As readers of this blog or my Kindle Single (or, now, New York magazine) know, I’m intrigued by the possibility that MH370 might have been hijacked and flown north to the Yubileyniy Aerodrome within the Baikonur Cosmodrome. If so, it would have come to rest on the specially-milled concrete at approximately an hour and a half … Continue reading What Was Going On at Yubileyniy?
One of the many baffling aspects of the QZ8501 story so far is why the plane disappeared from radar screens when it did. Did the plane suffer some kind of catastrophic event that caused the plane’s transponder to cease functioning? Or did something else occur? I believe that we now have enough information to answer … Continue reading Why AirAsia 8501 Disappeared From Radar
In the latest in series of aggressive maneuvers by Russian military planes in European airspace, the Financial Times is reporting today that a Russian intelligence plane nearly caused a mid-air collision with a Swedish passenger jet on Friday while flying along a Flight Information Region (FIR) boundary with its transponder turned off. An SAS jet taking … Continue reading Russian Military Planes, Flying With Transponders Off, Provoke Alarm in Europe
Ever since the Independent Group first issued a public report offering guidance as to where search efforts for MH370 should be concentrated, people have been asking for details on group members’ calculated routes. Unfortunately, everyone is doing this work for free, in their spare time, and have other things to attend to as well, so providing explanations has not … Continue reading Up Close: Inside an IG Southern Route
Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), is plagued by conspiracy theorists. According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, since the disappearance of MH370, “conspiracy theorists have been busy trying to solve the mystery themselves. Many have contacted Dolan.” “You’ve got this big mystery and everyone wants to know … Continue reading Occam’s Razor is Overrated
MARCH 8, 2014. 12.15am. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A line of passengers shuffles down the aisle to their seats, subdued and sleepy. It’s late, and the flight is due to arrive in Beijing at practically the break of dawn. Most of the passengers are Chinese, with a sizable number of Malaysians and Indonesians and a smattering … Continue reading The Spoof (A Speculative Scenario)
If you were leading a high-profile international aircraft investigation, in command of the world’s most qualified technical experts and in possession of all the relevant data, would you bother listening to a rag-tag band of internet commenters, few of whom actually work in the space or aviation industry, and none of whom have access to … Continue reading In Search for Missing Airliner, Peanut Gallery Shows the Way
by Kent Smerdon, Captain (ret’d) AKS, former Air force fighter and VIP pilot, heavy jet (B-767) Captain The captain did it. There is no one else who had the authority, the motive, the opportunity and the knowledge to carry out such a perfect and, for want of a better word, elegant crime. First, who did NOT … Continue reading The Captain Did It
A hundred days have passed since MH370 went missing — and while air and sea search operations have been put on hold, hope springs eternal. Today, the BBC is reporting that Inmarsat remains confident that its analysis of the satellite data will lead to the plane, saying that the authorities never searched the area of … Continue reading The Triple-Disappearing Airplane
Two weeks ago, after months of mounting public pressure, Inmarsat and the Malaysian government finally released the raw satellite data that had been received from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Most of the data dump proved unrevealing. But tucked away amid 47 pages of detailed communications logs and explanatory notes was a two-sentence description … Continue reading Slate: Where the Missing Plane Went