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[Ric Gillespie]

if they do eventually succeed then the flight recorder data will certainly be eagerly anticipated for sure.

The Flight Data Recorder will reveal the mechanics of what happened but not the why.  The Cockpit Voice Recorder may or may not contain clues about the motivation.

[Monty Fowler]

The Cockpit Voice Recorder may or may not contain clues about the motivation.

All the person who took over the flight has to do to negate any value the CVR may have is to not talk, since it records over itself every 2 hours. Which seems like a rather arbitrary and silly limit, in a case like this.

LTM, who is pondering the mysteries of dry paint,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

The answers are waiting in the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice recorder if they can be retrieved.

The CVR records the last 2 hours on a continuous cycle and it is of course possible to negate any value by a person not making a sound as Monty pointed out. The same doesn't apply to the automatic warnings emanated by the various systems of the airplane which would probably have been working in overdrive as the airplane neared its final demise. Those sounds would be on the last 2 hours worth of CVR for sure and of course clues can be gained from them too. If they were they being acknowledged or cancelled then that would point to a person, being silent but given away by their actions, in the cockpit. Maybe the last 2 hours of CVR simply recorded a succession of warnings/alarms and nothing else, low fuel, ground proximity, cabin pressure etc... until the inevitable.
From the flight data recorder much more information on what the plane and its systems were doing is available plus all of the instructions the systems received during the flight and when. If/when it was put onto autopilot, what co-ordinates/altitude were entered,when/if it was taken off of autopilot. All give clues as to whether people were trying to fly the plane or, it was put into autopilot and then left to its own devises, or it was in autopilot when the people succumbed to whatever or who knows what other scenario?
The information is there, it's just finding it that is going to take time.

[James Champion]

The CVR and FDR for AF447 spent nearly 2 years at an ocean depth far past their ratings, but data was recovered. All of the likely ocean locations for MH370 are similar in depth, but there is no way to know if again there will be recoverable data. Also, it's unlikely the recorders will be found within 2 years given the enormous search area.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

The CVR and FDR for AF447 spent nearly 2 years at an ocean depth far past their ratings, but data was recovered. All of the likely ocean locations for MH370 are similar in depth, but there is no way to know if again there will be recoverable data. Also, it's unlikely the recorders will be found within 2 years given the enormous search area.

I agree James, this will take considerably longer as there is much less information to go on regarding where the flight might have ended compared to AF 447.That's a huge disadvantage even with the most sophisticated equipment being deployed in the attempt to locate the plane.

Off topic but, it's 6th June today and we're off to Weymouth and Portland to join the 70th D-Day landings anniversary. Going to lay some flowers from our garden in remembrance of the men of the US Rangers and the Big Red One who embarked for Omaha beach from Portland and Weymouth all those years ago. A couple of rare video clips of their departure from the aforementioned places...
http://www.love-weymouth.co.uk/d-day-weymouth-1944/

[C.W. Herndon]

Off topic but, it's 6th June today and we're off to Weymouth and Portland to join the 70th D-Day landings anniversary. Going to lay some flowers from our garden in remembrance of the men of the US Rangers and the Big Red One who embarked for Omaha beach from Portland and Weymouth all those years ago.

Jeff, Thanks for remembering "our troops" on this day.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Off topic but, it's 6th June today and we're off to Weymouth and Portland to join the 70th D-Day landings anniversary. Going to lay some flowers from our garden in remembrance of the men of the US Rangers and the Big Red One who embarked for Omaha beach from Portland and Weymouth all those years ago.

Jeff, Thanks for remembering "our troops" on this day.

A very solemn ceremony Woody but, lots of people came to pay their respects which is more and more important these days as time catches up with those who survived and memories fade.

[Kent Beuchert]

Off topic but, it's 6th June today and we're off to Weymouth and Portland to join the 70th D-Day landings anniversary. Going to lay some flowers from our garden in remembrance of the men of the US Rangers and the Big Red One who embarked for Omaha beach from Portland and Weymouth all those years ago.
Jeff, Thanks for remembering "our troops" on this day.

Let's not forget those who landed  on the western half of Omaha Beach alongside the 1st ID's 16th Regimental  Combat Team, the 116th Regiment Regimental Combat  Team (Virginia National Guard)  from the  29th ID (Blue and Gray).

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Thanks for the info kent I have started to read up on 29th ID-116th regiment RCT, very much appreciated.

Back to flight MH370

Latest update confirms the time period they are looking at, months if not years.

Malaysian MH370: Inmarsat confident on crash 'hotspot'

The UK satellite company Inmarsat has told the BBC that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has yet to go to the area its scientists think is the plane's most likely crash site.

Inmarsat's communications with the aircraft are seen as the best clues to the whereabouts of Flight MH370.

The hunt for the lost jet is currently taking a short break while ships map the Indian Ocean floor.

When the search resumes, the Inmarsat "hotspot" will be a key focus.

But so too will a number of areas being fed into the investigation by other groups.

Australian authorities are expected to announce where these are shortly.

The BBC's Horizon TV programme has been given significant access to the telecommunications experts at Inmarsat.

It was the brief, hourly electronic connections between the jet and one of company's spacecraft that are currently driving the search.

Inmarsat's scientists could tell from the timings and frequencies of the connection signals that the plane had to have come down in the southern Indian Ocean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27870467

Link to Horizon documentary, not yet available on iplayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047czkj

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

This just in...

Flight MH370: Official police investigation 'identifies captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah as prime suspect over plane's disappearance'


Malaysian cops reportedly found the 53-year-old dad of three had made no social or work commitments for the future, unlike the rest of his crew

The official police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has reportedly identified the plane's captain as the prime suspect.

Malaysian cops discovered that married dad of three Shah, 53, appeared to have made NO social or work commitments for the future, unlike other members of his crew, the Sunday Times reports.

Their probe also found that he had programmed a flight simulator with drills practising a flight far out into the southern Indian Ocean and landing on a island with a short runway, the paper claims.

The drills were said to have been deleted but later recovered by computer experts.

[Ric Gillespie]

Whad I tell ya?  Find the island and you'll find the plane.

[Randy Conrad]

Would someone give Ric a cookie this morning!!! Nice...Ric!!!!

[Bill Mangus]

Wonder if the Captain was a fan of the TV series "Lost"?
 

[Monty Fowler]

The good news? There aren't all that many islands in that part of the world.

The bad news? We haven't looked at all of them yet. At least publicly. I would be willing to wager our ever-dilligent NSA already has more than a few satellite passes of all the tiny bits of land down there. With optics that can pick up a cigarette pack on the ground, if they've a mind too ... the bigger If is, Will the NSA shares what it knows?

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Kent Beuchert]

  Will the NSA shares what it knows? 

Hmmm...  since when has the NSA operated its own satellites?