Airplanes don't just disappear

[spence]

Some interesting remarks by pilots I read today. They suspect the front tires caught on fire on take off or a fire started in another manner. The captain would know what airport options he had in case of an emergency and entered this into the autopilot first thing. Then they'd start shutting down systems to isolate the issue. Pilots get overwhelmed by smoke and are knocked out...the plane then continues on autopilot until it runs out of gas.

There is an ideal airport on the new heading they took...they would have flown right over it.

Doesn't answer everything but it is a plausible scenario.

-spence

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by spence

Some interesting remarks by pilots I read today. They suspect the front tires caught on fire on take off or a fire started in another manner. The captain would know what airport options he had in case of an emergency and entered this into the autopilot first thing. Then they'd start shutting down systems to isolate the issue. Pilots get overwhelmed by smoke and are knocked out...the plane then continues on autopilot until it runs out of gas.

There is an ideal airport on the new heading they took...they would have flown right over it.

Doesn't answer everything but it is a plausible scenario.

-spence

One would think that the first thing that the pilot would do is notify the tower that THERE WAS A FIRE ON BOARD...

I think that this was a pilot suicide event due to his political beliefs to bring attention to the opposition party. I also think that the Malaysian government has known this all along and is a reason why it was so slow to release information..

[spence]

Originally Posted by Nebe

One would think that the first thing that the pilot would do is notify the tower that THERE WAS A FIRE ON BOARD...

There's nothing ground control can do to help at that instant. I'd think their energy would be focused on where the aircraft was going and addressing the issue. If it was a bad fire you could have perhaps a few minutes.

I'm sure there's a pretty standard process they train for in these situations.

-spence

[Piscator]

Originally Posted by spence

There's nothing ground control can do to help at that instant. I'd think their energy would be focused on where the aircraft was going and addressing the issue. If it was a bad fire you could have perhaps a few minutes.

I'm sure there's a pretty standard process they train for in these situations.

-spence

They've reported that the very first thing ingrained in pilots when an emergency occurs is to communicate the issue to ground control (especially when manually shuttting systems down). I'm not a pilot so I can't confirm but it's been reported numerous times so far.
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[spence]

Originally Posted by Piscator

They've reported that the very first thing ingrained in pilots when an emergency occurs is to communicate the issue to ground control (especially when manually shuttting systems down). I'm not a pilot so I can't confirm but it's been reported numerous times so far.
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Ha, I read just the opposite

-spence

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by spence

Ha, I read just the opposite

-spence

The actual thing a pilot does first in an emergency, or when the emergency is first realized, is to mutter those very famous words, "oh chit". My uncle flew in the air force for thirty three years from prop planes during WW II to B 52's during Vietnam, and he told me those two words are the first post emergency words enunciated in virtually all instances by pilots and people in the cockpit. My wife had a math professor that I was dying to meet, because as a navigator on B 52's in Vietnam he was shot down twice and survived. I wanted to ask him if thats what he said when the missiles hit the plane and never did before he passed.
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[Raven]

i think there was talk about a strange climbing to 45,000 feet
for a short period which may have been an attempt at putting out a fire

so that "is" a possible scenario.... remember that many tires
are cheated or of poor quality. MALAYSIA wasn't up to specs
on several issue's as compared to our regulations.

[GattaFish]

Originally Posted by Piscator

They've reported that the very first thing ingrained in pilots when an emergency occurs is to communicate the issue to ground control (especially when manually shuttting systems down). I'm not a pilot so I can't confirm but it's been reported numerous times so far.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Nope.

Aviate, navigate then communicate.
That puts ATC Last.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Spence beat me to it. What may further be an issue with communications is if they were switching over to HF radio.

[buckman]

Originally Posted by spence

Some interesting remarks by pilots I read today. They suspect the front tires caught on fire on take off or a fire started in another manner. The captain would know what airport options he had in case of an emergency and entered this into the autopilot first thing. Then they'd start shutting down systems to isolate the issue. Pilots get overwhelmed by smoke and are knocked out...the plane then continues on autopilot until it runs out of gas.

There is an ideal airport on the new heading they took...they would have flown right over it.

Doesn't answer everything but it is a plausible scenario.

-spence

I see you read Business Insider
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[spence]

Originally Posted by buckman

I see you read Business Insider
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Article was on Wired but I believe BI posted it this morning.

-spence

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by spence

Some interesting remarks by pilots I read today. They suspect the front tires caught on fire on take off or a fire started in another manner. The captain would know what airport options he had in case of an emergency and entered this into the autopilot first thing. Then they'd start shutting down systems to isolate the issue. Pilots get overwhelmed by smoke and are knocked out...the plane then continues on autopilot until it runs out of gas.

There is an ideal airport on the new heading they took...they would have flown right over it.

Doesn't answer everything but it is a plausible scenario.

-spence

There's one major flaw in that theory. The tire/landing gear wells aren't pressurized, and at 35,000' there's not enough ambient oxygen in the atmosphere to keep tires burning. Every so often, a clueless stowaway gets the stupid idea to crawl into a wheel well while a plane is on the ground. Once the plane takes off and the gear is retracted, they die from hypoxia, well before they die from hypothermia. Their bodies fall like a block of ice to the ground when the gear is lowered on the final approach.

[spence]

Originally Posted by Mike P

There's one major flaw in that theory. The tire/landing gear wells aren't pressurized, and at 35,000' there's not enough ambient oxygen in the atmosphere to keep tires burning. Every so often, a clueless stowaway gets the stupid idea to crawl into a wheel well while a plane is on the ground. Once the plane takes off and the gear is retracted, they die from hypoxia, well before they die from hypothermia. Their bodies fall like a block of ice to the ground when the gear is lowered on the final approach.

Reasonable point, although I'd suspect a tire that ignited on takeoff could burn at least until 10,000 feet. By that point it could have spread?

I've heard of tires igniting on landing but never on take off...who knows.

-spence

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by spence

Reasonable point, although I'd suspect a tire that ignited on takeoff could burn at least until 10,000 feet. By that point it could have spread?

I've heard of tires igniting on landing but never on take off...who knows.

-spence

90% of the time, that's the brakes getting overheated and igniting the tire. In take-off, the brakes aren't being applied. Airlines use pure nitrogen in the tires, too, not compressed air, to decrease the chances of a tire fire.

As far as climbing to 45,000', I would say that an hour after take-off with full fuel, it couldn't climb that high. You'd have to burn off a lot of fuel first. If there was even the slightest chance of a fire, the last thing they would do is dump fuel. The 777 has a rated service ceiling of 41,000'.

[Scuttlebutt]

"The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner."

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by Scuttlebutt

"The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner."

Bwaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!
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