What happened to the missing Malaysian jetliner?

[pwaldo]

http://news.yahoo.com/malaysian-mili...1719.html?vp=1

The missing Boeing 777 jetliner changed course over the sea, crossed Malaysia and reached the Strait of Malacca — hundreds of miles from its last position recorded by civilian authorities, Malaysian military officials said Tuesday, citing military radar data.

The development added confusion and mystery into what is emerging as one of most puzzling aviation incidents of recent time, and it has raised questions about why the Malaysia Airlines flight apparently was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar or sending distress calls after it turned back.

Many experts have been working on the assumption there was a catastrophic event on the flight — such as an explosion, engine failure, terrorist attack, extreme turbulence, pilot error or even suicide. The director of the CIA said in Washington that he still would not rule out terrorism.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. Saturday, bound for Beijing. Authorities initially said its last contact with ground controllers was less than an hour into the flight at a height of 35,000 feet, when the plane was somewhere between the east coast of Malaysia and Vietnam.

But local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysia's air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, as saying that radar at a military base had tracked the jet as it changed its course, with the final signal at 2:40 a.m. showing the plane to be near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the Strait of Malacca, a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island. It was flying slightly lower, at around 29,528 feet, he said.

"After that, the signal from the plane was lost," he was quoted as saying.

[Star_Cards]

This story is very odd. Initially you'd think they had some sort of issue, but I think reports state that there were no distress calls at all. I assume that they will find pieces floating in the water at some point, but completely a guess.

[pwaldo]

This story just keeps getting weirder by the minute. My take is that somebody isn't telling the whole truth in this thing which is why nothing has made sense so far.

[FlyersFan]

ALIENS plucked them out of the air.....lol.

Sorry no disrespect meant torwards the missing people.

[pwaldo]

Story just getting stranger....

[andrewhoya]

As a pilot, it is just a weird, weird story.

[shrewsbury]

I think the best explanation I have heard yet is that they lost electronics, turned around, headed over land, a military seen an unknown, dark objects, blasted it out of sky, then realized what it was and swept it under rug.

I also think it is possible they plunged into the ocean.

I don't think aliens, vortexes, wormholes, or bigfoot has anything to do with it.

[andrewhoya]

I think the best explanation I have heard yet is that they lost electronics, turned around, headed over land, a military seen an unknown, dark objects, blasted it out of sky, then realized what it was and swept it under rug.

The problem that I have with this is that the plane had Wifi enabled. Pilots/cabin crew are trained to contact airline operations when major things like that go wrong. An alternator (electronic) failure would not have knocked out the Wifi, and they would have been able to contact the airline's operation center.

[andrewhoya]

In addition, reports have it that the plane did have electronic power.

[pwaldo]

For the United States to get this involved I'm willing to bet they strongly believe terrorism or somebody hijacked the plane or something like that happened. It wasn't a natural or mechanical failure.