Here’s a link to the report broadcast today on Australian 60 Minutes about the search for MH370. Part 1:
Part 2:
Discussion after the jump…
The main thrust of the piece is that an independent air-crash expert, Larry Vance, has looked at photographs of the Réunion flaperon and decided that their relatively intact state, and the lack of debris from inside the aircraft, means that the plane must not have impacted the water at high speed, as would be expected if the plane ran out of fuel as a “ghost ship” and spiralled into the water. He interprets the jagged trailing edge of the flaperon as evidence that it was deployed at the moment of impact and was worn away when it struck the water.
I find it discomfiting when people say that the mystery of MH370 is not mystery at all–that they are absolutely confident they know the answer. Vance undercuts his credibility, I feel, by taking this stance. There is indeed a strong argument to be made that the plane must have been under conscious control to the very end; to me the most compelling is simply that the plane has not been found in the current seabed search zone. However it is less clear that someone attempted a ditching. What the show does not mention is that debris from inside the aircraft has indeed been found, suggesting that the fuselage could not have survived the impact and sunk to the bottom of the ocean intact. Indeed, the program doesn’t mention the other debris at all, with the exception of the Pemba flap, which is the other relatively intact large piece. The fact that most of the debris found so far is rather small is to me indicative of a higher-energy impact. But I have no strong opinion one way or the other; I feel that proper experts must look at the debris close up to determine what forces caused it to come apart.
The program cites the recently revealed flight-sim data from Zaharie’s computer as further evidence that the plane was deliberately piloted to fuel exhaustion and beyond. For the first time, the program showed on screen pages from the confidential Malaysian report. The producers of the show reached out to me as they were putting the program together, and asked me to comment on some of the data they had accumulated. Here are the pages of the document that they showed on-screen:
It’s worth noting that these pages offer a summary of the recovered flight-sim data which are described in greater detail and accuracy elsewhere in the confidential Malaysian documents. Here is a table showing a subset of what the documents contain:
Note that the numbering systems for the two data tables do not match. (Please do not ask me to explain this.) I suggest that for the purposes of discussion, the point saved at Kuala Lumpur International Airport be called point 1; the three points recorded as the flight-sim moved up the Malacca Strait to the Andaman Islands be called 2, 3, and 4; and the points over the southern Indian Ocean with fuel at zero be called points 5 and 6.
In order to understand the fuel load numbers in the second table, I made some calculations based on the fuel loads in a real 777-200ER. I don’t know how closely these match those in the flight simulator Zaharie was using. If anyone can shed light I’d be happy to hear it.
Worth noting, I think, is that the fuel difference between point 4 and point 5 is enough for more than 10 hours of flight under normal cruise conditions. The difference between these points is 3,400 nautical miles, for an average groundspeed of less than 340 knots. This is peculiar. Perhaps the flight-sim fuel burn rate is very inaccurate; perhaps the simulated route between the points was not a great circle, as shown in the second page of the report above, but indirect; perhaps Zaharie was fascinated by the idea of flying slowly; or perhaps points 5 & 6 come from a different simulated flight than 1 through 4. Readers’ thoughts welcome.
Also note that neither the locations nor the headings of points 1-4 lie exactly on a straight line from 1 to 4, which suggest perhaps that the route was hand-flown.
Why would the pilot land a jet full of dead people in McMurdo only to get arrested?
@DennisW
Hi Dennis. I don’t have to reconcile the drift studies, only dismiss them as a distraction. The drift studies are wrong. They have no credibility.
The only drift study worth considering, will be the much awaited new CSIRO study, from Dr Griffin, because it will support the current search area and the DSTG analysis. Slightly cynical, I know but just wait and see 😉
BTW I know you like solving puzzles. Have you had a go at the puzzle of “Schrödinger’s Cat” yet? It’s one I’m keeping on the back burner for noe
Just another tidbit:
Fuel Quantity during climb, Jeff’s table above compared to MH370 ACARS Position Report
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hnolm1daewfu9r4/FuelQty.png?dl=0
@Gysbreght, Once again, thanks. So, the implication is that the flight sim took off with a larger amount of fuel, it burns it at a similar rate, at least during the climb phase. A cautionary note: we don’t know how long the flight sim had been at cruise altitude (that is to say, had stopped climbing) before it reached point 4. Thus, the actual number when first reaching the final altitude might have been higher, and thus fit better with the trend line between 2 and 3.
@Aaron/@Trond/@Gloria and others:
About Shah’s driving, cover-up, the media etc.
I think it was said after hearings that the wife sometimes stayed with her family and friends when Shah was away, and that could be one explanation why they left together. (Note btw that the Malay (?) press would like us to know that they have a “residence”, while other sorry souls have houses or at best “homes” — it is “social television”). If you put that in context it sounds perfectly normal. What you confront there is their way of life, working conditions and their closest society and their (his and hers) strata of society — in a particular moment in their lives. It has been said that the wife was leaving him, but that was later refuted by her and the family (and one should perhaps not expect any confessions to the negative from the family, if the case does not “break open”). As I understand it they were very much ordinary/simple country folks from their beginnings (when Hamid was less so, which there are some remarks about). Gossips, by the way, appears of itself.
To keep this very short, and not getting too entangled: I think it is a good thing to try to lean back a little, metaphorically, and let things unfold and have their course. There are no “supernaturals” in play, but probably enough of other fully expected or reasonable “supers” that might be of concern and consideration. I have, in this particular case, no doubt that the investigations eventually will come as far as is humanly possible (with a little help…). This won’t stop short of a globally acceptable truth. So there will be a lot of knocking around to get there. And a lot of exchanged 25-cents. But everyone, outside of ISIS, will want the airliners to go safe and secure. Even Putin. So that is not at stake at all.
@falken:
If noone else reaches to you: take proper care of yourself, and rely on those who will be able to care for you and treat you. “Addiction” is nothing you are alone in having, rather the opposite. Everyone has experienced that to a greater or lesser extent from time to time.
It is hard for strangers to be of any help, but the cures are the simple and common ones: Choose you prophets with extreme care (or not at all), don’t neglect “yourself” for anything (to speak with the investigation of Shah), get a job, don’t expect anything (at all) in return, accept “where you are from” and look to the bigger values of life as you recognize them.
There is not much more to it. Really. And keep swimming.
@ Jeff Wise: With all due respect, I have some difficulty with your suggestion to re-number those points. Firstly, it potentially is a source of confusion, and secondly the fact that Point #6 was not numbered #1 is significant and needs to be elucidated. It could have been the start of the next flight that was not recovered from the HDD’s.
At the penultimate point, the speed is 614 f/s (about 364 knots) and the plane is in a banked turn (bank angle -10.9 deg/s, turn rate .01 radians/sec or 0.57 deg/sec). The speed, bank angle, and turn rate seem to follow the bank angle equation OK. The distance traveled to the final point is about 2.6 nm, which would take about 26 sec. The predicted total change in heading would be about 15 degrees. The actual change in heading between the last two points is, in fact, 15 degrees. The changes in longitude and latitude are also about what one would expect for a plane following such a banked turn. Now, the speed and bank angle at the final point are both lower that at the penultimate point, but the change in heading versus distance traveled decreases only by 10%. Thus, the last 2 points are consistent with being part of the same flight path.
(Note that the above presumes that negative bank angle corresponds to a CW turn, which is consistent with a positive bank angle of 20.1 deg/sec corresponding to a CCW turn at the FMT.)
sk999
Asking to clearify please.
Do you mean the last 2 points being concistent with all other points as one same flight path?
Or only those last 2 consistent with a same flight path but maybe another one seperate from the flight path the other points show?
@Falken
Your unequivocal optimism and belief of peace and harmony, shows the core of who you are. Try and stay on THAT side of things my friend, while avoiding the extraneous stuff that makes you unhealthy.
@SK999
If you can parse that last question you are indeed a genius.
@sk999
And with a descent of ~33.600ft to 4000ft from point 5 to 6 in 26sec. you have I think an impossible descent rate of ~70.000ft/min.
Do I miss something with this?
My take on this is that the take-off weight (TOW) in the simulation cannot have been much diifferent from that in flight MH370. After reaching FL400 at M.82 the airplane could then have flown about 5250 NM at LRC or MRC speed before fuel exhaustion. So whatever the airplane did in the simulation, either it did not fly in a straight line at normal cruise speed to fuel exhaustion, or there is no connection at all between points #3 and #4.
@Johan O; @Susie Crow
thank you and wishing all the best too;
anybody can do piece of change to peace
I’ve been reading the past few articles with interest after getting lost in Euro 2016 for a month or so. It seems a tad strange that someone so convinced of spoofing would do an about-face and suddenly go for the pilot. Okay, to be completely fair, its not exactly how it is. However, up to now, all evidence has been suspiciously eyed through spoof goggles – flaperon, engine cowling, inboard flap, and the list goes on. And now, just because an FBI insider says ‘it happened this way,’ we all drop our goggles and start waving our stars and stripes. If the FSB had given us this info you could bet your last ruble that many on here would be screaming blue murder. ‘It’s a plant, it’s all a set-up, it all a grand plan to cover their own tracks!’
I suppose no-one can be blamed for such reactions. After all, (from what I’ve more or less experienced) Russians will trust Russians, Aussies will trust Aussies, and Malaysians will remain hyper sensitive about their own. Even now, people get very defensive about their home patch.
Anyway, I trust in this leak being legitimate. And this new info implicates Zaharie. We cannot hide from that. But remember, before this ‘disclosure,’ Jeff and many others (rightly) poo-pooed ‘long suicide.’ After all, why go to all that trouble if he simply wanted to kill himself? The South China Sea would’ve been easier, hell, even a ghost flight into the damn Pacific. So even after this new information, I still don’t buy ‘long suicide.’
For me. Occam’s Razor (sorry if I misuse this term) falls in a slightly different way, and the simplest explanations may lie elsewhere:
[b]• A prank gone wrong:[/b] Zaharie wanted to mess about a little, to see whether he could recreate sim-life in real life. A landing on ice in Antartica, a landing on water in the South Indian Ocean. He had tried it on the simulator. Now he was gonna try and do it for real. The activities of an unstimulated mind thinking up crazy new pursuits to shake things up a bit.
[b]• A need for attention:[/b] Zaharie desperately craved attention and adoration and followers and he wanted to become a superstar recognized and adored worldwide. And what better way to achieve this end than to feign technical failure and land a ‘faulty’ jet on water or ice in the most improbable of circumstances. ’The Miracle of SIO’ the headlines would triumphantly proclaim, all ‘victory from the jaws of defeat’ stuff. And in the centre of it all, the sensational, incredible pilot who managed to save 239 lives. Feted by the world, the pride of Malaysia, the joy of his family and friends. An international superstar. A massive boost to his ego, from ordinary to extra-ordinary, mundane to superhero.
[b]• A sophisticated hijacking:[/b] There was highly-classified and undisclosed cargo on board, Zaharie was carefully headhunted as the perfect ‘safe pair of hands’ to deliver this to its destination. Long service, reliable, dependable, a grounded family man, a patriot. Zaharie is approached. Promises of a massive pay-off, a mansion in the sun, a new identity even, and lots of arm-twisting. Zaharie gives in. Does this grand plan involve Malaysian officials in the highest echelons of power? Quite possibly, or at the very least, collusion with a third party in expectation of some payoff. So the hijacking proceeds. All goes to plan. Senior figures (in the know) give the red light to the military/ATC – ‘No need to scramble your jets… this civilian airliner is no threat (we know, even if you don’t)… just let it pass…’ Jet reaches destination (sea or land – who knows)? Mission complete. End of story. Zaharie survives and paid off to live a comfortable life somewhere (?) Then again, maybe not. Hijackers pat themselves on the back. Malaysian officials pat themselves on the back. Job done. And now the subterfuge begins…
Of course it could be all Malaysia’s doing and no one else’s. An internal cargo (whatever it was) solely of value to the Malaysians themselves. However, MH17 adds a strange dimension to the whole affair. A second MAS plane down? Over Ukraine? Apparently predicted months before it happened? All very strange. I certainly don’t think Malaysians (or rogue Malaysians) would bother commissioning a warning shot to its own national carrier 5000 miles away.
Data point 4 with the 20.09 bank angle and -104.53degree heading suggest to me this saved point is in a turn not finished yet.
Why would he have saved a point in a developing turn? Why not the end point of that turn?
Or could it be possible that heading of -104.5 is actualy the end of that turn leveling out there?
Coincidentally that heading from point 4 on goes straight to the Maldives.
@Jeff
“@Brian Anderson, It might indeed seem strange that a 777 line captain would want to play with a flight simulator, yet Zaharie not only manifestly did but shared his passion on YouTube. Go figure. What’s more, it now appears that he simulated flights up the Malacca Strait, then turning left and flying to fuel exhaustion in the SIO. Why did he do that? I cannot tell you.”
have you seen the flight simulator log personally or you just believe someone who told you so?! Could you reveal approx. coordinates where the plane landed/crashed in those simulated flights?
What if he just simulated the way how to enter SIO and just gave up further flying and let the plane roam through SIO for no reason at all?
@Bugsy Twitter is a very rude world indeed where info is not what it should be. Too rude for me… Believe what you want, but life is too short to be treated that way. The only point of matter over MH370 is trying to make sense of this drama, not a contest of popularity. Twitter also ends up for me as a huge waste of time that can be used much better. No regrets for I think I did the right thing with Vance.
@ROB:
Schrödinger’s cat is apparently a ghost until found and properly and publically buried. And as such can take on many guises and be attributed all sorts of things, good or bad (mostly so). The lawful tombstone will give it back Its earthly proportions and take the uncertainties away.
Thus, it has been dead all along, otherwise Its owner would never have allowed it to be put in a box with a poisonous substance.
Who puts his pet in a box?
JO.
@Jeff Wise
I wonder. Your fuel table says 70095kg in the center tank at take off.
But shouldn’t that be 15% of 79.300kg?
Thus, 9205kg in the center tank at take off?
I mean 10514kg in the center tank.. calculating error..
@Jeff Wise
Sorry, I see now you name the total fuel..
Time for bed..
@Johan O
Jo, thanks for for explaining that. But I want you to know it was a thought experiment, only. No animals were harmed in the making of this experiment, as they say, but I guessed you knew that 🙂
It’s intriguing, all the same, but I have a feeling it’s going to be on my back burner for quite a while.
@ROB:
I really didn’t mean to run over (!) a bunch of quantum mechanics pioneers to ruin their day with homemade anthropology, but guessed you saw the connection to this case yourself in the first place.
(There is a question of perspective, and perhaps knowing when which should apply. To Schrödinger, I would assume, if it is “his cat”, it would be a “Spotty”, “Tails”, “Mitzi” or whatnot — not any cat, not any beast. The cat is member of a community and being named, baptised. On the other hand, nature is bound by laws, Its laws. Etc. That is not a contradiction. But you need to be able to keep it straight.)
What is it Hamlet says, when asked if he, the wellborn son of the King, wouldn’t prefer to go somewhere just a little bit more significant than Denmark? — ” I could live in a nutshell, and still be master of the Universe, if it weren’t for that I have bad dreams”. And bad dreams are the unaccounted for, the ghost, and the unthought. —- Who is there? Everything you could possibly imagine.
Forgive me for being just a bit pretentious.
Btw… In 1935, whether it was intentended from the outset or not, Schrödinger’must have noticed himself that he struck on the demarcation you so thoughtfully mentioned in your disclaimer. And not only concerning animals.
@Rob@Johan
Of course, the “S-cat” metaphor has a long history. It is important, I think, to note that virtually all the people seriously engaged in pondering this metaphor are scientists sucking on a government tit somewhere. I have never seen the question arise during any commercially useful activity.
I find unresolved paradoxes such as the “two envelop problem” which threatens our notions of expected value, and “Bertrand’s Paradox” which forces us to consider what constitutes a well-posed problem to be much more interesting. They directly impact things that I do virtually every day both implicitly and explicitly.
Schrödinger’s cat is not a paradox nor a metaphor, but at the heart of the very concrete hard physics world we live in. Very few quantic phenomenon extend from the particule world to our macroscopic world and that’s what Schrödinger was also representing in his thought experiment. I think Johan O answer that no cat owner would put his pet to such a risk so the cat is dead is the best answer. For you only know when you open the box… yet if you wait too long the cat is dead anyway. Probabilities are such, just as most of what we’re facing with MH370. We’ll know when we’ll know, when we get to open the black boxes.
@AW
The black boxes will tell us that 9M-MRO was flown to where it was found. Nothing more. If we want to know the why, we will have to extract that answer from the information we already have.
”The black boxes will tell us that 9M-MRO was flown to where it was found. Nothing more”
We do not know yet.
@ir1907
True, but @AW is very late to this party. The issue has already been beaten to death relative to whether an underwater search should have been initiated when it was initiated, and what the return on that enormous investment might be. I am not going to debate it any further since there is nothing to be gained by it at this time.
As usual we have no option but to “wait and see”.
@DennisW@Rob
I am sure I abused the puzzle, but took the liberty as I understood Schr. himself meant it to be sarcastic against orthodox quantum mechanichs. The cat cannot be both alive and dead (for so long).
Many paradoxes, not all, are themselves victims of ageing, as the doxology they refer to becomes obsolete. We don’t bother much about religious/christian puzzels anymore, in general, although several of them (the Holy Spirit etc) reasonably will have correspondances in physics, law and polittical science.
I have a weakness for the barber of Crete, but only on my own free time.
Presumably a more recent interview of Larry Vance on his theory:
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/news/new-mh370-disappearance-theory/vi-BBv9iyk
This MH370 path is similar to the path found on Zaharie’s simulator in two ways:
1) There is a late FMT after 18:40.
2) The final waypoint is in Antarctica.
The final waypoints are LAGOG-BEDAX-SouthPole. From 19:41 until fuel exhaustion, the flight is at 40,000 ft and M0.834, and crosses the 7th arc at 34.2S.
This path is similar to other BEDAX-SouthPole paths I have studied except rather than a loiter around Sumatra, the flight follows waypoints.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dluk1wtyio4usf7/BEDAX-SP.png?dl=0
@DennisW
You are right, but the black box in this case happens to be the whole fuselage. Don’t you think it will be riddle with tons of clues and evidences (positions, personal electronic devices, key parts, etc. From the known information, almost nothing new will come up. Know you’ve discuss it before, but it is far from beaten to death IMO, if all of it can be retrieved at all from 6 km below.
The sister of the pilot has a recent recent interview on CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/26/asia/mh370-pilot-sister-interview/
He was as he appears to be a nice guy who is being scapegoated by FBI. They tried to pin this on him in the first instance, did not stick and now again.
@Aaron I was not mentioning the any freescale patents, I did mention the patent for remote control technology, that is on record, US patent office 2006 for a remote takeover system, patent owned by Boeing. The recorded Speech of Bush who claimed, after 2001 that this technology, to avert hijackings was a priority.
As for the Freescale employees, or one employee, there was either intellectual property they were developing, had developed or was with them but most likely they were simply carrying it in their own, expert mind, so had to be taken out. The person might have been an agent for China, as they were Chinese either nationals or Malaysian Chinese. My questioning of the identity of passengers is nothing to do with Freescale patents, that are in the public domain but everything to do with something that was not a patent but known to one employee to be sold or disclosed to China, something of a military application.
It is not a conspiracy theory, it is a theory. That term has been a successful propaganda term used to silence and discredit people who ask questions, don’t accept the authorized version. It was used by CIA/FBI to shame people who found the Warren Commission findings about Kennedy a sham and cover up. The authorized version is what is easy to discount here.
There is nothing credible in the rebirthing of the suicidal pilot story and the apparent secret knowledge, known to FBI and Australian authorities of an allegedly deleted model. This is just too silly for words. It attempts to tie up the scenario in the most tabloid way. It is the in fact the conspiracy theory that needs to be discounted.
The plane was hijacked remotely, a technology that despite the multiple trolls and sock puppet deniers frequenting forums on this topic has been demonstrated, pre Sep 11 and in use in commercial planes, in order to mitigate hijacking or in order to effect a hijacking take your pick. There are links to various sites in my previous posts. Search the net regarding remote takeover brings a host of content.
I worked with a person who was on the drone program but left, a math PHD who did not want to participate in this program and his simple answer to questions regarding takeover of planes by remote was yes, it can be done. Deny all you want the truth will out.
The fact of remote takeover, changes many event scenarios, including sep 11 and other recent plane crashes. Run those event through a filter of remote takeover and they start to look like what they are. Covert acts of war or espionage.
@AW
I am sure we will learn something from the wreckage, but audio and visuals on personal electronic devices might simply show what many of us suspect – a cabin full of passengers locked out of the flight deck, and the wreckage might simply substantiate how the plane entered the water (which I believe is already known but not made public). It is far from axiomatic that locating the plane will tell us why it went where it did.
@Gloria
The patent exist but was never implemented. Then again, this theory does not produce any more motive than any other, just makes thing a tad more complex than they are, if that was possible.
@DennisW
Were I in the bloody shoes of whoever did this, I would have left an explanation. Just in case the bloody thing is eventually found, against which, from how it was done and without being able to forecast what Inmarsat did, probabilities are almost nil before many decades.
@Sajid UK
Always good to read your comments.
I think Zaharie was acting differently a few weeks prior, whatever his reason(s). It is understandable if it were true, the family would have no desire to publicly share this.
His marriage was probably to a point where it needed to end and there is a possibility he was in another relationship which may have had problems. He of course supported Ibrahim and was aware of the upcoming court date.
My point is, this was a person who could have been vulnerable, someone with an agenda could have taken advantage of that. It may have been sold as a bill of goods as a protest for Ibrahim. It could have been related to cargo that needed action.
If it required advance planning he could have been seen as a sitting duck for the perceived upheaval in his life. It could also mean his alleged behavior change was the result of knowing what was ahead of him if he was privy to and part of a plan for that flight.
@Gloria
Gloria, Gloria, Gloria,…
You are so misguided. Patents are largely rubbish. Everyone in the industry knows that. That last thing a company does is publish a patent related to their core technology or “secret sauce” as it is known. Why give the world a recipe to follow and work around?
Link below is a picture of my own “patent wall” in the garage at my ranch. Each plaque represents a US patent award. There are a couple of Korean and Chinese patents in the mix. They are hung in the garage to reflect what I think of the whole ensemble.
http://tmex1.blogspot.com
The reality is any substantial company has a several thousand or more patents. They are used mostly for defensive purposes if you get sued for infringement. You can haul them out and create s smokescreen that is almost impenetrable. The only thing the US Patent Office will not grant a patent for is perpetual motion. My SO is a JD and also a patent attorney/litigator. She would enlist my help from time to time, and I can tell you it was torture to wade through that crap.
Back on point, if a patent is published you know all there is to know about the idea. It would not get patented otherwise. You certainly do not need to kidnap the patent author because there is no need to do so. Plus that, the Freescale people on the plane were process engineers, not engineers who were engaged in designing the underlying technology. I would be like kidnapping a GM assembly line worker to learn how to build a car.
You need to get off this remote hijacking fantasy. It did not and cannot have happened.
@amit Much better Vance interview I am inclined to agree with him
You are constructing false evidence. No path was found on Zaharie’s simulator. There were two “datapoints” 3400 nautical miles apart. Someone falsely drew a straight line between those points that has no relation to what actually happened (in more ways than one).
@Gloria
“There is nothing credible in the rebirthing of the suicidal pilot story and the apparent secret knowledge, known to FBI and Australian authorities of an allegedly deleted model. This is just too silly for words. It attempts to tie up the scenario in the most tabloid way. It is the in fact the conspiracy theory that needs to be discounted”
Wow wow I’m sorry you’re so delusional with your arguement. All the evidence suggests the rogue pilot theory.
Nothing no credible evidence supports your wild theory.
Also you keep going about how nice a person Zaharie was. Yes while he for part of his life was. How do you know his mental state months leading up to this tragic event. YOU don’t and maybe his family didn’t know. Fact is if someone is dealing with deep depression they close themselves off to family and friends and can act very normal.
@Aaron. “Given the new evidence that has surfaced.. I was curious to know how long it would take for passengers & crew to lose conciseness at a certain altitude..As it has been reported bu Malaysian military radar that MH370 flew as high 45000ft shortly after it lost contact with ATC..
I have question if the oxygen by pass was shut off..How long is the oxygen supply to the masks?”
I heard it’s no more than a few mins for the passengers mask..Is that true?”
I recall seeing a posting on time the oxygen will last but have no record. The manuals I have looked at give flight deck bottle capacities but not supply duration. I gather from other sites that the FAR 121.3333 requirement for the flight deck is 1 hr minimum and that the bottle size in the 777 should yield 66 mins. I imagine this to be at the maximum usage rate. The requirement for cabin is 10 mins and again as I understand it in the 777 this is 12 -22 mins.
The aircraft would not have flown at 45,000 because it could not, except maybe briefly in a zoom and that part of the radar report has been disregarded I believe.
I do not know what you mean by “by-pass”.
@ Aaron. Should have mentioned that elsewhere I have read 3 hrs quoted as to what can be expected, 2 pilots on the deck as before, in the 777.
@David
This from Wikipedia. Not sure how accurate this is. But say 15min
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_oxygen_system
By pass oxygen switch allows the pilot to cut off the oxygen supply to the masks.
@aaron,,,, can you post (or repost) the link to the airport security cameras showing the flight crew? (Apologies if I missed the link previously.)
Thanks!
@Aaron
The passengers masks all have their chemical oxigen generator can.
Those can not be switch off by a pilot in the cockpit.
They can only be switched on once by the passenger by pulling the mask down.
Then the chemical reaction starts that provides ~15min. of oxigen.
After that time the chemical reaction stops and the can is useless.
Crash landing in Dubai today of a B777:
http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/emergencies/plane-makes-emergency-landing-at-dubai-international-airport-1.1872893