As more information comes out, to me it seems more like a mx issue. Apparently there were two Airworthiness Directives recently issued for the 777 fleet. One had to do with internal wires in the * crew 02 masks, which could (and did) start a fire, in the oxygen hose!
The other AD was about cracking in the fuselage skin around the SAT COM antennae mounting area, which, if not repaired, could cause a rapid decompression.
Either one of these two issues, especially the 02 hose fire in the *, could have caused them to divert and descend, then go unconscious.
I am thinking someone starts renting out personal SPOT trackers for flyers.
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/...
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This is what the 777 with the 02 mask fire looked like afterwards, and this happened while it was sitting at the gate. Now imagine this happened in flight.
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This is what the 777 with the 02 mask fire looked like afterwards, and this happened while it was sitting at the gate. Now imagine this happened in flight.
Good lord, that must have been like a blow torch up there until the O2 ran out. Can you imagine if that happened in flight?
Wow - there have got to be flammability standards on those materials, right? Realize that about anything will burn if you get it hot enough and have a direct flow of pure O2, but...
Anyone remember Swiss Air 111, in 1998? I was flying as a MD 11 First Officer at the time so it's burned into my memory. Every time we went to our annual recurrent training afterwards, we had to practice our emergency descents, fire checklists, ditching checklists, etc. These poor guys wasted 15 minutes running a smoke elimination checklist, when in about 5 minutes they could have had it on the ground in Halifax. It was as a result of this crash that our checklists and procedures all changed to;
GET IT ON THE GROUND, NOW!
The problem with the Malaysian flight was, they didn't have a nearby airport, if it was a * fire, but it seems they did turn back and descend, before being overcome. Then it just flew on autopilot until the fuel ran out...? Maybe.
Here's a quick refresher on Swiss Air 111:
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Read the whole thing if you have time, but if you don't, here's from the
Findings
near the bottom:
TSB findings
The investigation identified eleven causes and contributing factors of the crash in its final report. The first and most important was:
Aircraft certification standards for material flammability were inadequate in that they allowed the use of materials that could be ignited and sustain or propagate fire. Consequently, flammable material propagated a fire that started above the ceiling on the right side of the * near the * rear wall. The fire spread and intensified rapidly to the extent that it degraded aircraft systems and the * environment, and ultimately led to the loss of control of the aircraft.[1]
Investigators identified evidence of arcing in wiring of the in-flight entertainment system network, but this did not trip the circuit breakers. The investigation was unable to confirm if this arc was the
lead event
that ignited the flammable covering on MPET insulation blankets that quickly spread across other flammable materials.[1] The crew did not recognize that a fire had started and were not warned by instruments. Once they became aware of the fire, the uncertainty of the problem made it difficult to address. The rapid spread of the fire led to the failure of key display systems, and the crew were soon rendered unable to control the aircraft. Because he had no light by which to see his controls after the displays failed, the pilot was forced to steer the plane blindly; intentionally or not, the plane swerved off course and headed back out into the Atlantic. Recovered fragments of the plane show that the heat inside the * became so great that the ceiling started to melt. The recovered standby attitude indicator and airspeed indicators showed that the aircraft struck the water at 300 knots (560 km/h, 348 mph) in a 20 degrees nose down and 110 degree bank attitude, or almost inverted.[43] Death was instantaneous for all passengers and crew due to the impact forces and deceleration.[18]
The TSB concluded that even if the crew had been aware of the nature of the problem immediately after detection of the initial odour, and had a commenced an approach as rapidly as possible, the developing fire related conditions in the * would have made a safe landing at Halifax impossible.[44][45]
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue...
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I like the gearshift he uses
Well...how else would you get it from first gear into second, third and overdrive?
There's another button for Warp Speed.
I could tell you where it is but then I'd have to kill you...
There's another button for Warp Speed.
I could tell you where it is but then I'd have to kill you...
I know the secret handshake, you can tell me....
Here's something interesting that washed up on an island along the flight path:
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I would have to imagine that stuff is all serial numbered and they would be able to figure out where it came from rather quickly.
I thought I've heard of those coming out of space craft and satellites on a regular basis too and that it wasn't that unusual to find them washed up on beaches. However, that thing would be pushed by the wind as easily as just about any debris out of that thing...so who knows?