[Sarah Barracuda]

Here is my question(If anyone here knows the answer that would be great) let’s say just for the sake of argument, that there was some catastrophic mechanical failure event taking place on the plane..would putting in this flight path on the computer make sense..or would the pilot just take the plane off of auto pilot and start flying back to an airport, any airport in the immediate area? I think it would be the most interesting to know WHEN the Pre-programmed U-Turn was programmed, BEFORE the flight or AFTER the flight was in the air..if it was before the plane ever took off that is the big game changer

[Star Traveler]

If there is an emergency in flying the plane, you don’t try to control it remotely. The pilot would take control immediately.

[GOYAKLA]

Has anyone really disproved this gentleman’s statement?
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/843248398.jpg?1394594087

Could a rogue military pilot, say from Viet Nam have purposely collide with the 777.
Just remember 09/10/2001 no one could imagine what the scenario of the next day.

[CFIIIMEIATP737]

Sarah, the three rules of an inflight emergency are 1. Fly the airplane 2. Fly the airplane 3. Fly the airplane.

Seriously, one pilot does nothing but maintains control of the aircraft. The other pilot takes out the Quick Reference emergency checklist, turns to the proper tab (electrical, engine, hydraulics, etc.) and executes the required procedure.

The exception would be the items that are required to be done by memory. That is a short list. It includes engine fire, engine failure, emergency evacuation and emergency descent.

Once the situation is stable, the crew decides whether to continue, return or divert.

[Noob1999]

...........................or would the pilot just take the plane off of auto pilot and start flying back to an airport, any airport in the immediate area.................

Yeah, I guess so, but only if he had a giant lollipop in his mouth, so that he couldn’t have turned on the dead Comm system to at least say:

Ah Num’s Num turn, num yum slurp rt yum slurp 270, up to yum num slurp 45k, and yum kill slurp all the bast-slurp by
not having their own yum/num-slurp oxy-num cough!

[cynwoody]

let’s say just for the sake of argument, that there was some catastrophic mechanical failure event taking place on the plane..would putting in this flight path on the computer make sense..or would the pilot just take the plane off of auto pilot and start flying back to an airport, any airport in the immediate area?

The closest airport from the point where the transponder stopped would have been Sultan Mahmud (TGG), on the north coast of the Malaysian Island. Reportedly, that was where the co-pilot did his 777 training. E.g., if something really nasty, such as a fire, happened, TGG would have been the destination of choice.