Jones,
With the information we have it's impossible to say.
It seems suspicious (if true) that the plane maneuvered after passing a
logical emergency landing site. The only reason the iff (transponder)
wouldn't be switched to emergency squawk is a very bad electrical fire
where the procedure is to pull all the circuit breakers which would turn
systems off while the fire was isolated. But it is unlikely the plane
would fly on for 7 hours with a fire of that magnitude
With a rapid decompression (Chem E's scenario) There is a loud 'POP' the
cabin fills with cloud (no huge wind with bodies flying out the window
etc. as in the movies) & you have a few minutes to get down to breathing
altitude after going on 100% Oxygen, supplied at a positive pressure. The
pilots can't sustain high altitude flight unpressurized with out a
pressure suit (you get the bends). It would seem to be tricky to kill all
the passengers by hypoxia (they have oxygen too) without impairing the
pilots also.
We really don't know what the radio or radar coverage is in the overwater
areas. When I was flying there, in the Vietnam era, it was nil, except for
HF radio position reporting radar was only good for a couple hundred miles
out depending upon altitude.
Diego Garcia is definitely in the area but seems to me like there would
less conspicuous ways to get an aircraft to repaint etc.
I enjoy reading the rampant uninformed speculation though.
Ron
--On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 3:42 PM -0700 Jones Beene
<jone...@pacbell.net> wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Wormus
... Speaking as a former B52 pilot.
Hey Ron,
What is your take on this disappearing plane incident?
As I recall a few years back, you were a little concerned that the truth
about the missing Minot nuke was being told...
Jones
