Missing Flight MH370 777-200

[DER E30]

If there was a fire, and they had time to make a turn toward Lankawi, then how didn't he get out an SOS?

[mulletman]

So, opinions on the practice runways in the Capt.'s sim?

Also, if it were a tire fire, the TPIS (tire pressure monitoring) would have alerted on EICAS, and you tell me you don't feel a flat tire, they would have aborted, or turned back around and emergency landed if they had a underinflated tire.

Some airplanes do tire pressure monitoring, some don't. I'm not a 777 guy...

That said, a tire going flat is not an item I'd abort for. A rejected takeoff usually ends in tears, depending on what speed the abort is initiated at. Above 80 knots, it's considered a high-risk maneuver. The following are the takeoff abort items on a Dash. You'll notice that most of them have to do with power delivery.

-Takeoff warning horn. (Indicates a trim or flap issue usually. Some sort of configuration problem.)
- Failure of Auto-Feather to arm.
- Engine failure or fire.
- Master Warning.
- Takeoff torque not obtained on either engine.
- Exceeding engine limitations.
- Windshear encounter.
- Lost of HUD symbology under low visibility conditions.

Any other problem, and you're going flying. The rule of thumb here is this.... if it's something that will compromise the airplane's ability to fly, then you abort. If it's anything else, you don't,

Once you're airborne, there's no real reason to turn around and land immediately due to a tire issue. Airplane tires catching fire due to anything other than a rejected takeoff would be almost impossible. Also, if you landed right away, you'd still be pretty heavy. You'd be much better off flying to your destination and burning most of your fuel before landing.

[Farbin Kaiber]

^Yes, I'm not arguing the access to top level stuff, but what if you don't want to have logs of the flights you flew in the company sim?

[mulletman]

So, opinions on the practice runways in the Capt.'s sim?

My opinion of an airline pilot playing flight sim at home? Nerd alert!




But seriously... Not a factor. I can't think of any possible use a primitive flight sim might have. The guy probably had access to full motion simulators if he wanted to.

[BraveUlysses]

I'm going to guess that a tire catching on fire on takeoff is not very likely.

[Farbin Kaiber]

So, opinions on the practice runways in the Capt.'s sim?

Also, if it were a tire fire, the TPIS (tire pressure monitoring) would have alerted on EICAS, and you tell me you don't feel a flat tire, they would have aborted, or turned back around and emergency landed if they had a underinflated tire.

[mulletman]

I'll be the first to call BS on that fire theory. For that story to work, the following have to be true:

- The fire was enough to overwhelm the crew, but then not enough to compromise the rest of the airplane. Fires don't do this.
- Part of the Emergency checklist for smoke or fire involves powering down the airplane completely.
- While the airplane is burning, the autopilot continues to function. The A/P was one of the very first casualties of the SwissAir crash. Autopilots are designed to self-disengage if issues start happening. A medium-sized bump of turbulence is usually enough to cause the A/P to disengage.


That article states that "Yes, the pilots have oxygen masks, but this is a no-no with fire." Bull. Shit. Want to know what the FIRST action item is at my airline when smoke is detected? The person who identifies the smoke will state: "SMOKE. DON MASK." Then the Ox mask donning procedure is to be completed before anything else is done. No checklist will ever direct you to completely power down the airplane while in-flight. If that is done, you lose all fire caution and warning advisory systems, which is exactly what you don't want happening.

If you want a good example of how fires progress in airplanes, take a look at SwissAir 111. Airplanes are complex, and do not suffer fires well. People, if they're provided with oxygen to breathe, will handle fires actually quite well. The SwissAir crew was still trying to fly the airplane even as their plastic checklist was melting into a solid chunk. In case you don't want to look it up, here are some of the facts about 111:

- The time between smoke detection and impact with the surface was 16 minutes. They were at 33,000 feet when the scenario started.
- In that time, the fire became intense enough to trigger a fire detection in the #2 engine, mounted high above the fuselage. Engine detection systems work based on heat detection. So in 16 minutes, they went from "Hey, do you smell something?" to entire length of the airplane completely engulfed in flames.


The rule of thumb with fire in an airplane is simple: GET DOWN. Had the Malaysian crew been on fire, and made a turn toward an airport, they also would have started a pretty severe descent. If fire was the cause, your search radius would be small enough that all you'd need would be a boat and a pair of binoculars.

[einhander]

^

[UNHCLL]

Hey Farbio -

Do you think Derek Zoolander was brainwashed to kill the Malaysian Primer Minister using the Jet?

[Subtle]

New report says the the new search area spans over 2.2 million square miles. Good luck ever finding that plane.

I walk that in a weekend PFFFT.

[DER E30]

This is the best, most plausible theory to date.

Boom, makes sense. Splash

[gkurey]

This is the best, most plausible theory to date.

[DEV0 E30]

^^^ Same author is quoted as the article I posted, nearly the same article.

[Victell]

Another theory:

a tire caught on fire, the pilot turned off all of the circuits, including the transponder, as per fire protocol - to isolate the problem. Smoke overwhelmed everyone in the cockpit and cabin, and the plane flew unmanned until crashing somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

New report says the the new search area spans over 2.2 million square miles. Good luck ever finding that plane.