derry

Because of the above, you may well find he won't bother posting again

The heading change towards Langkawi is understandable but somebody then had to make another heading change off NW Malaysia to take it towards the WA search area. That for me is the mystery.

Which is my last sentence. However based on how often we practiced depressurisations and emergency descents I don't understand how the pilots could get it wrong. Unless one of them disabled the oxygen. As for the PS a/c, my pal flew on it a couple of weeks before, the oxy masks were never pointed out and sounded really sloppy.

It wouldn't have been shot down if the West Australian search area is valid. If the area is correct it probably ran out of fuel and crashed. If so was anyone on board even alive?

I get the feeling the truth is not the primary concern. Initially the search was in the SCS. Then surprise, surprise it's switched to the Malacca Strait after a last radar fix. (Who pointed the Malaysians in that direction) Then the Andamans. The Inmarsat arcs. The US points the Australians W of Perth with Satellite photo on 16th, the Chinese photo of same on 17th announced today. It would be fair to assume that the a/c has crashed with no survivors. In that case if any agency or agencies know that, there is no humanitarian reasons to compromise their sources/abilities. So data drip fed to move towards a solution. Just a thought.

Just a thought, presumably the 0107 ACARS upload indicated the second waypoint was eg Langkawi 12 minutes before the transponder went off at 0119. If one of the pilots as a check had entered Langkawi to check track/distance/time for whatever reason at the time of the upload then joined up the original route after the upload the turn may not have been pre programmed.

I don't have much faith in the local military especially in the middle of the night. If the military had an unidentified target not talking, fighters should have been scrambled. I would hazard a guess that the radar was on but the operator had his head down and after the aircraft went missing somebody checked the radar recording. Just a thought.

The route change would have no relevance. The autopilot would almost certainly be engaged and provided the lateral navigation mode L Nav was engaged the entered route would be followed. If the aircraft flight path was erratic the autopilot would almost certainly be disengaged. The max altitude of 43500 was allegedly exceeded up to 45000. I don't think an aircraft with 227 pax plus freight and 7 hours fuel could fly at 43000 let alone 45000 without the wing stalling. Maybe empty but not with that load. The autopilot probably couldn't cope there. Unless the Flight Data Recorder is recovered we'll never know. The voice recorder will be useless unless stopped close to the turn as only the last thirty minutes is recorded,

We used ARINC to make radio phone calls on VHF or HF.

The boundary would be in the route, the next point would be the new waypoint followed by a discontinuity until the next waypoint is connected. Which waypoint was it, Langkawi? After that either another route would need to be built up or the aircraft flown on headings. A lot about the reported flight path and altitudes just don't stack up.

As you first said and then edited, he didn't say he was told by somebody at Inmarsat. He wouldn't name his contact. It was me who said that I would bet it was somebody from Inmarsat. Otherwise connected to. The post is self explanatory. The Malaysian minister did admit they were given information they couldn't divulge for security reasons and that some information was not made available for the same reasons.

No he's not.

It probably won't help but as soon as a Flybe flight lands the flight data is remotely sent to a computer at Exeter for crew monitoring purposes. BA had a similar system and I was told our aircraft could be watched in real time which I assumed was through ACARS presumably BA was the same.

I think you are ignoring his contact who I would bet is with Inmarsat.

West Stand and myself have over 40000 hours flying between us and very many years on Boeings. We don't have a clue what happened but the current management of the search isn't even approaching competent and hasn't helped, as for the military radar, what military radar? Any half competent radar operator would know exactly what direction MH370 went. No surprise though. The major powers have unbelievable surveillance capability, my concern is what have they seen.

Still nothing on the search, abandoned until daylight. It is beginning to look like nobody knows, because the Indians etc are still searching the northern arc just in case.

It should be considered that people who have had a lifetime of membership in BALPA and were actively involved, have access to contacts throughout aviation, manufacturers, avionics, AAIB etc. For example I assisted the BMA pilots barristers at the Kegworth inquest, also was helped by an AAIB expert on data recorders to successfully defend a pilot on appeal. For a variety of reasons, security, litigation or personal employment reasons information is passed by experts off the record to trusted contacts. I suspect that the intelligence agencies first and foremost look after their interests. It is fact that the US pointed the Australians in the west of Perth direction. The Enigma factor is still with us. I personally take West Stand's information as read.

In my opinion they wouldn't as the FMS isn't communicable unless the flight and navigation data is transmitted by ACARS throughout the flight or downloaded to the satellite periodically or on landing.

The article mentioned the age of the equipment level. As far as I know the engine/systems data could be enabled but the pilot/atc elements, printer etc not operating. It sounds like the ACARS was switched off but the aerial was not and able to communicate with the satellite.

They say the ACARS on MH370 was too old to have GPS but that doesn't ring true as 767s I've flown were older but had GPS in the systems including ACARS which we didn't use but was probably used by the company etc.

Is it the satellite that instigates the exchange or the aircraft that contacts the satellite? I think the Australians said the intelligence was from the US. There is no doubt in my mind that agencies will be less than helpful primarily protecting their sources and abilities as their priority.

I have the answer, it's obvious. Sign Shaw and Gallagher from Chelsea, Lovren, Wanyama and Lallana from Man Utd, Schneiderlin and Chambers from Arsenal. Then add Rodriguez from Liverpool and Lambert from West Ham and we have the makings of a cracking squad. I see from the papers they are all available!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The receiver obviously interprets the signals. GPS is used to update the IRS's position, increasing accuracy. There is no doubt in my mind that the satellites can be accessed and controlled but it's what it's computers are capable of that intrigues me.

What I thought, but as they are military satellites used by civilians I just wondered what other properties were available.

The planes navigational systems are probably three Inertial Reference Systems, updated by two GPS systems and DME/VOR. Does anybody know whether the GPS / Satellites can be accessed to check what receivers used them?