Posted on 03/16/2014 7:20:17 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Is missing Malaysian jet the world’s first CYBER HIJACK? Chilling new theory claims hackers could use a mobile phone to take over the controls
Anti-terror expert said plane's direction could be changed by radio signals Speed and altitude could also be changed from device using 'codes' Possibility that it could be made to land using remote control Pilot's friends said he had always been a 'gadget geek' at school
A chilling theory suggests the missing Malaysian Airlines plane could have been hijacked using a mobile phone or USB stick.
An anti-terror expert believes the speed, altitude and direction of the aircraft could have been changed, simply by sending radio signals from a small remote device.
A framework of 'codes' created by cyber terrorists would also be able to get into the plane's in-flight entertainment system and override the security software.
Scroll down for video Activist: Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah Police have raided the luxury home of Fariq Abdul Hamid in Kuala Lumpur
Probe: Police in Malaysia have searched the home of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah (left) and Fariq Abdul Hamid after officials confirmed the plane was taken over by a 'deliberate act'
It is also believed, once the systems have been successfully hacked, the plane could be landed by remote control.
The theory has emerged as the search for flight MH370 continues to grow, with 25 countries now involved in the rescue effort.
Yesterday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed the plane's disappearance was the result of a 'deliberate act' and could have flown as far as Kazakstan.
Dr Sally Leivesley, a former Home Office official, said: 'It might well be the world’s first cyber hijack.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Some sense here, but Travis, if so, why’d he crash?
It may have begun as a solo hijack by a rogue jihad pilot, followed by a struggle for control of the jet’s systems.
The pilot can take her up to 45,000’ to try to incapacitate the pax who are trying to cut off his nav systems etc.
One system at a time, the outside team is in the service bay removing abilities from the hijacker pilot.
What began as a struggle for control may have ended as a Payne Stewart situation, with the jet flying until the fuel was gone.
Exactly. Sorry, this just doesn't seem like hijacking or terrorism. I can't explain the transponders, but one could posit a scenario in which one pilot has a heart attack/aneurism/epileptic fit and pulls back hard on the controls. Maybe the co-pilot wasn't buckled in, was out of his seat, or otherwise knocked out for a few min. The plane ascends rapidly, causing everyone to black out. The pilot maybe comes to, maybe doesn't, maybe releases the controls enough that it banks. Who knows?
The reason I bring this up is a book called "Dead Mountain." It's the story of a group of nine Russian skiers back in 1959. They were on a kind of Boy Scout expedition for skiers to reach a milestone so they could be instructors. They camped on a mountain called "Dead Mountain" in the Urals. Then disappeared. Weeks later, rescue parties find their tent---nothing at all out of place, food and skis stacked, no sign of a fight, but some rips in the tent as though someone was trying to get in. They soon found the bodies---a few hundred to several hundred yards away, none of them in winter gear, some in virtually underwear, frozen to death. Something caused them to leave that tent in the middle of a Russian winter on a mountain without clothes or shoes!
For 40 years people have been unable to really figure out what happened. Theories that it was bandits were disproven; local villagers were all accounted for; and there was no violence in the tent.
The author recreated the trip and came to the astounding conclusion that at that spot on the mountain the wind, coming over the peaks, caused a sonic effect that basically causes you to go crazy. It disorients you, makes you paranoid, and it's like a mass hallucinogen. They RAN outside, thinking something was after them, when it was a sonic disruption of their brain patterns.
My point with this flight is, it could be something totally innocent, yet totally weird.
Erratum: He’s not a “flight engineer,” there is no such position on a 777. He was an aviation/avionics engineer on his way to Beijing to take care of an Air Malaysia jet, I believe. An engineer, not a “flight engineer.”
The part that seems to allude people: Radar does not require ANY electronics on the aircraft to be operative, so where are the radar tapes showing the tracking? Both civil and military systems track aircraft. Where is that data? It does exist, guaranteed.
With 200+ pax on board, presumably conscious for at least a while during and after and obvious struggle to control the aircraft, the mystery may be solved by a “message in a bottle.”
Numerous pax may have been recording events and observations on their smart phones, and a few may have done a good job of sealing them in multiple plastic bags, and inside of layers of tough floating luggage. A foam padded computer valise inside a hard case, tied up well, etc.
Simple hand-written notes would be even more durable if sealed in baggies and then a floating piece of carry-on luggage.
We might find out what happened to 370 when something like that floats up on an island in months or years.
It might have taken the SW route over open water past Australia, no radar way out there.
American Navy not out there? No US or foreign cutters doing shipping channel work? No White Cloud satellites roaming the skies?
There is always something that can be brought to bear on an RF target. Always.
I am waiting for the US government to release the info.
I find the Deigo Garcia angle intrguing. A damaged US facility there would allow that portion of the world sans US presence to change drastically. The Chinese know this. Those same Chinese who are attempting to build a blue water navy, etc. etc. The Iranians benefit too. It has a 12,000’ runway to launch B-52’s and a service station for Subs and other surface ships that would impede Iran’s attempt to close the Straights of Hormuz.
Diego Garcia is another Pearl Harbor waiting to happen. It is well within the range of this plane, about 2600 miles to Bejing, 2100 miles to Deigo Garcia.
I like this theory the best of what have heard so far. First saw it here (http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3133736/posts).
Who would be the beneficiaries of such an attack if successful against the US and what would Bath-House Barry do about it? Shut down Diego Garcia rather than rebuild it?
I know it’s a stretch, and is seriously heading off in tinfoil hat land but if the plane were loaded with explosives and if the mission failed, it had to get ditched someplace deep where recovery of anything would be difficult.
The world rightly perceives Bath-House Barry as a pussy, and worse.
Your basic crash even pilot suicide we would find a trace of it.... some flotsam in the ocean somewhere... So far, nothng, which means to me that it went down whole.
Here’s my chilling new theory: no news today? Invent some!
I thought that the ‘flight recorders’ were those black box things. Can those be flipped off in flight by someone?
I hope we find out if they do have the tracking info.
I think Occam’s Razor points to no conspiracy, but simply another singleton example of Sudden Jihad Syndrome a la Egypt Air, but with a destination and a target, thwarted by the pax and on-board engineer.
This would be very problematic, P.R.-wise, for a struggling national airline with mainly muslim pilots. Even worse than a mystery helped by national incompetence at tracking airliners.
>>The hijacker pilot can fly the plane manually, but not by autopilot and not using GPS. He would only have a backup compass to steer by. Everything on a screen can be darkened by the pilot/engineer in the service bay. One plug at a time, the hijacker’s job becomes more and more difficult.<<
I don’t think it is possible to fly a 777 in the dark of night with a dead panel. Having a magnetic backup compass for heading guidance is fine but maintaining a level fight without a speed indicator is impossible. Just one degree off will result in either overspeeding or a stall.
Two comments on your post.
1. Pitch plus power equals performance. You set the power, maintain a pitch attitude in reference to the horizon and you keep flying. Maybe not at a perfect altitude or speed, but you stay in the air.
2. The old parable of the scorpion crossing the river on the back of a frog. If “the good guys” disable all the nav and flight info to the flight deck, then they defeat the hijcacker at their own peril. They might prevent a 9-11 flight into an innocent target, but they just sealed their own fate and those of the passengers.
The 777 has backup indicators. They are in the center panel.
I don’t think it is possible to fly a 777 in the dark of night with a dead panel.
If you can't see the panel, I don't think it is possible to feel fly a heavy aircraft.
If the plane is never found, and the BB is never recovered, we may never know. But I’m guessing that there was an epic battle between the lone jihad pilot, and everybody else on the plane. Move and counter-move, between the lone pilot, and the engineer and/or others as they unplugged systems to hobble the hijacker. Eventually, the plane became unflyable either due to a progression of systems cutoffs, or fuel starvation.
That is my best guess, no better than yours.
Maybe someday that proverbial “message in the bottle” from a passenger will wash up and solve some of the mysteries.
Backup systems have backup lighting. It wouldn’t be a dark, so a “dead panel” does not mean unlit backup instruments.
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