A classified analysis of electronic and satellite data conducted by the United States and Malaysian

[applegrove]

"FIRST ON CNN: A classified analysis of electronic and satellite data conducted by the United States and Malaysian governments shows Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely crashed into the Indian Ocean on one of two flight paths, CNN has learned. One flight path suggests the plane crashed into the Bay of Bengal off the coast of India; the other has it traveling southeast and crashing elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, according to the analysis.

The Boeing 777-200ER with 239 passengers and crew members aboard departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. on March 8 in good weather. It was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about 2:40 a.m. "

(CNN Breaking News Email)

[bigdarryl]

1. Crashed my ass

[penultimate]

8. Do you know something you're not sharing?

[AnalystInParadise]

10. So what do you call

running out of gas and plunging into the ocean?

[Autumn]

2. So is that like a guess? If they have satellite and electronic data they should

know if it's in the Bay of Bengal or crashing elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. You can't have two flight paths for one plane.

[applegrove]

4. I'm guessing that they went back over the areas and eliminated the parts

of the ocean that would have been covered by satellites or radar. Why they have two options.

[HereSince1628]

5. I dunno, one of the resulting tracks shown on CNN goes over an Indian airbase

in the Adaman Islands, I can only guess but it seems lik an Indian airbase would have radar

maybe even good air defense radar with ability to figure out altitude, distance, and direction

Who knows if CNN just made it up?

[applegrove]

7. It was my theory on why there were two options. Not CNN's. Don't blame them for my assumptions.

I was speculating because I too wondered how you could have two 180 degree opposite possibilities.

[HereSince1628]

9. Sorry, my bad, I meant maybe CNN made up 2 flight paths

just to illustrate the NYT story they were citing

[bluestate10]

6. Satellites can detect that an object is present somewhere, but unless that object is

specifically being tracked, the SAT moves on. If a SAT picked up the plane, it picked it up during a snapshot of time and only had it for a minute amount of time. Where the object went after that snapshot is a subject of guesswork, hence the two flight path possibilities. It is likely now that analytical work is being done to eliminate one of the possibilities, but that will require discovery of other information, like another SAT or ground radar finding the plane soon after the US SAT found it, but that may require that countries like China or Russia must release information that they don't want seen by the eyes of US analysts.

[FarCenter]

11. The plane was pinging an Inmarsat satellite in geosynchronous orbit.

The same pings were probably picked up by signals intelligence satellites. If more than one satellite picked up more than one ping, and if they know something about the power of the ping received by each satellite, they can get a handle on the track the plane took. Of course they won't reveal all that much about the precision and abilities that are available.

[alsame]

3. Meanwhile, CNN TV is pushing

the 'lithium batteries caused a catastrophe' angle, which would have meant the plane wouldn't have been able to fly all the way to the Indian Ocean or the Bay of Bengal.

Like the rest of us, CNN knows nothing for sure.