Malaysia Airlines plane missing

[pap]

No, pap, I was alluding to the madness of Mr Kurtz in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or, if you prefer, Colonel Kurtz in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

 

It’s just my opinion as to the most likely explanation. Hopefully, for the sake of their loved ones, the mystery of what happened to those poor sods on that plane will be solved sooner rather than later, one way or another.

 

Fair play. The whole "he has a flight simulator so he must be a deranged fantasist" is what I take issue with.

 

As I said before, it's more likely to be a professional tool and an investment in one's career. I've always had gear over and above consumer-level for my work.

[Whitey Grandad]

A real life version of Colin Hunt? Don't buy it.

 

Let's look at the flight sim angle first. How many pilots do you reckon HAVEN'T ever used a flight simulator, even a commercial one, in this day and age? I appreciate that building a flight simulator is a different level of effort, but really, apart from the specialist controls, his setup looks no different from mine. If one of my friends was training to be a pilot, seeing that kind of setup in his or her house wouldn't set alarm bells ringing. I'd see it as a professional tool.

 

Does yours look anything like this?

 

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/03/16/1226856/097881-eee5a7e0-ac93-11e3-bf6a-6ec13e402258.jpg

[aintforever]

A pilot, obsessed with flying for more than 30 years; with his own self-built flight simulator and remote control aircraft; finally freed from the shackles of auto-pilot, flight paths and ground control; at last, with total control, over machine and passengers on a seven hour ride of the valkyries into the heart of darkness – the horror, the horror.

 

No terrorists, no hijackers, no governmental assassins, no alien abductors: just a single deranged mind. This is the most likely explanation, in my opinion.

 

Agree, it's the most likely explanation. Fits all the evidence.

 

The only thing that could contradict this theory was if the comms that were turned off late on couldn't be done from the cockpit.

 

If this did happen it would have been terrifying for the people on board, would have been completely helpless.

[Essruu]

I appreciate that building a flight simulator is a different level of effort, but really, apart from the specialist controls, his setup looks no different from mine.

 

I bet the pilot's simulator doesn't even run at 1080p, ffs.

[pap]

Does yours look anything like this?

 

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2014/03/16/1226856/097881-eee5a7e0-ac93-11e3-bf6a-6ec13e402258.jpg

 

Yes.

 

 

I bet the pilot's simulator doesn't even run at 1080p, ffs.

 

That'll be 6040x1080p, b!tch

[buctootim]

Pap's plane doesn't have side windows and the flaps / thrust is fly by wire operated by shift + Q.

[aintforever]

With all due respect Pap, you are not best placed to judge who is and who is not a deranged fantasist.

[pap]

Pap's plane doesn't have side windows and the flaps / thrust is fly by wire operated by shift + Q.

 

The monitors could be angled that way if it ever takes my fancy.

 

The point is that 3 screen setups aren't that unusual. Been supported by major vendors for years.

 

Most of those controls are unusual, but no more out of place than medical gear in a doctor's gaff.

[Halo Stickman]

Don’t suppose papairlines does cheap flights from Devon to Southampton by any chance?

[pap]

With all due respect Pap, you are not best placed to judge who is and who is not a deranged fantasist.

 

With much less respect, your ostensible level of intellect means you are not best placed to judge others.

[buctootim]

The monitors could be angled that way if it ever takes my fancy.

 

The point is that 3 screen setups aren't that unusual. Been supported by major vendors for years.

 

Most of those controls are unusual, but no more out of place than medical gear in a doctor's gaff.

 

I know, I just teasing. The point is though that its arguably weird for a pilot with 30 years experience to be playing a sim game, especially if it involved deliberately crashing - not so for a member of the general public.

[pap]

I know, I just teasing. The point is though that its arguably weird for a pilot with 30 years experience to be playing a sim game, especially if it involved deliberately crashing - not so for a member of the general public.

 

Yeah; whereas my feeling is that it could just as easily be a tool of the trade. The grade of his gear would support that ( most flight sim stuff aimed at a recreational audience tends to be less authentic ).

[pap]

The Times of Israel has a story playing the Iranian angle.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-el-al-expert-iran-likely-involved-in-mh-370/

 

Some decent quotes here re: the "Colin Hunt theory":-

 

We are talking about a captain who is 53 years old, who has worked for Malaysia Airlines for 30 years, and suddenly he became a terrorist? He wanted to commit suicide? If he committed suicide, where is the debris?”

 

 

Adding that the captain in question, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, was known to be happily married and comfortably well-off, Yeffet said the profile simply does not fit. “From the United States to China to Japan, everybody is searching for this aircraft or piece of it. And there is no sign. So in my opinion, the aircraft was hijacked. And it was an excellent plan from the terrorists, to land in a place where they can hide the plane and no one can find it.”

[fish fingers]

The US have taken it and landed it on Diego Garcia.

[Halo Stickman]

Some decent quotes here re: the "Colin Hunt theory":-

 

Adding that the captain in question, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, was known to be happily married and comfortably well-off, Yeffet said the profile simply does not fit.

 

The thing is, pap, many of us will have known someone – or, at least have heard of someone – seemingly in the same kind of happy circumstances, who, nevertheless, have ended up committing suicide for no obviously apparent reason; albeit, thankfully, not normally with such devastating consequences for others.

 

For the sake of the pilot’s family and friends, I really hope it isn’t the case with this missing flight; however, IMO, sadly, it seems the most likely scenario at the moment.

[Minty]

I'm not convinced of any particular theory yet, this is simply too unprecedented IMO.

 

In actual fact, the longer it goes on at the moment, the more inclined I am to believe that it was landed safely somewhere. But that's nothing more than a gut feel.

[Gemmel]

I just cant my head around the whole thing. I don't know anything about planes, flight paths or radar and until this happened had assumed that every plane was tracked for the entire flight.

[hypochondriac]

I find it incredible that in this day and age a plane can just vanish.

[pap]

The thing is, pap, many of us will have known someone – or, at least have heard of someone – seemingly in the same kind of happy circumstances, who, nevertheless, have ended up committing suicide for no obviously apparent reason; albeit, thankfully, not normally with such devastating consequences for others.

 

For the sake of the pilot’s family and friends, I really hope it isn’t the case with this missing flight; however, IMO, sadly, it seems the most likely scenario at the moment.

 

If the tragic version of a Fast Show sketch is the most likely scenario this board can conjure (and crucially, get behind), I worry for the power of critical thinking.

 

I'm 38; I've known a number of people to take their own lives. Some were completely out of the blue; some were part of a wider problem or local statistical bump (I lived in a town where a frighteningly high number of people per capita committed suicide). None of them have ever taken anyone else with them. I acknowledge that it has happened; we've seen it happen on airlines. However, I really don't buy it here.

 

There are the seven hours of satellite pings to consider. What's that all about?

 

I get grief on here for some of my suggestions; those of you that have got behind this line of thinking are essentially saying that you think this chap was so depressed that instead of just taking his own life in a locked garage or something, decided to become a mass murderer instead.

 

I'm not behind any particular theory at the moment. There really isn't much to go on. However, after a week of searching there isn't one piece of physical evidence to back up the suicide hypothesis or even the notion that the plane actually crashed. I find it a bit of a stretch to adjudge a pilot of mass murder because he has a flight simulator in his house.

[Halo Stickman]

If the tragic version of a Fast Show sketch is the most likely scenario this board can conjure (and crucially, get behind), I worry for the power of critical thinking.

 

I'm 38; I've known a number of people to take their own lives. Some were completely out of the blue; some were part of a wider problem or local statistical bump (I lived in a town where a frighteningly high number of people per capita committed suicide). None of them have ever taken anyone else with them. I acknowledge that it has happened; we've seen it happen on airlines. However, I really don't buy it here.

 

There are the seven hours of satellite pings to consider. What's that all about?

 

I get grief on here for some of my suggestions; those of you that have got behind this line of thinking are essentially saying that you think this chap was so depressed that instead of just taking his own life in a locked garage or something, decided to become a mass murderer instead.

 

I'm not behind any particular theory at the moment. There really isn't much to go on. However, after a week of searching there isn't one piece of physical evidence to back up the suicide hypothesis or even the notion that the plane actually crashed. I find it a bit of a stretch to adjudge a pilot of mass murder because he has a flight simulator in his house.

 

Fair enough, pap, although I would like to dissociate myself from your Fast Show sketch analogy – until you mentioned him, I hadn’t even heard of Colin Hunt!

[pap]

Fair enough, pap, although I would like to dissociate myself from your Fast Show sketch analogy – until you mentioned him, I hadn’t even heard of Colin Hunt!

 

Disassociated.

 

The Fast Show link is only relevant because Colin Hunt had a flight simulator, and would force his relatives to endure real-time transatlantic flights. So a bit of a fantasist.

[Whitey Grandad]

You can only really judge whether the flight simulator is relevant or not if you know how common it is for a commercial pilot to have such an installation at home. In general you'd want your employees to have some 'down time' from their work.

[pap]

You can only really judge whether the flight simulator is relevant or not if you know how common it is for a commercial pilot to have such an installation at home. In general you'd want your employees to have some 'down time' from their work.

 

You can apply some common sense. If it's a suicide bid, why deactivate most of the tracking systems and keep the plane flying for seven hours?

[Whitey Grandad]

You can apply some common sense. If it's a suicide bid, why deactivate most of the tracking systems and keep the plane flying for seven hours?

 

You can never really know what's going on inside someone's head.

[swannymere]

It's either some sick Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway skit or some weird fantasists real life version of LOST. Or the Scientologists were right.

[pap]

You can never really know what's going on inside someone's head.

 

I don't accept that as a good enough reason for your conclusions.

[Window Cleaner]

We've got no further then, probably never will.

[Verbal]

With much less respect, your ostensible level of intellect means you are not best placed to judge others.

 

What you think is the sound of applause is actually a thousand facepalms.

[pap]

What you think is the sound of applause is actually a thousand facepalms.

 

Of all the things I have witnessed on this forum, few have given me as much personal satisfaction as watching you become a reaction to me.

 

You're like the forum version of a bee. Sure you can sting, but not without killing yourself in the process.

 

Sayonara sayanim

[aintforever]

You can apply some common sense. If it's a suicide bid, why deactivate most of the tracking systems and keep the plane flying for seven hours?

 

Pap applying common sense!

 

If the reports of him being a strong supporter of that person who was jailed it was as much a political protest as a suicide. Maybe he just lost it and thought he would fly off somewhere to get the world's attention to his cause, if that was his aim he has succeeded.

 

It's a weird set of events, the pilot going nuts is certainly one of the more plausible theories.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

I'm clearly missing something, why is it suspicious that a pilot has a flight simulator?

 

I don't see why that necessarily makes him a suspect in a potential mass murder.

 

Granted, I don't know how common it is for a pilot to have one, but it doesn't exactly scream strange to me.

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong.

[Whitey Grandad]

I don't accept that as a good enough reason for your conclusions.

 

I haven't concluded anything, nor have I excluded anything.

[pap]

Pap applying common sense!

 

Sorry mucker, Verbal has just arrived.

 

Jousting with him is a far better use of my time and resources. Perhaps when he has done his 3 posts I can address some of the filler.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

Should be said, I haven't followed this that closely, so there is a good chance I am missing something.

[Whitey Grandad]

I'm clearly missing something, why is it suspicious that a pilot has a flight simulator?

 

I don't see why that necessarily makes him a suspect in a potential mass murder.

 

Granted, I don't know how common it is for a pilot to have one, but it doesn't exactly scream strange to me.

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong.

 

It doesn't sit quite right with me. Why would you want a simulator when you have the real thing? It's like having a blow-up doll when you have a gorgeous supermodel lying next to you. I would imagine.

[pap]

It doesn't sit quite right with me. Why would you want a simulator when you have the real thing? It's like having a blow-up doll when you have a gorgeous supermodel lying next to you. I would imagine.

 

Yeah, it'd be like footballers playing FIFA. That never happens.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

It doesn't sit quite right with me. Why would you want a simulator when you have the real thing? It's like having a blow-up doll when you have a gorgeous supermodel lying next to you. I would imagine.

 

Where is the line though?

 

I work with video games, yet in my spare time I still play them and attempt (failing miserably) to make them too.

 

Footballers play football all day then go home and play Fifa.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of bus drivers/f1 drivers that spend their own time driving/tinkering with cars - mechanics too.

 

I don't know, to me it just doesn't initially strike me as that odd. As I've said I don't know all the ins and outs of this case - so if there is something else to add to the suspicion of this pilot, then fair enough - but I don't see why that alone is such a huge deal. Maybe he just really loves flying?

[KelvinsRightGlove]

Yeah, it'd be like footballers playing FIFA. That never happens.

 

Damn you stealing my analogies pap!!

 

[KelvinsRightGlove]

Just remembered the model train set a friends dad had when I was a kid. It was amazing(/pretty sad).

 

Guess what he did for a living...

[pap]

Damn you stealing my analogies pap!!

 

 

To be fair, I was going to make the point about any self-respecting mechanic having his or her own tools, probably top-notch ones at that.

 

We'll call it a draw, KRG.

[aintforever]

Sorry mucker, Verbal has just arrived.

 

Jousting with him is a far better use of my time and resources. Perhaps when he has done his 3 posts I can address some of the filler.

 

Only because I wipe the floor with your pathetic conspiracies every time. Lee Rigby, the Boston bombings, 9/11 - I have make you look a complete fool every time. That's not hard though you do a fine job all by yourself.

 

"Where's the blood, where's the blood!" "Look at the hands!"

[KelvinsRightGlove]

To be fair, I was going to make the point about any self-respecting mechanic having his or her own tools, probably top-notch ones at that.

 

We'll call it a draw, KRG.

 

Great minds, eh mate?

[aintforever]

Where is the line though?

 

I work with video games, yet in my spare time I still play them and attempt (failing miserably) to make them too.

 

Footballers play football all day then go home and play Fifa.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of bus drivers/f1 drivers that spend their own time driving/tinkering with cars - mechanics too.

 

I don't know, to me it just doesn't initially strike me as that odd. As I've said I don't know all the ins and outs of this case - so if there is something else to add to the suspicion of this pilot, then fair enough - but I don't see why that alone is such a huge deal. Maybe he just really loves flying?

 

I don't think having a the flight simulator means anything in this case to be honest, unless he was using it to practice stealing the plane and landing somewhere or flying into buildings etc.

[Minty]

As much as I don't think there's much evidence for the captain being involved in anything like what has been suggested above, it's only fair to say that all any of us can do at the moment is speculate and theorise.

 

Anything is possible.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

I don't think having a the flight simulator means anything in this case to be honest, unless he was using it to practice stealing the plane and landing somewhere or flying into buildings etc.

 

If that is found to be the case, yeah fair enough that would of course be more suspicious.

 

At the moment, I'm not aware of this being the case however.

[Grim Reaper]

I'm clearly missing something, why is it suspicious that a pilot has a flight simulator?

 

I don't see why that necessarily makes him a suspect in a potential mass murder.

 

Granted, I don't know how common it is for a pilot to have one, but it doesn't exactly scream strange to me.

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong.

 

The suspicious bit could be that it's not what he is doing with a flight simulator but who he could possibly be training up on it. It does seem weird with a man with so many thousands of flying hours using that set up.

[Joey-deacons-left-nut]

I run 3 screens at home, but then I'm cool as ****.

[pap]

Only because I wipe the floor with your pathetic conspiracies every time. Lee Rigby, the Boston bombings, 9/11 - I have make you look a complete fool every time. That's not hard though you do a fine job all by yourself.

 

"Where's the blood, where's the blood!" "Look at the hands!"

 

Tell you what, if you're so confident that you're actually wiping the floor with me, and not just a flacid component of a wider mob, go create an account on David Icke's forums. Use your floor-wipin' ability to convince them all of your ideas. Let us all know your username so we can track your progress.

 

You won't, because you've nothing to say if one of the skirts you're hiding under didn't say it first.

[Minty]

It does seem weird with a man with so many thousands of flying hours using that set up.

 

It really isn't that weird. Plenty of real-life pilots have difference simulator set-ups at home. For some, flying is a religion and they just love flying one way or another.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

The suspicious bit could be that it's not what he is doing with a flight simulator but who he could possibly be training up on it. It does seem weird with a man with so many thousands of flying hours using that set up.

 

Why is it any weirder than any of the other things I have highlighted above?

 

Granted there is little more anyone can do than speculate, given the lack of info - but what you are suggesting is pretty wild speculation.

 

Personally, at the moment I don't see it (in isolation) being a big issue.

 

As I said, perhaps the guy is really passionate about flying. Wouldn't be the only person to have a passion for what they do now, would they?