more surprising is that in this day and age, we still can't find any debris or part of the plane.
How far was the plane's last known location from land? I refuse to believe it was a bomb.
To be fair, most crashes are caused by unknown failures. It's why they are so intensely investigated.
Anything is possible until the plane or some of it is found. I don't know if the radar and tracking can be turned off, though.
Going by that documentary there would appear to have been a range of contributing causes, decisions that a person might justify in isolation yet when combined...
Yup. But if something (anything) goes wrong, pilots do usually notify the ATC (barring the AF one of course).
I don't think a plane can go intentionally "dark" if it wanted to, anyway, certainly not post-9/11.
No one has talked about an Alien attack yet though.
