I’ve been following the development with some interest, being a private pilot and aviation enthusiast and all.
1. Several sources have said the flapperon fragment found is indicative of it being stowed when the plane was ripped apart. This means the plane was not put into any configuration conducive to a controlled water landing.
2. Although normal communication and remote identification with the plane stopped when the plane flew off course before entering Vietnamese airspace, the plane’s engines have their own satellite transmitters for sending telemetry to engine manufacturer’s monitoring and diagnostic services. These continue to communicate with satellites.
3. Although engine telemetry doesn’t say where the plane is or what condition the cabin is in, and only establish periodic handshakes and only report as needed how well the engineis running, data sleuthing, Doppler signal analysis and precise signal time stamping have nonetheless narrowed down where the engines could be be when they made their periodic handshakes with different communication satellites. The estimated location of the crash wasn’t just a extrapolation of where the plane would run out of fuel. It was based on location of handshake attempts and data in. The telemetry.
If the plane impacted the surface at high speed, it is unlikely to remain in large enough pieces for the sunken wreckage to be identifiable by sonar. Only dragging a close up camera right over the wreckage will do. The effort required to do video survey of the seafloor is exponentially greater than the effort required to survey the bottom with sonar. So the chance of finding the bulk of the wreckage was always slim.
1. Several sources have said the flapperon fragment found is indicative of it being stowed when the plane was ripped apart. This means the plane was not put into any configuration conducive to a controlled water landing.
2. Although normal communication and remote identification with the plane stopped when the plane flew off course before entering Vietnamese airspace, the plane’s engines have their own satellite transmitters for sending telemetry to engine manufacturer’s monitoring and diagnostic services. These continue to communicate with satellites.
3. Although engine telemetry doesn’t say where the plane is or what condition the cabin is in, and only establish periodic handshakes and only report as needed how well the engineis running, data sleuthing, Doppler signal analysis and precise signal time stamping have nonetheless narrowed down where the engines could be be when they made their periodic handshakes with different communication satellites. The estimated location of the crash wasn’t just a extrapolation of where the plane would run out of fuel. It was based on location of handshake attempts and data in. The telemetry.
If the plane impacted the surface at high speed, it is unlikely to remain in large enough pieces for the sunken wreckage to be identifiable by sonar. Only dragging a close up camera right over the wreckage will do. The effort required to do video survey of the seafloor is exponentially greater than the effort required to survey the bottom with sonar. So the chance of finding the bulk of the wreckage was always slim.
