MH370 - All You Need to Know

[Ksihkehe]

So, all EXCELLENT questions!!!  And, I am happy to answer them all, to the best of my abilities.  I only hope you will forgive me for deferring these answers until tomorrow because they are well thought out questions which require some thought in response.  I am glad to do this, but just not tonight.  Unlike some 'other' places, you are far more intelligent than most, so a casual answer will not suffice.
I can fill in some of the blanks you point out, but it will require some more in depth discussion about some of the technology involved, how it works and what I know about it.  I will need to be careful about how I construct that response because some of it is sensitive information (that's not a cop-out, but rather a statement of fact.  It doesn't mean I can't describe it in detail, but I just have to be careful about how I do it...if that makes sense.)  This response will take a bit more time than my tired brain is prepared to deal with at the moment.
Hopefully you (and others) can understand.  It's one thing to talk about theory, but it's a whole other thing to talk about facts (facts which can be cross checked and verified...which can be problematic for the person stating those facts).

Sincerely,
FCD

I did see that just a few days (week maybe) after this thread they announced another search and possible reward.

Reuters

A contract would be signed to cover an 18-month period and the firm would receive $70 million if wreckage found was substantive, he said, adding the search would be on the seabed of a new area covering 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles).

No precise location of the new search area was given.

Seems odd that the way it's worded. The way it looks is that they only pay if evidence is found within the contract area. Seems odd to me.

It would seem weird if another search were to have geographical limits for where they'll pay for results, but that may be standard for this kind of thing? Maybe there is no standard because of the rarity of this kind of thing.

[FCD]

I did see that just a few days (week maybe) after this thread they announced another search and possible reward.

Reuters


Seems odd that the way it's worded. The way it looks is that they only pay if evidence is found within the contract area. Seems odd to me.

It would seem weird if another search were to have geographical limits for where they'll pay for results, but that may be standard for this kind of thing? Maybe there is no standard because of the rarity of this kind of thing.

Sorry for my heinous delay in getting back to this thread, there's been mucho goings on in the world since which bore attendance.  In the intervening time I have reread your post on several occasions and began a response only to be unable to finish it.  After some further contemplation, let me try a little different approach to answering your questions.

The first thing I think it's important to understand is, the government of Malaysia does not want MH370 to be found.  Not ever.  Only the people of Malaysia are demanding it be found.  Thus, the government is going to make it next to impossible for any search team to find the wreckage if there's any possible way they can.  It's a win-win for them (the government); they get to look like they're doing something, and they don't have to pay.  Win-win. 

As you may know, I lived in Malaysia for several years in the mid 1990's, hence my great interest in this flight in particular.  I also worked very closely with Malaysian Airlines, and Malaysian Air Systems on practically a daily basis the whole time. MH370 exemplifies every single cultural shortfall I ever witnesses while living there.  In many cultures, even the US, we use the term "Saving face" to mean protecting one's ego.  Well, in Malaysia, saving face takes on a whole new meaning.  It is the foundation of their society, and everything else is built on top of this concept.  It's so extreme that even pointing your finger at something, especially another person, is considered to be very rude because you are singling out one individual.  Every single thing you do in Malaysia is built around this philosophy, and it just defies imagination how deep it goes. 

Even the mere notion that MH370 might have been intentionally crashed by one of their own is so absolutely unacceptable that it just can never be allowed to be the accepted answer.  Therefore, MH370 must stay missing forever.  Even though there is irrefutable proof now that MH370 crashed in the Indian Ocean, the Malaysian government can still hang their hats on the fact that no intent can be proven (which is the real underlying issue here).  If the wreckage were ever to be located, things like flight deck fire could be ruled out.  Perhaps, in the years since MH370 disappeared in 2014, you have seen me and Zaphod go round and round, and round on this fire issue.  He is wrong, and I believe deep in his heart he knows this but, like the Malaysian government, his pride won't let him admit it.  It all boils down to one left hand turn which MH370 made during the flight.

You see, there's no way MH370 could have not been intentional when you consider the fairly sharp left turn from the west to the south off of the west coast of Indonesia.  Every other thing about MH370 could be explained by some ghost flight theory, but not that turn.  That turn was intentional, and it proves beyond any shadow of a doubt the aircraft was under human control at that time.  When you look at the flight from this frame of reference then all the other pieces of the mystery fall into place.  All of these points are important to understand, which brings me to your questions.

I had to get all those pieces out first so the answers would make sense.

The pilot and copilot were both Malaysian, not Chinese-Malay, or Indian-Malay, but full blown indigenous Malaysian nationals.  Malaysian culture is made up of three peoples about evenly divided across the population.  There are Chinese, Indian and Malaysian.  The pilots were Malaysian.  The Chinese and the Indians do not necessarily share this hardcore unshakeable 'saving face' foundation like the Malays do.  So, the pilots absolutely knew the implications of their actions (whether one or both) on Malaysian society.  It would have been earth shattering.  They (personally, I believe it was Zaharie alone) didn't want MH370 to be found either.  Consequently, they wouldn't fly MH370 to someplace where the wreckage could be located.  What this means is they would have flown more westerly (than where the search area is) out into the middle of the Indian Ocean.  This explains why all the confirmed wreckage pieces have been found far west and north of the search area.  They would have never intentionally flown toward, or even in the general direction, of Australia (where the search area is located).  This search area is known as the "7th Arc", and it is based on 100% tunnel vision...that the aircraft was flying un-commanded (i.e. pilot-less) to where it went down.

Malaysian officials have done every possible thing within their power to steer this investigation and obscure the facts from the start.  They've hidden evidence, they've provided knowingly false information, and tried everything they can to keep the entire world believing this was a complete accident.  It wasn't.  Remember too, Malaysian Airlines is owned by Malaysian Airline Systems, which is in turn owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad.  The word "Berhad" here is important; it means part of the Malaysian government.  It is actually the national bank of Malaysia.  So, you can easily see how far up this goes in the whole structure of the government of Malaysia, it goes right to the top, including the Prime Minister.  Note: this is not to be confused with Bank Negara which is the central bank of Malaysia, but would be comparable to our Federal Reserve bank (just a side note for clarity). 

Back to the search area.  "No find, no fee" type contracts are common in ocean research.  The ocean is a big place, but there are also lots of people looking to make a buck and take risks doing it.  What's unusual here is setting boundaries, and I haven't seen the actual contract, so I don't know how clearly these boundaries are defined.  Whether the current search will deviate from the designated search box remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me.  I know I certainly would if it was on my nickle.  The bigger question is, where?  And that's the $64,000 question.

Hopefully I answered your questions in this novel-ette.

[19Bones79]

Sorry for my heinous delay in getting back to this thread, there's been mucho goings on in the world since which bore attendance.  In the intervening time I have reread your post on several occasions and began a response only to be unable to finish it.  After some further contemplation, let me try a little different approach to answering your questions.

The first thing I think it's important to understand is, the government of Malaysia does not want MH370 to be found.  Not ever.  Only the people of Malaysia are demanding it be found.  Thus, the government is going to make it next to impossible for any search team to find the wreckage if there's any possible way they can.  It's a win-win for them (the government); they get to look like they're doing something, and they don't have to pay.  Win-win. 

As you may know, I lived in Malaysia for several years in the mid 1990's, hence my great interest in this flight in particular.  I also worked very closely with Malaysian Airlines, and Malaysian Air Systems on practically a daily basis the whole time.  MH370 exemplifies every single cultural shortfall I ever witnesses while living there.  In many cultures, even the US, we use the term "Saving face" to mean protecting one's ego.  Well, in Malaysia, saving face takes on a whole new meaning.  It is the foundation of their society, and everything else is built on top of this concept.  It's so extreme that even pointing your finger at something, especially another person, is considered to be very rude because you are singling out one individual.  Every single thing you do in Malaysia is built around this philosophy, and it just defies imagination how deep it goes. 

Even the mere notion that MH370 might have been intentionally crashed by one of their own is so absolutely unacceptable that it just can never be allowed to be the accepted answer.  Therefore, MH370 must stay missing forever.  Even though there is irrefutable proof now that MH370 crashed in the Indian Ocean, the Malaysian government can still hang their hats on the fact that no intent can be proven (which is the real underlying issue here).  If the wreckage were ever to be located, things like flight deck fire could be ruled out.  Perhaps, in the years since MH370 disappeared in 2014, you have seen me and Zaphod go round and round, and round on this fire issue.  He is wrong, and I believe deep in his heart he knows this but, like the Malaysian government, his pride won't let him admit it.  It all boils down to one left hand turn which MH370 made during the flight.

You see, there's no way MH370 could have not been intentional when you consider the fairly sharp left turn from the west to the south off of the west coast of Indonesia.  Every other thing about MH370 could be explained by some ghost flight theory, but not that turn.  That turn was intentional, and it proves beyond any shadow of a doubt the aircraft was under human control at that time.  When you look at the flight from this frame of reference then all the other pieces of the mystery fall into place.  All of these points are important to understand, which brings me to your questions.

I had to get all those pieces out first so the answers would make sense.

The pilot and copilot were both Malaysian, not Chinese-Malay, or Indian-Malay, but full blown indigenous Malaysian nationals.  Malaysian culture is made up of three peoples about evenly divided across the population.  There are Chinese, Indian and Malaysian.  The pilots were Malaysian.  The Chinese and the Indians do not necessarily share this hardcore unshakeable 'saving face' foundation like the Malays do.  So, the pilots absolutely knew the implications of their actions (whether one or both) on Malaysian society.  It would have been earth shattering.  They (personally, I believe it was Zaharie alone) didn't want MH370 to be found either.  Consequently, they wouldn't fly MH370 to someplace where the wreckage could be located.  What this means is they would have flown more westerly (than where the search area is) out into the middle of the Indian Ocean.  This explains why all the confirmed wreckage pieces have been found far west and north of the search area.  They would have never intentionally flown toward, or even in the general direction, of Australia (where the search area is located).  This search area is known as the "7th Arc", and it is based on 100% tunnel vision...that the aircraft was flying un-commanded (i.e. pilot-less) to where it went down.

Malaysian officials have done every possible thing within their power to steer this investigation and obscure the facts from the start.  They've hidden evidence, they've provided knowingly false information, and tried everything they can to keep the entire world believing this was a complete accident.  It wasn't.  Remember too, Malaysian Airlines is owned by Malaysian Airline Systems, which is in turn owned by Khazanah Nasional Berhad.  The word "Berhad" here is important; it means part of the Malaysian government.  It is actually the national bank of Malaysia.  So, you can easily see how far up this goes in the whole structure of the government of Malaysia, it goes right to the top, including the Prime Minister.  Note: this is not to be confused with Bank Negara which is the central bank of Malaysia, but would be comparable to our Federal Reserve bank (just a side note for clarity). 

Back to the search area.  "No find, no fee" type contracts are common in ocean research.  The ocean is a big place, but there are also lots of people looking to make a buck and take risks doing it.  What's unusual here is setting boundaries, and I haven't seen the actual contract, so I don't know how clearly these boundaries are defined.  Whether the current search will deviate from the designated search box remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me.  I know I certainly would if it was on my nickle.  The bigger question is, where?  And that's the $64,000 question.

Hopefully I answered your questions in this novel-ette.

Hey man, it's good to see you back here. You're literally the spice of life. 

[Ksihkehe]

Sorry for my heinous delay in getting back to this thread

I don't think anybody will be holding your feet to the fire for missing a few weeks over the holidays.

The cultural dogma on maintaining face adds an interesting twist that I wasn't fully aware of. Maintaining the optics of a positive national identity is a motivator even for countries that don't have that dogma, so it's plausible.

I still feel I'm missing pieces, but I also don't expect to see any real breakthroughs for a long while.