'Contact lost' with Malaysia Airlines plane

[Malt_Vinegar]

I wonder how many millions the search has already cost?

I bet its nothing really. Some extra fuel costs and some hiring of external equipment for black box searching. But most of the assets are already paid up and would be in use anyway.. Salaried pilots get paid whatever they are paid usually, perhaps a bit more overtime.
it always bugs me when people say its cost the taxpayer so and so. Its not really how it works.
There is generally a contingency budget set aside for this kind of work anyway.

 

[ElliottJames]

I bet its nothing really. Some extra fuel costs and some hiring of external equipment for black box searching. But most of the assets are already paid up and would be in use anyway.. Salaried pilots get paid whatever they are paid usually, perhaps a bit more overtime.
it always bugs me when people say its cost the taxpayer so and so. Its not really how it works.
There is generally a contingency budget set aside for this kind of work anyway.

You have no clue what your on about whatsoever;

Vietnam, the first country to launch search and rescue efforts, has spent around US$950,000 a day and around US$10,000 per hour for each aircraft involved. Vietnam had aircraft patrolling the South China Sea for at least ten hours a day between March 8-15, costing around US$8 million.

The United States planned a US$4 million budget for the search, according to US Defense Department spokesman Steven Warren, which should be able to cover the country's search operations until early April. The US has deployed two guided missile destroyers with helicopters and two patrol aircraft and sent a black box locator to Perth in Western Australia, as the search is currently concentated in the southern Indian Ocean.

The US Pacific Fleet said the two destroyers and their helicopters cost around US$100,000 per day each to operate while the two patrol aircraft cost around US$77,000 and US$43,000 per day, respectively.

 

[Django x2]

The US Pacific Fleet said the two destroyers and their helicopters cost around US$100,000 per day each to operate while the two patrol aircraft cost around US$77,000 and US$43,000 per day, respectively.

You miss his point....completely, and using the above as a case in point, let me break it down.

What do you think these two destroyers are doing when not looking for MH370?
And if you come up with an answer, then ask yourself how much that costs. Once you've worked that out, then ask what the difference is cost is. Practically nothing. Crew salaries are still paid, the budget for the destroyers hasn't been impacted. They cost US$100,000 per day, regardless

Or, do you think these two destroyers are sat dock side doing nothing whilst its crew are all on holiday, not getting paid?

 

[neodude]

You have no clue what your on about whatsoever;

"You're"

 

[Stolly]

But how effective would they be when it comes to searching? With the big planes, they have the pilot concentrating on flying pretty low for a long time, then they have spotters in the back doing the looking. I can't imagine fighter pilots would have much joy trying to combine flying low and searching the surface of the sea with their eyes.

All the helicopters are multi crew, and fighter pilots are trained to have their heads out of the cockpit most of the time. There are over 80 aircraft in a typical US carrier group, not counting the thousands of pairs of eyes on the actual ships.

It would make for more effective searching, no doubt.

All a moot point however, there is no such thing heading to that area as far as we know.

 

[Mercutio]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26825184

The investigation is a complete shambles as well. They've now also released the radar track and it's completely different to what they had originally said. Rather than a sharp left turn it made a shallow right 270 degree turn.

If it turned sharp left or slowly 270 degrees right, it ends up going in the same direction..?

 

[Lysander]

Full telephony transcript released:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/blob/1055450/1396344320000/mh370-cockpit-data.pdf

 

[Cosimo]

Full telephony transcript released:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/blob/1055450/1396344320000/mh370-cockpit-data.pdf

I bet they're still analysing it.

 

[Energize]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26825184

The investigation is a complete shambles as well. They've now also released the radar track and it's completely different to what they had originally said. Rather than a sharp left turn it made a shallow right 270 degree turn.

I took it for granted that the data would be erroneous.

 

[MooMoo444]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26825184

The investigation is a complete shambles as well. They've now also released the radar track and it's completely different to what they had originally said. Rather than a sharp left turn it made a shallow right 270 degree turn.

Wait, so they've been searching the wrong area this whole time?

My god. This is ridiculous.

 

[Cosimo]

Hmm, no press conference coverage today. Coverage beginning to take a back seat.

 

[Amp34]

Wait, so they've been searching the wrong area this whole time?

My god. This is ridiculous.

No, the location they're searching at the moment is due to the Inmarsat pings. Either way a sharp left and a 270 degree right turn end up with the plane pointing in the same direction, this'll be on the radar where it was apparently tracked for another hour anyway.

The change could always be related to the Vietnamese radar that they were given last week as well, crash investigators can only work on data they've been given...

 

[Lysander]

Interesting rush-ban on Lithium batteries as cargo:

Scenarios

There was comprehensive testing of all the various chemistries and sizes in a series of simulated cargo fire scenarios using shipping cartons placed in a test Boeing 727 airframe – either through overheating or through directly heating the battery up to 190 degrees Celsius.

Test showed that smoke caused by the fire quickly engulfed the flight deck within eight or nine minutes of detection. In one test, after that test had finished with halon levels nearing zero and oxygen levels increasing, a single battery in thermal runway led to a flash fire, causing an explosion that ripped through the test airframe and blew the flight deck door off its hinges. Tests in the hold of a freighter aircraft showed that smoke started to pour into the flight deck within five minutes and became so severe that it soon became fully obscured by smoke.

ICAO flight operations chiefs already believe that on the basis of accepted safety review processes, the transport of lithium metal batteries on passenger aircraft poses an unacceptable risk because – even though the chances of one occurring are remote, the severity of an onboard fire would be catastrophic. They insist that because so little data exists on the size of global shipments of lithium batteries worldwide, the worst case scenario has to be assumed.

The working group will also have to decide next week whether to treat all aircraft – passenger and cargo – in the same way. While freighters do not have to carry any fire suppression mechanism under current rules, the aircraft manufacturing industry points out that modern aircraft are certified only to carry general cargo – and not the ‘unique hazards’ of carry dangerous goods such as lithium batteries.

Following the February testing, next week’s meeting will be asked to consider restrictions up to and including an outright ban on lithium metal battery cargo to be implemented as soon as possible. There may be the possibility of compromise position which would involve restrictions chiefly on carrying certain types of battery, restricting their quantity and improving packaging. Under existing rules, there are no limits to the number of packages containing dangerous goods that can be transported on any single aircraft.

http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2014/04/lithium-cargo-facing-outright-ban/

 

[Westyfield2]

I wonder how many millions the search has already cost?

What's more annoying is how much they've wasted on searching the wrong areas. With the Malaysians changing the story everyday for the first three weeks, they were constantly searching different wrong areas until "new information" came out.

 

[Amp34]

Not really... They started searching where they lost contact, then the next day they started searching to the west of Malaysia, while searching the area it went missing. After an official notification from Inmarsat (rather than leaks) they started searching along the arcs and stopped searching elsewhere...

It seems like there were jumps all over the place but mostly because of whispers and speculation from newspapers and partner countries.

 

[MarcLister]

HMS Tireless is now involved in the search.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26845118

 

[Destination]

HMS Tireless is now involved in the search.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26845118

It'll probably get tired.

 

[FoxEye]

HMS Tireless is now involved in the search.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26845118

We don't have a ship called HMS Needle in a Haystack somewhere, do we?

 

[MarcLister]

It'll probably get tired.

At the very least it'll get bored.

We don't have a ship called HMS Needle in a Haystack somewhere, do we?

Negative I'm afraid. The MoD are sending HMS Black box somewhere in the Indian Ocean down there. It's time has finally come!

I wonder what area the submarine can search in and how quick it can do that.

 

[Lysander]

At the very least it'll get bored.

Negative I'm afraid. The MoD are sending HMS Black box somewhere in the Indian Ocean down there. It's time has finally come!

I wonder what area the submarine can search in and how quick it can do that.

The more pertinent question is, how long until they work out they're in the wrong ocean?