<p>Thanks, Harvestmoon. I thought you were suggesting there were credible groups taking responsibility and in the last day or two. The Chinese Brigade thing was reported on the 10th. </p>
<p>Now I am getting worried. Was the plane stolen and landed by the pilots? What happened to the passengers? (Could they all have been killed by a climb to 45k ft) Are terrorists planning to use this plane as a weapon? I don’t like to fuel speculation and have avoided this thread up to this point, but one of the reasons 9-11 happened was I believe a lack of imagination re what can happen. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have never understood why terrorist have not simply bought small 14 seater jets, filled them with explosive material and flown then into American cities, etc. You can buy a used small passenger jet for ten or twenty million dollars. With all the Saudi money floating around that should not be a problem. Terrorist would be better off buying a small jet than boarding one and stealing it. </p>
<p>I’d be shocked if it actually landed somewhere. It’s starting to sound like the pilot was protesting the government, though why he’d think killing a bunch of people says anything good about his cause. He had some kind of flight simulator in his house and apparently his family moved the day before his flight. However, the people around him are all saying there is no way he’d do anything intentionally - but how many times do we hear that story?</p>
<p>eyemamom, where did you hear that his family moved the day before the flight? I didn’t hear that. Where did they move from and to?</p>
<p>I read so much news about this I’m sorry to say I’ve forgotten, but I did read an article about it this afternoon. It could be another one of those stories that we’ve heard and were then retracted. </p>
<p>Watching 2 tv channels tonight, and still confused. If a pilot was suicidal, why kill everyone onboard?</p>
<p>Here’s a link (don’t know anything about how reliable the info is), which also states that the pilot’s wife and kids moved out the day before the flight vanished. It also has more info about the pilot. Doesn’t sound good for the passengers.</p>
<p><a href=“BREAKING: #MH370 Pilot Moved Out Wife and 3 Kids THE DAY BEFORE Disappearance | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft | 2”>http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/breaking-mh370-pilot-moved-out-wife-and-3-kids-the-day-before-disappearance/</a></p>
<p>That sounds awfully suspicious if they moved out the day prior. I wouldn’t think just having simulator programs is suspicious, as many pilots (unsurprisingly) enjoy flying them. But maybe they can get some useful data from the computers. I can’t believe it took these guys over a week to search the home and find out this information.</p>
<p>Why would a suicidal pilot kill everyone onboard? For the same reason people crash into others purposefully on the freeway, or young men gun down school kids before they kill themselves. Because they don’t care about anyone else, or they want to make a statement. Or both.</p>
<p>busdriver11, I heard on MSNBC that the flight recorder captures only a couple of hours and then recycles - so if the plane flew for hours after it deviated from its flight path, the initial cockpit sounds have been lost. </p>
<p>Is the pilot’s family missing? If so, then I’m shocked that it has taken a week to focus on the pilot. </p>
<p>NYMom, it’s typical that the cockpit voice recorder only records for 30 min. Maybe the 777 is different than older aircraft, though, so I can’t say for sure. I have heard they can sometimes retrieve recordings longer than 30 min, with their computer magic.</p>
<p>I don’t know that the family is missing. I just read reports that they had moved out. Then again, who knows how accurate the initial reports are.</p>
<p>It is indeed hard to know how accurate many of these reports and sources are. Have not read much about the pilot on mainstream media sources, only ones I am not familiar with. Some of these sources report that the search is turning to land, to see if the plane landed or crashed somewhere on land. Again, don’t have info on how reliable any of it is.</p>
<p>There was also a report that the plane was being flown as low as 5000 feet, to avoid radar detection. Have no idea how they would know that and there wasn’t much info on how that was known. There was also reports that the plane was low on fuel when it last pinged 7.5 hours after it took off.</p>
<p>No one knows how reliable any of this info is. Meanwhile the potential places to search just keep growing–land and sea covering over 5000 miles and not knowing whether the plane went north or south (or some other direction) after it left the course it was SUPPOSED to be following. In 7.5 hours or more of flying, it could have gone very far. If this was a reality show, people wouldn’t believe it as too implausible. Truth is stranger and sometimes sadder than fiction.</p>
<p>I agree, Himom. This story is truly bizarre. I suspect that much is known but not being released. The media are trying hard to find some information to report, and what we are hearing is probably a mixture of facts (either official or off the record), rumor, speculation, and outright lies. At this point, it would be a relief if the plane were found in the ocean. It’s hard to think of a scenario where the passengers and crew are alive and it would be better for everyone if the uncertainty ended.</p>
<p>I suspect it may be a very long time before the plane or even wreckage is found. The Air France plane wasn’t found for over TWO YEARS. This plane has had more secrecy and the radars in the area where the plane was and flew don’t seem to provide nearly the same level of info as ours do. It is said that there are over 4 dozen planes and 4 dozen ships in the search, from many, many nations. Some of the nations are lowering the priority of the search, as it is very unlikely there are any passengers still alive after all this time.</p>
<p>HImom, I agree. I think they’re going to find the plane at the bottom of the Indian Ocean around five years from now. So sad for all the families. And, we may never know what happened or why.</p>
<p>The Air France plane itself wasn’t found for 2 years but some floating wreckage was found in a day and a half. There was a much better idea where the flight path was in that case.</p>
<p>So what is scarier - that perhaps no on really knows what happened or that they do and aren’t saying?</p>
<p>I thought it was interesting to hear one of the executives of the company who makes the tracking equipment on board the planes. CNN asked him what he made of the fact that no one could pick up the ping from the locating device. He did say it was one of 2 possibilities, they were too far away from where the plane is, or the plane was NOT in the water. Apparently, the device will only work if the plane is in the water. </p>
<p>I really wish people would stop comparing MH 370 to AF 447. In that case, investigators found some wreckage within a day and substantial pieces of the plane within a week. Here, it’s been over a week, and they have no trace of any debris or wreckage from the plane. Also, in AF 447, there was a decent idea of what happened (pivot tube errors, bad weather) within a day. Granted, the pilot error piece, which was the biggest contributor to the tradegy, didn’t really come to light until they found the black boxes two years post, but still, they level of knowledge and evidence investigators have about MH 370 and AF 447 ten days post is worlds apart. Both are horrible tragedies on commercial airliners but beyond that, there aren’t a whole lot of similarities at this point.</p>
<p>I agree HIMom, that it will be a very long time before the plane is found…unless it has been repurposed, and that purpose will be realized before we find it.</p>
<p>I don’t understand flying the plane for 7 hours after turning the transponder off. If it was simply to commit suicide, why not just fly into the ocean?</p>
<p>The more I read about the pilot’s political views, and his association with Anwar Ibrahim, who is working in opposition to the current Malyasian government, the more I am leaning towards the pilot wanting to make Malaysia look bad, while he accomplishes his own suicide. Flimsy, I know, but I’m trying to make sense of that 7 hour flight.</p>
<p>My other theory is that the pilot is associated with a larger group, and has landed the plane on some remote island in order to repurpose it. </p>
<p>Sadly, I believe all passengers are no longer living. I’m just hoping they didn’t have to suffer. I feel for all of the family members of the passengers. How do they go on? My husband and I decided Saturday morning that at that time, we would admit our loved one was gone. But would we really be able to do that if we were involved? </p>
<p>Ironically, my family was on spring break from the day the plane went missing, until yesterday, so we only kept up with the news once or twice a day. Now that we are back, we are trying to get caught up with all the information that is out there. Obviously, we didn’t want to know too much when we had a flight home to look forward to.</p>