Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane.

[orangeman]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

[DennistheMenace]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

The cabins are pressurized, it wouldn't knock out the passengers or crew and I don't believe supplemented oxygen would be required. Why they went up that high (if it's being cited through primary radar it's been known to be unreliable at distance) is anyones guess.

[orangeman]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

The cabins are pressurized, it wouldn't knock out the passengers or crew and I don't believe supplemented oxygen would be required. Why they went up that high (if it's being cited through primary radar it's been known to be unreliable at distance) is anyones guess.

I was hoping that you were going to tell me that everyone would have been unaware of what was happening so that they would have avoided the trauma of what was unfolding and so avoid a terrifying end to their lives.

[DennistheMenace]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

The cabins are pressurized, it wouldn't knock out the passengers or crew and I don't believe supplemented oxygen would be required. Why they went up that high (if it's being cited through primary radar it's been known to be unreliable at distance) is anyones guess.

I was hoping that you were going to tell me that everyone would have been unaware of what was happening so that they would have avoided the trauma of what was unfolding and so avoid a terrifying end to their lives.

If the cabin lost pressure that's a different story and it would essentially become a ghost plane with everyone on board incapacitated due to hypoxia as in the 1999 South Dakota Learjet crash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_South_Dakota_Learjet_crash

[dferg]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

I wish the media would wait until they have confirmation that the debris is from the plane.  It's like a circus all the speculation.  '100 objects in the water', so what, is it a plane or not.

[muppet]

Australia saying they've spotted over a 100 objects in the water, ranging from 1m in length to 23m.


The plane climbed to 45,000 feet for 23 minutes, then descended.

Would the oxygen masks have been engaged then or is it the pilots that engage them ?

Would going to this altitude have knocked out all the passengers ( and crew ) and the plane would have flown thereafter on auto pilot until it crashed, having ran out of fuel ?

That is 2,000 feet above it's maximum. No one in their right mind would fly beyond the certified envelope. The minimum safe speed (stall speed) rises with altitude and the maximum safe speed reduces with altitude. Beyond the maximum altitude these two speeds converge into an area on the graphs pilots call 'coffin corner'. (See graph below which for some reason is in German)



Regarding the pressurisation comments above, the aircraft is pressurised. At sea level the atmospheric pressure is around 14.7psi. Aircraft are pressurised to a 'cabin altitude' maximum of 8,000'. The differential pressure (i.e. the difference between the pressure inside the cabin and the ambient pressure outside at the actual altitude) at this maximum cabin altitude is around 8psi. At 45,000' the atmospheric pressure is around 2.2psi.To maintain a cabin altitude of no more than 8000' (which is around 11psi) the pressure in the cabin would have to be (11psi - 2.2psi=) 8.8psi higher than the outside pressure. This would be right on, if not slightly above, the limit. Beyond that pressure relief valves would allow air out of the cabin allowing the cabin altitude to climb to a safe pressure difference. But I think the aircraft systems would have coped and people probably wouldn't have needed oxygen.

If for some reason the aircraft de-pressurised at 45,000' and it flew for 23 minutes, all of the passengers would have been unconscious within a couple of minutes as their oxygen won't last that long. The pilots have a separate oxygen source, but 23 minutes would be right on the limit of that and they would have needed more to safely descend to an altitude with breathable air (below 14,000'). But again this scenario only applies if the aircraft was de-pressurised and we don't know enough yet to say this happened.

[orangeman]

100 objects the other day. Yesterday it rose to 122. Now today it's 300.

Unfortunately it's looking very like the broken up plane. Conditions down there are horrible and it'll be a long time before we know what really happened here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26763358

[DennistheMenace]

It does look like a lot of debris but until it's seen and confirmed by human eye I still wouldn't be too confident. Sounds like they are trying the S&R in extremely difficult conditions.

[take_yer_points]

Breaking news on BBC that a plane has crashed into the sea of the Canary Islands

[take_yer_points]

Breaking news on BBC that a plane has crashed into the sea of the Canary Islands

Too quick off the mark - saying it was a false alarm now

[Hardy]

Thanks for the good news story!

[DennistheMenace]

Seems like the whole world want to break news before anything is 100% confirmed. Much like this apparent tradegy with news of no news every day to fill the pages. I suppose that's the age we live in.

[imtommygunn]

This case illustrates that very well too.

Sure the pilots are guilty in a lot of peoples eyes due to media and no one even knows what has happened here.

The Oscar Pistorius trial is a sad reflection of media too - it seems to be peripheral that a young girl lost her life.

The media, almost all of them these days, are pretty pathetic. Everyone needs to have the first scoop so any old crap could be put on a social network or whatever and could nearly be headline news.

[Black Card]

Not like back in the day April 18, 1930 when the BBC just came right out and said it on the evening news. "There is no news today," they announced. Piano music followed.

[DennistheMenace]

Not like back in the day April 18, 1930 when the BBC just came right out and said it on the evening news. "There is no news today," they announced. Piano music followed.

Ha brilliant.

I see due to 'new radar evidence' the search efforts are being focused on a different area near 700 miles from the current search zone. I maintain that I doubt they will ever find the main wreckage or black boxes.