General Chat

any theories? I'm thinking that the majority of the passengers would have been in possession of a mobile phone, so if the plane is still intact and the passengers maybe held captive somewhere, why wouldn't one of them made contact with someone - was it a hijack and all phones were confiscated>

Mobiles require a signal to and from a transmitter the transmitter range may have been exeeded, unless you have a satellite connection then a mobile device is useless once out of range

When i travel from Plymouth to Roscoff a 6 hour ferry crossing i loose my mobile signal after the first hour and don't get it back untill around an hour before we reach our destination port,

Roy

It happened in the night Ann, or so I understand, therefore the passengers would mostly have been asleep. By the time they woke up (if they did), and realised what was happening, the airplane would have been miles off course and maybe flying too high for mobile phone contact; Or, as you say, a highjack and all phones confiscated. The whole thing is a complete mystery, quite extraordinary. What I find disturbing is that the transponder on all planes can be turned off!! surely this should be impossible under ANY circumstances, why would any pilot want to? unless they are up to no good. under normal circumstances pilots would want people on the ground to know where they are, so why on earth have a system that a rogue ??? can turn off, making it impossible for them to be tracked.. Those poor poor people, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Where's JAMES BOND 007, He would find it.

I should think that the transponder/squark is only in use during flight, and switched off on the ground........but yes I also find it odd that a commercial aircraft could be invisible, in the air

Malcom, In these terrible circumstances a comment like that is totally inappropriate, in fact it is an incredibly insensitive thing to say, and that's putting it mildly.

Anybody wanna see my new plane

its parked on the drive :-D :-D

Ann, I had hoped that this was going to be a serious post discussing an awful event, and that we would be discussing what has happened to this plane, what has become of these poor people. I'm sure you thought the same, and like me are disappointed that for some it it seems to be a subject for jokes and general frivolity. I won't be posting anymore which is pity and I wouldn't blame you if you 'pulled' it. I can only suppose that you 'jesters' have never experienced a terrible personal event in your lives or that you are simply without any sympathy or empathy whatsoever.

Good chance all the passengers are alive though

Think thats abit harsh Magpie :-S

You do?! You people baffle me!

keep ya wig on magpie

nobody wishes ill of the passengers
we all hope its been high jacked and all are safe :-D :-D

The pilots must have the ability to switch off a transponder (and any electical equipment) in case it starts to overheat.

Hijackers confiscating peoples phones wouldn't make the plane invisible. Those phones could still be tracked regardless of who was in possession of them. The fact that the phones haven't been traced means they are out of range, not in the hands of terrorists.
Whilst I hope the passengars and crew are alive and well; the more time passes, the more I fear the worse. :-(

I feel the opposite - the more times goes on the more hope I have that they will eventually find it

I'm sure someone somewhere knows more thatn they are letting on. Hope everyone will be found safe,

The trouble is that individual countries do not want to reveal how good or bad their primary radar tracking is.

I would think that if the plane was hijacked that some demands would have been made by now. I also think that perhaps a terrorists group would have claimed responsibility.

I feel for the relatives, is there hope or not? How awful to be in limbo. And definitely not a subject for jokes i agree magpie

The fact that it wasn't tracked live implies that there was no air defence cover at the time. That is unless the aircraft flew very low, in which case the range of the aircraft would be significantly reduced.