The usual investigation runs its course, first with air controllers reporting a plane missing from radar or loss of communications with the cockpit. Then jets are used to follow the flight path to find a debris field. Satellites attempt to lock in on the 48 hour battery powered emergency beacons in the tail section. Vessels are marshaled to the recovery area to search.
But this weekend's news continues to be a real mystery.
More than 48 hours after a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane with 239 people on board disappeared from radar screens, a multinational search team consisting of dozens of ships and aircraft had failed to find any sign of the aircraft's fate.
Malaysia's civil aviation operations said they are pursuing "every angle," including the possibility of an attempted hijacking, in an effort to understand what happened that caused the plane to vanish early Saturday morning, local time.
There was no radio contact with the pilots of the plane. There was no evidence of any distress. The weather was good. Adding to the questions is the fact that two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft – which was scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing -- using stolen passports. This raised the question of hijacking, or terrorism, but nothing is certain.
Searchers were dealt a double blow Monday when a floating yellow object that was believed to be a life raft from the plane when it was spotted Sunday turned out to be the moss-covered cap of a cable reel, according to Vietnam's civil aviation authority. Earlier in the day, Vietnamese officials said that they had not been able to locate a rectangular object that appeared to be one of the plane's doors.
Vietnam's search and rescue coordination center said Monday that four planes and seven ships from Vietnam were searching for the rectangular object but nothing had been found.
In addition, Malaysian maritime officials found some oil slicks in the South China Sea and sent a sample to a lab to see if it came from the plane, but the results were negative.
A plane that falls from the sky from cruising altitude would have broken a part upon impact with the water. Various pieces of the plane would have floated to the surface. Even if the plane had attempted a water landing, elements of the plane including life rafts, could have been deployed in the minutes before the fuselage would sink.
Another possibility is that the plane was hijacked to a remote airstrip. But who would want to steal a Boeing 777 aircraft with 239 people on board?
Experts have begun the speculation, and started running their calculations about the plane.
For example, a plane at 35,000 feet at cruising speed, would take approximately 3 1/2 minutes to crash into the ocean. This gives the navigator or copilot enough time to make a distress call or signal.
If both engines failed, the plane could glide for approximately 20 minutes. This would give the flight crew plenty of time to communicate their emergency and prepare for a water landing.
Bu this Malaysia Airlines plane has vanished without a trace.
It is another reminder of how art mimics life.
UPDATE:
MARCH 11, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The
Malaysian military has radar data showing the missing Boeing 777
jetliner changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait, hundreds of
kilometers (miles) from the last position recorded by civilian
authorities, according to a senior military official.
The
development injects more mystery into the investigation of the
disappearance of Saturday's flight, and raises questions about why the
aircraft was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.
Local
newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali
Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner at
2:40 a.m. near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the strait, a
busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and
Indonesia's Sumatra island.
"After that, the signal from the plane was lost," he was quoted as saying.
A
high-ranking military official involved in the investigation confirmed
the report and also said the plane was believed to be flying low. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the information.
Authorities
had earlier said the plane, which took off at 12:20 a.m. and was headed
to Beijing, may have attempted to turn back to Kuala Lumpur, but they
expressed surprise that it would do so without informing ground control.
