So what's the deal with the oil slick that was found and the Chinese finding stuff floating in the ocean?

I was talking to an ex-flight attendant (worked until a couple of years ago) and they said that all the flight crew have the access code to the cockpit, but the time delay allows the pilot to refuse entry within a certain time before the door opens.

Also they said that there are so many people working as flight attendants on large airlines that the staff generally don't know each other well and that it would be easy for an imposter to pose as staff if they could get hold of a uniform which they could change into on the plane. The video that the pilot looks at to check who is asking for access is generally pretty bad quality, so anybody pretending to be staff would have a pretty good chance of a) not being noticed by other staff as an imposter and b) gaining access to the cockpit.

From a more dubious source I heard that there is an emergency axe on board each plane that can be used for breaking down the cockpit door in emergencies. The axe is hidden away and only one member of crew is aware of it's location.

Thoughts on all of these W0X0F?

The regulation is eight hours bottle to throttle (the actual wording of the regulation is slightly different), but I think most companies have their own stricter rule on this. For me (and at my previous job), it's 12 hours. This doesn't mean that you can be knee-walking, commode-hugging drunk 12 hours and one minute before your duty time. You could still be busted if you get a random alcohol test.

This has got to be the first time someone has been suspected of being a terrorist mostly because he is not muslim.

Pollution.

Can't see this plane being found for weeks or months now given that it's already been this long.

Gotta say, these autopilot systems are pretty damn amazing to me.

WOXO-

It's my understanding that the plane was equipped with two high frequency ELFs that automatically start transponding when they come in contact with salt water. Assuming they have not been activated, doesn't that make the "plane is in the ocean" much less likely?

I am sure this question has been asked but Why can a pilot turn off the transponders? What reason would there be for them to do it?

Do we see these function being changed on all planes?

Possibilities I read about:

1) Malfunction to reset
2) Upon request, eg when taxiing/when too many planes together
3) Electrical/system problem that could result in big problem like a fire

W0X please grade my homework

W0X addressed this question earlier.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34...l#post42489299

they could have either malfunctioned or sunk before being able to send a distress signal. The plane in in the ocean 99.98% of the time here.

Oops. I meant ELFs

ETA: I shouldn't post on phone

I fixed it for you, or at least I thought I did...

From what I heard on TV, the automatic salt water beacon is supposed have a shorter range of 2 miles. So you have to be pretty close to it to hear it. It will transmit through water,btw.
I'm not sure but there may be a short range separate land beacon on board as well.

Tx

Are the costs of this search really into the hundreds of millions?

According to reports, it is highly likely this will be the most expensive aviation investigation to date, topping the previous Air France crash of est. $50 million.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ry?id=22899690

Maybe these terrorists are smarter than we are giving them credit for.

I got from abc. Not sure how it was calculated but doesn't surprise me.


http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=228....google.com%2F

I'm guessing it takes an aircraft carrier at least a million dollars a day just to exist? Extrapolate that out with high tech aircraft, coordination of resources, recruiting and paying of top level experts etc, over multiple countries....

Idk seems reasonable to me.

Yeah 20+ countries and their military on this, it will add up quick.

It's not like they called in those crews just for this though. Those ships were already underway for exercises. They've just been detailed to something else for a bit.

Yeah, but these ships and aircraft were going to be doing something anyway... As most of these costs when they talk about rescuer missions etc aren't new costs...

Please can people stop posting stupid conjecture about atheism, homosexual politicians and political activism without the slightest bit of knowledge about Malaysia?

um, so another 777 on a weird flight path?

http://twitter.com/flightradar24/sta...99993146953728

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