Malaysian Flight 370

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

"But even recorded silence is a clue"

That's for sure, people may be silent but the airplane makes noises, engines, bleeps, warnings, rattles, alarms etc...
A number of air crash investigations have been solved by a combination of flight data recorder information matched to sounds, not voices in the cockpit.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

On the subject of voice data recorders. You would have thought that in this digital age they would record the voice data for the whole flight digitally onto a memory card instead of a mere two hours using tape.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Latest search area narrowed down...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26923235

[Kevin Weeks]

Maybe at some point after flying over Malaysia they avoided land, not radar.

Why would you do that? 
Wouldn't a water landing in a land plane be worse than any kind of landing on land except in the middle of a city (ala the Hudson ditching)..

Smoke limiting a clear view. And it was dark outside. Less likely to plow into something vertical that you can't see if ditching in the water

smoke limiting view would be a reason to get down to lower altitude. if I am not mistaken the 777 has cockpit windows that you can open for this purpose. being night time may have been a problem. if they had no navigation tools functioning would they have flown on in a straight line with the hope of finding land before fuel ran out?? does a 777 have a mechanical compass in it??

[John Ousterhout]

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"?  What instruments are left that wouldn't require electricity?  Does the emergency lighting system have an independent power source?  The mental image of an unlit cockpit without working displays is pretty scary.  What can be done with a flashlight if the digital displays are all blank?  Compass, turn and bank, what else would still be helpful?
If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.

[C.W. Herndon]

smoke limiting view would be a reason to get down to lower altitude. if I am not mistaken the 777 has cockpit windows that you can open for this purpose. being night time may have been a problem. if they had no navigation tools functioning would they have flown on in a straight line with the hope of finding land before fuel ran out?? does a 777 have a mechanical compass in it??

Yes Kevin, the 777 has a mechanical (magnetic) compass mounted at the top center of the windshield, as in most aircraft, and shown in the picture below from official Boeing video of the 777 cockpit found here.

[C.W. Herndon]

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"? 

If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.

Yes John, the 777 has a glass cockpit as shown in this video from Boeing.

The aircraft also has a fly-by-wire control system which makes it HIGHLY unlikely, and probably impossible, that it could be flown if all electrical power were out.

[Kevin Weeks]

Does the 777 have a "glass cockpit"? 

If the aircraft flew straight and level, doesn't that imply the autopilot was functioning?  Don't the engines also require electrical power?  If so, then part of the electrical system was working.

Yes John, the 777 has a glass cockpit as shown in this video from Boeing.

The aircraft also has a fly-by-wire control system which makes it HIGHLY unlikely, and probably impossible, that it could be flown if all electrical power were out.

found an interesting description of the 777's fly by wire system here http://bits.me.berkeley.edu/me39c/Spring97/Projects/b777/flightdeck2.html

excerpt:

In designing the fly-by-wire system Boeing built in so many safeguards and backups that it almost appeared that they were unsure of their design. For example, there are effectively nine computers that could run the fly-by-wire system alone. In addition, there is a battery backup on top of a primary backup to run the system should the power to the system be interrupted. Engineers also left some of the original cable system intact as another backup system. In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!

[Ric Gillespie]

In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!

Anything, that is, except the pilot.

[Kevin Weeks]

In other words, Boeing has attempted to counter Murphy's Law such that if anything can go wrong there is a backup!

Anything, that is, except the pilot.

I don't doubt that the next thing to come will be a complete cockpit control lockout. with the fly by wire controls they could do it and land the plane remotely ... scarey but true....

[Ric Gillespie]

The next thing to come will be to replace the copilot with a Rottweiler.  The dog's job will be to bite the pilot if he touches anything.

[don hirth]

Ric, You could do 'standup'!! Who writes your material?

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric, You could do 'standup'!! Who writes your material?

Like most comedians, I steal it.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Missing Malaysia plane: Search 'regains recorder signal'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26950387

[JNev]

Missing Malaysia plane: Search 'regains recorder signal'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26950387

Getting warmer, good to see.  Thanks Jeff Victor.