Intresting Take on MH370

[2naSalit]

Ed Schultz is a pilot and has an interesting hypothesis on what happened/is happening with the mystery disappearance of this aircraft. Worth watching IMHO...


http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/pilots-perspective-about-missing-flight-198371907623

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. With all due respect to Ed Schultz,

he's a private pilot with no airline experience and no particular expertise in complex aircraft systems. His explanations are basically accurate, and he does a good job of explaining how a transponder works, and it's true that both transponders wouldn't fail at the same time. But he's full of baloney on other points. He talks about building an airstrip in a remote location, but the likelihood of landing a 777 and then hiding something that size is absurd. It's also ridiculous to suggest it landed on water. The Hudson River landing was a fluke; there has never been any other successful water landing of a large jet. Ed is totally full of crap.

There are other explanations, and here's one - from a guy who really is an expert: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/16/opinion/palmer-malaysia-flight-370/index.html?hpt=bosread

[ChisolmTrailDem]

2. Could you land it in water if you had to? nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Landing a large jet on the water is extremely difficult

and is almost certain to result in the airplane breaking up. That's because there are waves on the ocean and the airplane will catch a wave due to the wing-mounted engines, then it will cartwheel and come apart. This is what has happened in every attempted water landing by a large jet other than in the Hudson River case. That was successful not only due to expert piloting, but because the Hudson River was calm and flat. There were no waves to catch a wing and knock it over. They tell you to try to land between the swells, but that's easier said than done and almost never works. A 777 is much larger than an A320 and would have even more difficulty avoiding being caught by waves.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

8. I'll take that as a "not bloody likely", lol. Thank you for the expert commentary you've been

providing during this mystery.

May I ask, what do you suppose happened? I read your link above at CNN and it's very helpful in understanding all the possibilities. There is, however, still the matter of debris from a crash. Aren't there many components, including luggage and seat cushions, that will float for a long time and be discoverable?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Damned if I know. There seems to be a general belief

that it was a hijacking, possibly by a crew member, for reasons so far unknown. But until they find the thing or some other hard evidence I'm inclined to just wait and see. If it crashed in the ocean there should be some floating wreckage, but the area is so huge that even if there is floating stuff, will they actually find it?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

11. Well, if it baffles a careered pilot like yourself, that says something. I just hope

it's on the ground somewhere and those innocent people are somehow still breathing.

I've been searching that part of the world for possible landing locations and the only place I'm seeing so far is Car Nicobar but, according to Wikipedia, that is an Indian military outpost and Google Earth shows a couple of helos parked there. Pictures show it to be sparse as airbases go. If it were subject to seizure by some terrorist organization, that would probably be difficult to keep under wraps. There is a large hanger there but I don't think it can house a 777, based on the crude ruler measurement feature in Google Earth which has it at 196'x196'. The 777-200ER's dimensions are:

Wing Span 199 ft 11 in (60.9 m)
Overall Length 209 ft 1 in (63.7 m)
Tail Height 60 ft 9 in (18.5 m)

Here are a few pics I made while trying to make some since of this mystery. I was going to post them in an OP to just throw the idea out there but figured it was improbable that an Indian military outpost is mixed up in this, though India is not immune to terrorism, as we all know too well.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. I'm no expert, though the guy in the article I linked to is.

I do know enough to know that I don't know what the hell happened. It could turn out to be something nobody expected. If somebody stole the airplane and managed to land it somewhere intact, what would they do with it? They couldn't sell it for parts because all airplane parts have serial numbers, and nobody who would need 777 parts would ever buy "hot" ones. If they planned to use it for some kind of terrorist attack, how would they get fuel? How would they even take off if they landed at some obscure little airstrip (you need more runway to take off than to land)? If they were able to get fuel and take off, how would they avoid radar? If they flew low enough to stay out of radar coverage they'd burn so much fuel that they'd soon have to land to get more. And how would they do that? It's not like you can just land at any old airport and fill up a 777 and not have anybody notice. And what would they do with all those passengers (I shudder to think)?

That scenario seems awfully implausible. But whatever happens I hope they find it soon, or evidence of what happened to it, at least for the sake of the passengers' families.

[undeterred]

4. If it had landed anywhere other than the hudson river

where the people were picked up in less than 5 minutes it would have been a catastrophe. Its not like it stayed afloat for very long.

[question everything]

6. What I wonder is, it is now said that the Malaysia military radar observed the plane

shortly after contacts were lost, observing it turning left going west.

Why then, did it let so many searched around Vietnam to go for several days?

[snagglepuss]

15. It's mind-boggling. That sheer incompetence, if that is what it was,

must be sheer hell for the passengers' loved ones. The amount of time lost at that bungling is staggering.

[undeterred]

3. Thanks.

That was interesting.

[Samantha]

7. I can't speak to his technical expertise but I agree with his overall premise

When I first heard the news of this plane missing, I had two immediate thoughts: someone needs a plane; and, this is a test. I hope for the sake of the passengers and their families, we find out the truth soon.

Sam

[2naSalit]

14. Same here.

Not knowing is torture, seriously. Have had that happen to a loved one once, went missing and not found, ever.

I hope, for the families and friends, that the truth is found out/told soon.

I though very similar things when I first heard about it and even more so when debris was not found after about 48 hrs.

I was most interested in the map, Ed showed, of all the possible places a plane like that could have landed. I'm not saying he is absolutely correct but he did make some points that made some sense out of what we've been told so far.

2na.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Where's DemoTex?

He used to be an airline pilot and would likely have some pertinent information about this sort of thing.

[flamingdem]

13. It's funny that even those who should keep quiet are riffing on this one

including Ed and including some FBI and CIA people who seem to be unafraid of being wrong. Guess there may not be much to lose in proffering a theory since subconsciously perhaps we know the physical evidence will not be found.