Friday, March 14, 2014

Malaysia Airlines 370

A world stands dumbstruck in horror, collectively confused, grasping for answers to the baffling problem of a jet disappearing in the night. These are kept track of moment by moment through the marvel of technology, the same level of brilliance that makes ridiculously heavy things fly so well they carry people in a tube long distances impressively fast. Right? Come on, we're shown this cannot happen. We're already convinced this does not happen.

But it does happen. Coinciding by a few days with this video of European air traffic released by NATS.  NAT = National Air Traffic Service, the nation, UK

Detour alert:

For contrast purpose. This is the brilliance of technology we look to. How our opinions are formed. This is what we are taking for granted when we assume all planes are tracked each moment of flight. This is what makes us assume a disappearance such as occurs in science fiction is impossible in real life.



We're shown this brilliance and rightfully assume things are under control. It has the appearance of being so. And that is Eurocentric, most significant in the view of NATS, but it leaves out North America and Pacific so just take this whole thing and splotch it there too, like splat, splat, spat, copy/past this whole activity all over the globe, to get at the whole picture.

It's beautiful. It makes the whole thing look beautiful. Travel romantic. It forces you to wonder what are all those people up to? Why all that movement? What is the urgency? And don't even talk to me about climate change when this is glorified and romanticized as this is. We're reveling in our own technology here, is that unsightly? And is it really all that? Are we really all that, does this really show reality when one of those dots can simply disappear and there goes hundreds of travelers just like that. Will a billion Chinese even notice? Will they feel that dot disappear? 

Theories are formulating, here's six of them on USA Today if you like, even as new clues from various sources around the world continue to pour in for careful examination by analysts expert in this field, the marvel of aviation.




18 comments:

lemondog said...

I was curious the number of flights worldwide in a 24 hour period.

Based on 2008 data.

All Scheduled Flights Worldwide

Every day 93,000 flights are starting from approx. 9,000 airports. At all times there are between 8,000 and 13,000 airplanes in the air. This animation was produced by the Institute of Applied Information Technology (InIT), Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

lemondog said...

Flight patterns in the area the flight disappeared gets pretty intense.

Michael Haz said...

I have two theories and several hunches.

First the theories:

1. The plane is in the water somewhere.

2. The plane is on land somewhere.

Until either 1 or 2 are definitively proved, all else is speculation.

My hunches: The plane was hijacked. In the past yer, the US received information from a terrorist being held in an American prison that a jihadi cell existed in Malaysia, and that at least one of the cell's members was an airline pilot.

In a newspaper article shortly after the plane disappeared the airline lauded the pilot as being highly dedicated to his trade, so much so that he built an elaborate simulator in his home so he could practice flying. (My brain says so he could practice flying a highjacked plane to a specific landing point).

I'm probably wrong. Maybe.

Valentine Smith said...

The Chinese shot it down. Oooops.

Trooper York said...

I think it was space aliens. That's why they can't find the plane.

I blame Bush.

Trooper York said...

Because you know that W is secretly in contact with his handlers on the planet Remulak.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Had it been terror, somebody would have claimed it by now.

What's the point of terrorizing if you aren't going to get anything in exchange. Even if it's the advancement of a sic ideology that would sanction terror.

That's why I rule out terror from my... speculatory arsenal.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

My speculation, for what is worth, is that the pilots put the plane in cruise control and left the cabin unattended. By tragic happenstance the cruise automation machinery which is never supposed to fail once engaged chose to fail at the wrong time. The plane went into a gradual defend from which, by the time it was discovered, it was too late. That would explain the absence of a distress signal.

Now where do I go to collect my consulting fee ;)

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I meant descend there... not "defend".

Rabel said...

Maybe they know where the plane is and are either planning a rescue or negotiating with the hijackers who have insisted on the official silence.

That's almost as good as the alien theory.

Rabel said...

My sense of decency, limited thought it is, prevents me from tying in Herve Villechaize and the anti-bossy movement.

edutcher said...

My fave is the one that says the plane was hijacked (maybe an inside job) and is in some terrorist hideaway provided by your friendly neighborhood Democrat Party waiting to be used in a 9/11 times 2356 attack.

edutcher said...

PS Now is that an "Expendables" plot or what?

rcocean said...

Current info shows it probably in the Indian ocean somewhere. Probably terrorism or pilot sabotage.

deborah said...

And for that, Rabel, we thank you.

virgil xenophon said...

I'm surprised no one has commented yet...that pic of Amelia in the cockpit cabin is a classic, Chip!

MamaM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaM said...

I saw it virgil, but didn't know what to say. The visuals on this post are amazing, inviting a depth of awareness that includes but goes beyond the current situation prompting the post.

Classic Chip, with the overlay of excellence that happens when all the parts work together to create something more.

I used to look forward to LIFE magazine coming in the mail and the quality and content of this post reminds me of what I liked about LIFE back then and experience here in a new format.