Malaysia military believes it has tracked missing jet over Strait of Malacca

[morningfog]

(Reuters) - Malaysia's military believes it tracked a missing jetliner by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a military source told Reuters.

In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, now in its fourth day, has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew.

"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the military official, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.

The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. The airline said on Saturday that radio and radar contact with Flight MH370 was lost off the east coast Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/11/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140311

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[morningfog]

1. What would be the explanation for a plane to be able to fly that far yet

be unable to communicate?

[HereSince1628]

9. speculation...the lack of communication may have been intentional.

[AngryAmish]

10. My pet theory, the plane lost all electronics, is still alive...

No radio, no nav, turn around and hit a moutain or flew into terrain...

[HereSince1628]

12. Maybe. All we have is maybe at this time...

It was night when the plane departed, to get near an island in the Malacca straits it would have reversed 1 1/2 hours of flight and arrived in that general location about around 4 am...3 hours before local sunrise, but having successfully flown over the peninsula's highlands.

It's certainly unusual among air crashes.

If I were writing a movie script, my choices would be a heroic act by the flight crew that saved the twin Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, or someone with unreconciled grief committing suicide near where they lost loved ones in the tsunami disaster.

[morningfog]

2. MH370 detected above Malacca Straits at 2.40am

The search for Malaysian Airlines MH307 plane has been expanded to Sumatran waters, north of Straits of Malacca, as military radar may have detected the missing plane in the vicinity of Pulau Perak.

A Berita Harian report today quoted the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) as saying the plane may have reversed course further than expected while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Air Force chief Rodzali Daud ( left ) is quoted as saying that based on military radar readings from its station in Butterworth, MH370 may have turned west after Kota Bahru and flew past the east coast and Kedah.

"The last time the plane was detected was near Pulau Perak, in the Straits of Malacca, at 2.40am," Berita Harian quotes Rodzali as saying.

This contradicts with earlier reports that the aircraft had disappeared from radar screens 120 nautical miles off Kota Bharu and over the South China Sea, at 1.30am on March 8.

The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) had previously said the search for the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which is missing for the fourth day, had previously been focused around the waters between East Malaysia and Vietnam.

Berita Harian also said that military radar noted that the plane was flying about 1,000 metres lower than its original altitude of 10,000 metres after the about turn.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/mh370-detected-above-malacca-straits-2-40am-062617741.html

[bemildred]

3. Even stranger. nt

[morningfog]

4. Yeah. I don't know how to make sense of it now.

Contact lost on one side of the peninsula where it turned, yet it was tracked to the other side at lower altitude.

Did the military only just now realize this?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Looking at a map, this may have involved crossing Thailand

Pulau Perak marked: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Pulau+Perak&hl=en&ll=5.659719,98.964844&spn=25.117755,43.286133&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=40.188298,86.572266&t=h&hnear=Pulau+Perak&z=5

It would be interesting to see what Thailand has to say. You'd think a large airliner would be tracked by radar, even if transponders were turned off on it.

[morningfog]

6. It crossed land somewhere, whether Thailand or Malaysia.

I have no idea what the terrain is there or how populated, how much radar, etc. But, I would think that some notice or communication would have gone to or from the plane during its path back across land. I mean, how long of a flight would that be?

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. So, basically, "We haven't found the plane, probably because we were looking on the wrong side

of the peninsula."

[morningfog]

8. That's my take away. How did this only now become known?

[herding cats]

11. This is so weird.

If this is true it explains why they've seen no sight of debris in the areas they've been searching.

I can't fathom why it would have circled back that far and not have notified someone if it were for mechanical reasons, tho.

This just keeps getting more and more odd.