Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 missing with 239 aboard. (Air Force, mechanic, military)

[glass_of_merlot]

I agree. People like me would think so. My husband's who works as a aircraft dispatcher would notice right away..lol

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

The plane would not get picked up by radar if the pilots or someone else turned off the transponders.
It's either a complete power failure (unlikely)...or someone turned off all communication.

Huh? Ground radar has nothing to do with the plane's transponders. The military wouldn't need to spend hundreds of billions on stealth aircraft if all they had to do was remove a transponder.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

If the terrorist hijackers were motivated and smart enough to take control of the aircraft without a distress call, disable the transponders, and fly it through radar blind spots to a secret location, wouldn't they be smart enough to disable/destroy these cell phones? Even terrorists living in caves are keenly aware that cell phones can be used to track and locate you.

So why hasn't that been done? It's been days, now, since it was discovered that some of the cellphones are operable.

What "small island" was the plane sighted as flying over by the Malaysian Airforce? Islands in the general area of where the plane was last seen on radar: the Philippines, misc. small islands between Malaysia and north Borneo (Malaysia) belonging to Indonesia.

Any other ideas?

[munna21977]

Originally Posted by fuzzymystic

But how would they have known that the plane was diverting from its normal route? Even if they were looking out the windows, it might be hard to realize that things weren't right. I think people on planes just assume that things are going as they should.

Well while flying internationally, I have always been able to identify cities and countries over which our plane is flying without the help of maps. Reversing and again crossing Malaysia will raise questions immediately.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

So why hasn't that been done? It's been days, now, since it was discovered that some of the cellphones are operable.

I haven't seen any confirmation by any official authorities that cellphones known to be on the plane were/are still operational?

[munna21977]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

If the terrorist hijackers were motivated and smart enough to take control of the aircraft without a distress call, disable the transponders, and fly it through radar blind spots to a secret location, wouldn't they be smart enough to disable/destroy these cell phones? Even terrorists living in caves are keenly aware that cell phones can be used to track and locate you.

They dont need a Boeing 777 for that purpose. Even landing such a plane at a jungle strip or an island is next to impossible.

[NewJerseyMemories]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

"Last detected"? When was that? The plane would have run out of fuel long ago. Why has there been no follow-up to this news? If true, this would be huge.

Mystery Malaysia flight may have been hundreds of miles off course - CNN.com

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26527439

Possibility of the crew deliberately steering the plane off course.

[Weichert]

There are only 3 possibilities:

1) It crashed (strange, no evidence found so far)

2) Landed at an unknown air field (no way a plane that size safe on some remote jungle strip)

3) alternate universe (aliens, space ships, etc)

So, which is it?

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Just heard on the news that the transponder was turned off.

Not sure if that was brought up already; still trying to catch up on the thread.

[fuzzymystic]

Now, MSNBC is saying that the plane changed course, with about 8 hours of fuel, and that the transponders were off. That can happen from an explosion or from them being turned off. The search is focusing 750 miles off its original path.