Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370: The Theories

[shaunbhoy]

IQ isn't a good measure of intelligence (but I'm aware you know that).

Ill advised to be too certain about anything with sasguru.
Other than the unassailable fact that the troop of itinerant gibbons that set up home in his family tree were not just passing through. On the contrary, they seem to have wrested control of the whole breeding programme in la famille sasguru. With the comic results that are so enjoyed by most CUKers on a regular basis.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

IQ isn't a good measure of intelligence (but I'm aware you know that).

Still it does give an insight into human nature when illogical things happen.

In the case of this (and a lot of other threads involving unexplained events) there seems to be a morbid desire some folk have to engage in wild uninformed speculation. It seems to be the province of folk who fancy themselves latter-day Sherlocks or Inspector Morses and no doubt secretly hope that when details emerge they'll be able to point to a post they made which predicted it all. This is of course highly unlikely for those making the more stupid assertions.

[Platypus]

This is of course highly unlikely for those making the more stupid assertions.

Indeed. These are the ones who start shouting COVERUP / CONSPIRACY !

[hyperD]

I strongly suspect that lowering the gear at the height/speed they were at would be suicidal too, but I'm less sure of that. I am certain it would be against anything in their training, checklists or SOPs.

I imagine they would get quite a jolt, but don't forget the air is much thinner at 30,000 feet. Also, if a tyre is on fire inside its housing it might be pretty suicidal _not_ to lower the undercarriage promptly.

There's a maximum air speed in which you can extend the gear - quick net search says 777 is 270 KIAS/0.82 Mach at hi alt. When the gear is down and locked some a/c can fly slightly faster but nowhere near their cruise speed. Trying to drop gear at higher airspeeds than that would cause a warning and likely not to extend. At higher alts gear can be down at higher speeds.

In some light aircraft the sheer force of the air prevents the gear from actually extending (most light a/c gear extends via gravity, hence careful deployment at the correct airspeed).

Light a/c have an emergency gear deploy button which causes pressurised nitrogen to force the gear down, or in case of a gravity deployed gear, one has to create a few g's to try and force the drop.

[darmstadt]

It was Singapore: Invisibility gun uses a beam of darkness to make objects vanish from sight | ExtremeTech, possibly



But Tintin will find it:

[mudskipper]

BBC News - Missing Malaysia plane: 10 theories examined

Beeb looks at the theories.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

There's a maximum air speed in which you can extend the gear - quick net search says 777 is 270 KIAS/0.82 Mach at hi alt. When the gear is down and locked some a/c can fly slightly faster but nowhere near their cruise speed. Trying to drop gear at higher airspeeds than that would cause a warning and likely not to extend. At higher alts gear can be down at higher speeds.

In some light aircraft the sheer force of the air prevents the gear from actually extending (most light a/c gear extends via gravity, hence careful deployment at the correct airspeed).

Light a/c have an emergency gear deploy button which causes pressurised nitrogen to force the gear down, or in case of a gravity deployed gear, one has to create a few g's to try and force the drop.

Thanks HyperD - I assume lowering the airspeed enough to lower the gear on a 777 would make it hard/impossible to maintain altitude (at FL350 etc)? Certainly I guess one couldn't climb to FL 400 with gear extended as Owlhoot was suggesting as a technique to extinguish a fire?

[hyperD]

Thanks HyperD - I assume lowering the airspeed enough to lower the gear on a 777 would make it hard/impossible to maintain altitude (at FL350 etc)? Certainly I guess one couldn't climb to FL 400 with gear extended as Owlhoot was suggesting as a technique to extinguish a fire?

Not sure on the performance envelope on the 777 but it might be possible to fly at FL350 in a landing configuration (with flaps and slats down for stability). I often used to do this in light aircraft in order to practice stalls/wing drops where a higher altitude provided a safety margin to try out actual stalls and give enough height to recover.

As FL400 is pretty much at the top end of the flight envelope (FL430 max ceiling?). With full fuel and pax any landing configuration would mean the plane would descend until it could maintain enough lift for stable low speed cruise (even if it could climb to that flight level with that weight in the first place).

Diving the plane to put out a fire is only useful for engines but commercials are equipped with fire extinguishers and fuel cutoff valves and I'm not sure whether that is the required action for engine fire, I would suspect exposing burning rubber to fast flowing air might only encourage it, not sure. I think there's enough oxygen at FL400 for a fire to continue - it's not the edge of space.

All I know is the emergency procedures for fire in any a/c is to get the plane to ground asap.

(speaking only as a PPL)

[SantaClaus]

Evening sky watchers.

Latest news says the plane was flying very low over the Maldives.

MH370: Maldives Islanders claim to have spotted 'low flying jet’ - Telegraph

Pilots probably had time to down a few quick Sangrias and then refuel before heading towards India.

[mudskipper]

Evening sky watchers.

Latest news says the plane was flying very low over the Maldives.

MH370: Maldives Islanders claim to have spotted 'low flying jet’ - Telegraph

Pilots probably had time to down a few quick Sangrias and then refuel before heading towards India.

And why does this take 10 days to surface?

Maldives aren't on either of the flight paths they're looking at, are they?