BALTIMORE, Maryland March 13, 20!4 - Six Days. That is how long the the Malaysian Airlines Jumbo Jet with 239 people on board has been missing. And now, on this day, there is a growing consensus that control of the Jet was wrested from those seeking to fly it to its intended destination, which was Beijing, China. There was news tonight that the missing jet continued to send out data picked up by satellites for up to six hours after the jet lost contact with air traffic controllers. The report by Reuters, quoting two sources it said were "close to the investigation," seems to corroborate earlier news that a stream of data from the Jet continued for four or five hours after the Malaysian Military lost the jet on its radar. Malaysian Government officials have denied the report. In fact, a growing sub-story is the growing problems the Malaysians are having keeping facts straight and keeping those involved in the search updated with the latest developments. There is speculation among veteran aviation observiers that the Malaysians are intentionally rationing information because they fear if they lose control of the narrative the government-owned airline could be wrecked financially.
The Wall Street Journal and ABC reported last night that the three data streams eminating from the plane were shut down manually several minutes apart from each other. This fact combined with the fact that the plane continued aloft for up to six hours are part of the reason that investigators have now concluded that something happened on the plane to wrest control away from the person or persons who intended to fly the plane to its intended destination in Beijing, China. There is no way to know what that event was or who participated in it. There is no way of knowing whether the pilot or co-pilot were complicit in the takeover. Malaysian Authorities are said to have gone to the co-pilot's house, but for what reason is unknown. Authorities continue to pour over the list of passengers to see if anyone is likely to have participated in such an event. At the White House in Washington today, the Presidential Spokesman, Jay Carney, conceded that new evidence indicates a new scenario is emerging for the plane.
According to the Reuters report, the pings or pulses detected by one or more satellites were somewhat faint. And they do not contain information about the plane's direction or location. They do not even show that the plane was aloft. But they do provide information about the plane's mechanical systems, including the basic fact that those systems were working. Had the plane been destroyed, had the plane disintegrated or had the plane sunk under the ocean, the pings would not be emitted. The pulse's are emitted by the plane about once each hour. Five or six of the pulses were detected.
One ping per hour. Five pings or six pings detected after the jet lost contact with air traffic controllers at 1:20 am. If, for arguments sake, the first pulse or ping was detected by satellites at 1:25 am, followed by ping number two one hour later at 2:25, followed by ping number three at 3:25 am, followed by ping number four at 4:25 am, followed by ping number five at 5:25 am, followed by one last ping at 6:25 am.
Despite the fact that the plane may have continued to fly for up to five or even six hours, and despite the fact that investigators believe now that there was some kind of incident on board which resulted in one or more persons taking command of the jet and taking it somewhere it wasn't supposed to go, intelligence experts in the United States continue to believe that in the end the plane went into the ocean. To that end, the United States has sent its elite battleship, the USS Kidd, into the Indian Ocean to a location where they believe the Jet now rests.
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