Malaysian Airlines flight 370

[HoneyBadger]

The plot thickens:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A2701720140311

In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew.
Malaysian authorities have previously said flight MH370 disappeared about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital Beijing.
"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the senior military officer, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.
That would appear to rule out sudden catastrophic mechanical failure, as it would mean the plane flew around 500 km (350 miles) at least after its last contact with air traffic control, although its transponder and other tracking systems were off.

There was no distress signal or radio contact indicating a problem and, in the absence of any wreckage or flight data, police have been left trawling through passenger and crew lists for potential leads.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...d06_story.html

One of the most eerie rumors came after a few relatives said they were able to call the cellphones of their loved ones or find them on a Chinese instant messenger service called QQ that indicated that their phones were still somehow online.
A migrant worker in the room said that several other workers from his company were on the plane, including his brother-in-law. Among them, the QQ accounts of three still showed that they were online, he said Sunday afternoon.
Adding to the mystery, other relatives in the room said that when they dialed some passengers’ numbers, they seemed to get ringing tones on the other side even though the calls were not picked up.
The phantom calls triggered a new level of desperation and anger for some. They tried repeatedly Sunday and Monday to ask airline and police officials about the ringing calls and QQ accounts. However unlikely it was, many thought the phones might still be on, and that if authorities just tracked them down, their relatives might be found. But they were largely ignored.

[Irving]

Showing that someone is online is pretty meaningless I think. It probably shows I'm viewing this site 24 hours a day for the past several years since I never turn off my main computer and browse from several different devices.

[BuffCyclist]

Very interesting HB. But one question comes up with that second article, why would their cell phones be on? They were on a plane and cell phones are supposed to be turned off or in airplane mode, neither of which will ring when called (it'll only go to voicemail). That makes me question if they are being held captive somewhere and some managed to hide their cell phones and turn them on. Sure, might be far fetched, but the search crews should quickly be able to rule it out by tracking them (I believe that network providers and possibly 911 have the capability of turning the GPS receiver on remotely to obtain a location).



Alternatively, maybe they're being held captive and are being infected with the T-Virus (or other zombie-like state inducing virus) and then will be magically found floating at sea, rescued and returned to civilization to infect the rest of the world. [Panic]

But seriously, it's very mysterious and I hope we find out what happened to the plane!

[BuffCyclist]

Showing that someone is online is pretty meaningless I think. It probably shows I'm viewing this site 24 hours a day for the past several years since I never turn off my main computer and browse from several different devices.

This is also true, a lot of chat sites (Gmail, Facebook, uh, others) will still show you as active/online even hours after you've logged off or even closed the browser window).

[hatidua]

One of the most eerie rumors came after a few relatives said they were able to call the cellphones of their loved ones or find them on a Chinese instant messenger service called QQ that indicated that their phones were still somehow online.
A migrant worker in the room said that several other workers from his company were on the plane, including his brother-in-law. Among them, the QQ accounts of three still showed that they were online, he said Sunday afternoon.

grief-stricken family members hoping beyond hope

[clodhopper]

Lets see.... survived plane crash.... lost at sea..... what to do? OH YEAH! I need to update my facebook! I will get around to calling for help later.

[RblDiver]

I was reading somewhere that a probable explanation is the numbers were handed to the Chinese (for processing or somesuch), hence why they might be "active."

[Zundfolge]

Ah HA!

I KNEW it!

[cofi]

Very interesting HB. But one question comes up with that second article, why would their cell phones be on? They were on a plane and cell phones are supposed to be turned off or in airplane mode, neither of which will ring when called (it'll only go to voicemail). That makes me question if they are being held captive somewhere and some managed to hide their cell phones and turn them on. Sure, might be far fetched, but the search crews should quickly be able to rule it out by tracking them (I believe that network providers and possibly 911 have the capability of turning the GPS receiver on remotely to obtain a location).



Alternatively, maybe they're being held captive and are being infected with the T-Virus (or other zombie-like state inducing virus) and then will be magically found floating at sea, rescued and returned to civilization to infect the rest of the world. [Panic]

But seriously, it's very mysterious and I hope we find out what happened to the plane!

I don't turn off my cell when the plane takes off.....I'm such a rebel

[HoneyBadger]

I don't turn off my cell when the plane takes off.....I'm such a rebel

This... This is your fault!