Moody Sultan asks how a plane can vanish and advances some theories of his own…
The fate of flight MH370 is playing on the minds of millions who are eagerly waiting to find out the where-abouts of this fated flight. The whereabouts of the plane must be the mystery of 2014. This story caught fire internationally because it was a mystery we wanted to see solved by the world experts in aviation and those leaders in search and rescue. However, a lack of answers to seemingly obvious questions have left the general public feeling hopeless and scared. Let me explain.
Before we all decide that this is the flight that went missing and was never found, I would like to point out that with modern technology, protocols and policies put in place by the international air transport association, a flight cannot vanish. This is despite the prime minister of Malaysia’s claim some days ago. Without inundating the dubious facts about the transponders and the numerous satellite tracking systems on this Boeing 777, this sort of plane requires manual shutdown of all tracking systems to fly in a stealth mode and would have to have done this in a period of less than 10 minutes. At this point it is fair to say that there was a preplanned decision to do this. Spiraling out of control, sudden loss of cabin pressure or abduction by aliens have to be taken out of the list of who dunnit as the plane would have been sending out automatic signals back to a base. However it seems that despite these clarifications all the speculation in the world cannot find this needle in a haystack. If the plane was travelling on for an extra 5 hours until it ran out of fuel, this broadens the scope to an extra 2,500 miles. This plane could literally be anywhere in a vast expanse of ocean.
However, some questions we can answer. Why couldn’t a passenger send out a distress call? Phones do not work at 35,000 feet and even if they crash landed there is no signal in the middle of the sea unless you are an extremist who always carries a state of the art Satellite phone.
Looking at it from the other end, why couldn’t the radar detect the plane? Radars work by sending out ultrasonic pulses and once they bounce off an object, it relays back to the base and the distance from the object is calculated, like how a bat operates. It is hard to believe that these systems could track minute meteors entering our atmosphere within a 500 feet radius but not a Boeing 777 – when did the MH370 turn into a Horton Ho 299? One answer is that it flew below the detector of 6000 feet, however the aircraft would only reach half the distance covered because it burns fuel much more easily at lower altitudes! Stealth aircrafts are designed to avoid detection using a variety of advanced technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. However, it is ludicrous to suggest that it turned into stealth mode as the Americans have wasted over 1 billion dollars in researching funding for a stealth craft and if true, should have had the NSA gather the individuals who mastered this mystery to work for them. But let us keep this in mind.
Ok, as you know, this plane isn’t in the air, shock over! But is it on sea or on land?
Let me take you on two alternative routes, the north option and the south option. (Please refer to illustration now) Both are equally viable but one is grabbing my attention more than the other. A Boeing 777 requires 5,000 feet of runway to land, looking at the south zone, there is less than 10 places for it to land on or looking at the north zone, more than a few hundred. And of those on the south zone, most are naval bases run by the US or owned by the UK while the others are small nations that would alert us of their position and where abouts. Now, narrowing down our search from the Andaman island where radar last picked up the plane we can look towards the north option. I didn’t mention that since it didn’t land in any of those airports in the south zone, it more than likely did not crash land as satellites could pick up debris. These satieties are not to be mixed up with a ‘google earth’ type system where you could zoom into your house. No, these satellites not only have thermal imaging but also infrared detection, picking up any signals of heat from a ‘crash’ that could have occurred. We cannot believe that not one of the 500 in low orbit, where a mere 20 or more were orbiting could have not picked out a debris? South zone ruled out!
(Please refer to illustration provided, and to those of you who watched too many sci-fi movies, the ‘buoy’ explanation. Buoys are placed in the water in some areas to detect large occurrences of wave activity for tsunamis identification, none detected any sign of movement since the wave disturbance would have been negligible! )
Finally, the answer you and I have been waiting for! Where is the plane? I don’t know but I am damn sure I can give you a reasonable guess. Not India, not Pakistan and surely not Thailand. Why? Because flight MH370 was detected 5 hours after flying, Thailand is too close and monitored very highly and India and Pakistan have military surveillance in their skies which leads me to guess that the plane is located by the Himalayas!
Did it crash on land? Yes I bet somewhere around the Himalayas. Whoever wanted to take control of this plane did a good job, but it will remain hidden due to below zero temperatures where instruments will not work and help is unavailable. I even bet, some may be alive but as Darwin said, ‘Survival of the fittest’ and who is prepared to adapt to change will survive! Should we consider any passenger who checked in ski or mountainous gear?!Yes surely, this may have been one mystery to solve but breaking down the necessarily given facts, it seems more reasonable to look on land than on water.
This should keep your frustrated minds at ease for the minute.
