Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Scenario 1

The hijackers breached the cockpit door using an explosive device.

Caveat: These scenarios are intended to give the reader a general idea of what might have happened. I‘m not an aviation expert nor do I have a crystal ball. They are based upon the facts surrounding the case that are presently full of gaps. I am filling in those gaps with assumptions to see where the hypothesis leads.

FACTS:

1. Flight MH 370 bound for Beijing, China from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, dropped off the radar, in a dead zone between Malaysia and Vietnam.
2. Subsequent information showed a drop in altitude and a change of course.
3. Attempts were made to contact flight MH370 using other airliners. One attempt reported hearing moans that might be associated with an incoherent crewmember.
4. A new course was entered into the navigation system.
5. The transponders were turned off.
6. The aircraft returned flying across Malaysia and was not seen again.
7. Pings from the engines showed that the flight flew for another seven hours.
8. The pings stopped about the same time the fuel would have run out.
9. Boeing and McDonald Douglas have been working for some time on an uninterruptable navigation system that would take control of an aircraft in the event of a hijacking.

Assumptions:

1. Flight MH 370 crashed into the ocean somewhere on the southern arc.
2. The Boeing 777 was equipped with some model of an uninterruptible auto-pilot.
3. Terrorists breached the cockpit door using an explosive device.
4. The blast activated the uninterruptible auto-pilot.

National Geographic: New technology can be activated by the pilots, government agencies, even on-board sensors; not even a tortured pilot can give up control; dedicated electrical circuits ensure the system’s total independence

Discussion: In the aftermath of 911 measures were taken to make the cockpit of an airliner more secure. One of the most familiar is the door into the pilot's cabin. A new, more secure door has been installed on airliners since. Engineers have had over a decade to decide how they would prevent an airliner being commandeered and driven into a skyscraper. It makes sense that that the first of these prevention modes would be rather primitive and as product improved versions came on line they would be more sophisticated.

An early system could have been one where if the cabin door was breached by an explosive device the plane would go into the uninterrupted auto pilot mode. In this mode the plane could not be driven into a specific ground target. Such a system would not bode well for the passengers, but it would protect the population at large. Since all the passengers perished in the 911 attack this option could have been a reasonable short term, first step measure. Older aircraft could well have been equipped with such a system that Boeing provided at the request of any foreign buyer who wanted it. Since Kuala Lumpur has the Petronis Towers and other large skyscrapers this could have been an attractive option.

This scenario as hypothesized would have played out in the following manner. Terrorists placed an explosive device on the cabin door. It exploded breaching the door. The blast could have been powerful enough to also rupture the skin of the aircraft and lead to rapid decompression. The pilots stunned by the blast, shocked at the decompression and perhaps bludgeoned by the terrorists became semi-conscious. The hijackers shut down the transponders and possibly other electronic emitters. A terrorist with pilot’s training assumed the seat of the commercial pilot and attempted to gain control of the aircraft. He found that the controls did not respond to his commands. Regardless of what he did the aircraft did not comply with his attempts to fly it. As designed the uninterruptable navigation system checked the parameters of its program, reading sensors and turned back to the origin airfield. It expected to receive further commands from a module that had yet to be developed and fielded. In the absence of such a command the default kicked in which was to steer away from populated areas. Seven hours later it ran out of gas and crashed.