Twenty passengers on missing flight 370 worked for Freescale Semiconductors

[Macbeth]

Oh bollocks. You are all trying to make me feel guilty for importing my dirt cheap "Hao Qi Xin" voltage ref, complete with lithium battery! Imported without a plane blowing up I might add. 

[Alexei.Polkhanov]

So today's lesson - next time I need something with batteries I will order 2 or 3 items and ask to send them with different shipping companies. This way even if one plane blows up I still get my item!!!

[Vgkid]

So today's lesson - next time I need something with batteries I will order 2 or 3 items and ask to send them with different shipping companies. This way even if one plane blows up I still get my item!!!

I got a chuckle out of this, and did not feel bad about it.

[Kjelt]

In the meantime the search has been temporarily stopped due to malfunctioning equipment.

[dannyf]

Are they really searching or using this as an exercise to map the ocean financed by a 3rd party?

[Kjelt]

C,mon Danny not yet another conspiracy theory

[EEVblog]

Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 pings 'may have come from searching ship'

http://www.smh.com.au/world/malaysia-airlines-jet-mh370-pings-may-have-come-from-searching-ship-20140529-zrrdr.html

[EEVblog]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637359/Scientists-say-pings-not-MH370-search-debacle.html

From that article:

Yet the scientists claim the 33.3 kilohertz frequency of the signal was significantly different to the 37.5 kilohertz generated by underwater acoustic beacons and say the signals were detected 30 kilometres and four days apart.

HTF do you get the frequency wrong?
Surely they know without even the remotest doubt at all what the frequency of the pinger on MH370 was? 

[pickle9000]

You'd think they'd pay attention to the Malaysians problems and double check, then triple check then quadruple check.

I suppose the mentality could have been "We are hearing pings a 1 second intervals that must be it regardless of the frequency". One guy says it and that the end of the discussion.

I still think Inmarsat is the only group with a leg to stand on. The data they had was published a few days ago.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Surely that had some sort of recorder going while searching, surely they did?

Cant they just play it back.

[dannyf]

The 33K frequency was mentioned just lightly then and I was puzzled as to why no one raised a doubt about it.

I continue to think this is a 3rd party financed mapping of the ocean floor.

[EEVblog]

But like in those comments in that link , some there are so practical , >that dude who questioned why a $100 million plane has not got a $100 EPIRB or several epirbs when its law for $1000 boats to have one?

Because a $100M plane usually does not land gently when it crashes, nor does most of it float.
You can't just strap a $100 EPIRB to a plane and:
a) expect it survive the crash
and
b) expect it to break lose and float and transmit as intended.

[EEVblog]

Its got me too , this all seems so slack or incompetent that I'm really starting to think that something else is going on Dave

Nope. Just apply Occam's razor.
This was such a high profile case, and there was so much riding on this, and so much pressure for everyone involved to find answers and do something, that once a signal was detected, news broke out like wildfire and no one wanted to back track. Assuming this frequency mixup business is true, anyone who would have been brave enough to stick their hand up and say "hang on guys, this is the wrong frequency" would have likely been ignored by the rest of the chain of command.

What the hell anything was doing transmitting in that search water though is beyond me. And it's not rocket science to audit what devices were on what ships, and if they transmitted, and on what frequencies.
It's not like this was active pinging going on here, it's all passive.

[VK5RC]

I am reminded of the quote " If it is either a conspiracy or a cock-up, go for the cock-up every time"

[EEVblog]

I found this back on the 9th April:
http://www.airlineratings.com/news/276/mh370-more-possible-black-box-pings-detected

General manager Jim Gibson said the team was cautiously optimistic about the pings picked up.
However, it was revealed the frequency detected was 33kHz, which is below the 37.5kHz the pingers are designed to emit.
This shift could be attributed to the ocean depth of 4500m, a failing battery or damage to the unit and is within the range of past experience with the beacons.

So if it was within the ballpark of previous searches, then I guess it was a fair call.

[cimmo]

But like in those comments in that link , some there are so practical , >that dude who questioned why a $100 million plane has not got a $100 EPIRB or several epirbs when its law for $1000 boats to have one?

Because a $100M plane usually does not land gently when it crashes, nor does most of it float.
You can't just strap a $100 EPIRB to a plane and:
a) expect it survive the crash
and
b) expect it to break lose and float and transmit as intended.

I was not suggesting one just gaffa tapes on a EPIRB , but it might work?

I was more in the line of a dedicated epirb or epirbs just for planes , automatic in some way after detecting being underwater or whatever the mind boggles on how it could be done but the main idea is there ain't one yet , they invented black box's so why not a epirb as yet ..

Here the BBC reports the plane is not in that area now
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27615173

This technology already exists and is often used on Naval helicopters -  very obvious orange dome tacked on the side of the tailboom or fuselage.
Image here:
http://www.helis.com/h/seaking_ran_20_2.jpg

The correct terminology is "Automatically Deployable Beacon (ADELT)"
http://www.drs.com/Products/c3a/CPI406.aspx
http://www.caledonian-airborne.com/CPT%20900.html
http://www.hr-smith.com/hr-smith-news/item/7-new-cpi-with-flight-data-recorder-cockpit-voice.html

[hamster_nz]

\ps> my thoughts were a cylindrical tube , sealed and with some sort of external sensor that knew when it was under water and at a predetermined depth fired a small rocket that knew which way was "up" and then let out the EPIRB gizmo , sorta like this sub launch but much much smaller .

How about something completely passive? A boyant beacon, behind some sort of burst disk that busts at about 4 bar (60-70 PSI).

Once under about  100 ft of water the burst disk could rupture and a strong spring behind the beacon could then eject it.

[pickle9000]

When it comes to the pinger I think a simple solution like a bigger battery or getting creative with the pinger is a good solution. I'm sure they could increase the duration the pinger operates by increasing the time between pings. You could have one ping every second for the first week and double (the delay 2,4,8 seconds) for each additional week under water. That would not only increase battery life but help eliminate false positives.

[stitch]

You could have one ping every second for the first week and double (the delay 2,4,8 seconds) for each additional week under water. That would not only increase battery life but help eliminate false positives.

Or a constant stream of pings spaced 2,4,8 repeat 2,4,8 repeat 2,4,8 repeat ...  That way you would still extend battery life and have an ongoing identifiable signal pattern.

[nctnico]

@Geuser: 747s always make weird growling noises you can feel under your feet. It is some kind of compressor or generator to make the food warm. Nothing to worry about. Opening the covers was necessary to look for your 'bomb'  . You are lucky you where allowed to board the airplane. Nowadays you'd probably end up in jail for a couple of years.

[SeanB]

Lower galley lift, assorted Hydraulic pumps, assorted parts of the aircon and assorted low pressure fuel pumps, valving and fuel balancing going on automatically makes that noise. You have never flown on non commercial aircraft, where you can tell what is working just from the noise. C130 I would always sit near the Aux hydraulic pump, even though it was incredibly noisy during flight. It sits at wing centre line, so the least pitching, and I could always make at least one other nervous soul toss his cookies by having a bottle of cooldrink and drinking it in turbulence, turning the bottle to keep the level flat in the bottle. I was kind, kept a good supply of the appropriate bags handy, as the logo was - yours you clean it up. Never used the gents, made sure I went before flight. I was not going to go in the pipe on the wall for various reasons.

[WarSim]

There are many CPIs, UABs and ISTs options out there.  Use what ever acronym you country uses, there is still only 3 types. 
The largest problem is regulations.  It takes many years to certify avionics safety equipment.  The industries approach seems to be, is it is better to have nothing than have something bad. 
There are 3 CPI frequencies, 3 UAB Frequencies and 3 IST signatures.  Yes, spectrum regulators in the USA are relocating the 121.5MHz frequency and making the change a requirement to fly in USA airspace.  SAR providers will search all emergency frequencies they are able to.  And there are intelligent trackers out there that will compensate for many environmental factors, but they are expensive and not all SAR operators have the abilities. 
Lastly commercial aircraft are gravitation away from electable CPIs because if licensing and regulations.  So often SAR is left with looking for a stronger beacon in a "black box".  Unfortunately many environmental factor easily overcome any advantage of a stronger beacons.  Of example as little as a few feet can reduce the signals strength by 80%.  And the reason for UABs.  Unfortunately UABs becoming use less.  And the third IST's are even more expensive, and are seldom used. 
So yes there are several options and will become available when they are certified for use by the various agencies.  If they are installed in an aircraft also depends on your local regulators.  The only cost factors considered are the arguments aircraft manufactures can muster during regulation review.  The largest factors are safety and that is indirectly effected by perceived public opinion. 



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[WarSim]

Goofy auto spell checker.  Ejectable was changed to Electable.  Used was changed to Use. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[stitch]

I like this:
http://www.ibtimes.com/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-search-indian-ocean-noise-analyzed-possible-link-missing-1593554

Not because of the technology, but because if the pilots turned the plane back to Malaysia then put it on autopilot while they were trying (but failed) do deal with a major problem, then the plane would have overflown Malaysia and dropped into the Indian Ocean - but farther west than previously searched. I know it is a hypothesis, but at this point, I think it is proper to begin with hypotheses then run them down.

[GEuser]

Then this turns up today coincidently 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2647096/Female-sailor-thinks-spotted-MH370-sky-Indian-Ocean-night-disappeared.html