The last 2 data points show "0" altitude so the sensor has failed. Why? Pitot tube has been taken out or a massive electrical failure that takes out transponder 2 minutes later. Pitot tube fail from a/c impact. Elec. failure leads to fire.

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

to reset 'em, I hear ATC requesting a reset when one is suspect.

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

great! tks! So the Xpndr worked for up to 3 minutes after the altimeter failed to the extent that it couldn't communicate with the Xpndr or it's error checking told it to report an error message for the last 2 reports. Anyone know the i/f format for these modules? 485, 232, 422/3??? X="trans"

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

oh, for an old analog phone

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

actually there is a string of cell towers just south of the 'claimed' military radar track. on the order of 30km. which at that time of night should have a record of registrations from a plane a few 1000ft up. minimum usage time like that would have the receiver AGC's at max. a pax on the left side of the plane & handset in the window would've made it.

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

I'm using the general term ARPA to include all of the text & graphics ATC computers put on the screen to display data, track and the "bracket" around the "point" of where the a/c should actually be on the screen. a quick Google scan of ATC radar images leads me to believe there isn't any actual "blip" from the RF energy return the operator is actually seeing, unfortunately. So assuming the a/c transponder uses AM modulation (least reliable) the system would hold stale info on the screen for at least a few sweeps before declaring it a lost contact. do they do that? I have a $30k Furuno system that does but it is

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

Back to the basics... I have noticed differing posting of the last 10 or so flight data points. The original postings in the early days of this event display the last 2 updates with a flight level of zero(0). The recent postings and news reports I've seen in the media seems to fill in those two values with the same 35,000ft as the rest of the 10 updates rather than the original reports of zero. This maybe a key oversight. And why so many "experts" are focusing on other areas. I believe the last two reports of zero for altitude along with a constant reading for air speed may provide insight. 1. Is the SPEED input to the TRANSPONDER from a PITOT tube based system or another source, say GPS? 2. If it is PITOT tube based, does it share any sub-system component with the PITOT tube based system providing the ALTIMETER input to the transponder? 3. Once that is established a look at relative placement of the two pitot tubes, common power bus connections to the different/same module

(Written on 14.03.2014)(Permalink)

could the ability to turn up the intensity of the ARPA data on a ATC screen separately from the intensity of the RF energy return be encouraging a reliance on the computer generated info over the actual "blip" that is the actual aircraft... thus diverting attention away from the unidentified "blip" that could become a serious threat.

(Written on 13.03.2014)(Permalink)

that report may be a case of confused time zones. the last report from the engines was a few minutes after take off.

(Written on 13.03.2014)(Permalink)

The Chinese probably didn't know the data was there till yesterday. Maylay military is probably using surface search radar, may not even be ARPA equipped. Likelihood of someone on watch on a Saturday eve firing up a tracking team to track a blip that isn't headed towards a presidential palace or something like that... not good.

(Written on 13.03.2014)(Permalink)