MH370 – Will it be found?

by | Mar 16, 2023 | Airport History, Airport News, Aviation News, Book Reviews, Spotting, Spotting News, Wrecks and Relics

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER remains one of the most puzzling aviation mysteries of all time. Despite extensive search efforts, the wreckage of the plane has never been found, and the fate of the 239 people on board remains unknown.

The initial search for the plane focused on the South China Sea, where it was believed to have crashed. However, subsequent investigations suggested that the plane had flown off course and may have ended up in the southern Indian Ocean. This led to a massive search effort involving more than two dozen countries, but no trace of the plane was found.

The disappearance of MH370 raised many questions about the safety of air travel and the ability of modern technology to track planes. The plane’s communication systems were deliberately turned off, suggesting that someone on board had hijacked the aircraft. This has led to theories that the plane was intentionally diverted and may have been flown to a remote location.

The search for MH370 was one of the most expensive and extensive in aviation history, costing an estimated $150 million. The search involved advanced underwater search technology, including autonomous underwater vehicles and towed sonar systems. Despite these efforts, the wreckage of the plane has never been found, leading some to speculate that the search was not thorough enough or that the plane may have been deliberately hidden.

The disappearance of MH370 has had a profound impact on the aviation industry. It has led to increased scrutiny of airline safety procedures, including the use of satellite tracking systems and cockpit security measures. It has also raised concerns about the need for improved communication and coordination between airlines and aviation authorities.

In addition to the technical and operational questions raised by the disappearance of MH370, there have also been emotional and psychological impacts on the families of the passengers and crew. For many, the lack of closure and the uncertainty surrounding the fate of their loved ones has been devastating.

In conclusion, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 remains one of the most baffling aviation mysteries of all time. The extensive search efforts have failed to locate the wreckage of the plane, leaving many questions unanswered. The incident has had far-reaching implications for the aviation industry and has led to increased scrutiny of safety procedures and technology. Despite the passage of time, the search for answers continues, and the families of the passengers and crew remain in search of closure.

The definitive Boeing 707/C-135 book.

by | Jul 12, 2022 | Aviation News, Book Reviews, Spotting

The Boeing 707 was a great success, but it was probably most successful in it’s military guises. Known internally at Boeing as the ‘B717’, a designation that was re-used for the MD9 after the Boeing/McDonnell-Douglas merger. The militarised version had numerous military designations and although ageing, many are still in service with many of the worlds militaries today.

It is likely that a number of these will remain in service for an other 20 years or even longer, there are airframes that potentially could actually be flying antiques in the truest sense of the word.

Why was the aircraft such a success, it did what it said on the tin – the versatility and sturdiness of the militarised version have made it a winner. Operated in many varying roles by many air forces, the aircraft has a proven track record – delivering as they say a lot of bang for each buck.

The primary variants C, EC, KC, NC, RC, OC and WC only explain some of the geneology of the type. There were also the C137, E3, the E6 and a number of other variants – but ultimately these were all variants of the original Boeing 707.

All you ever wanted to know is covered in the book, it is a pretty definative work – very readable and great value. If you have an interest in the Boeing 707 or the C135, this book is a must extremely detailed and some fantastic illustrations just completes the book.

 

Prestwick – 2021 Log

by | Jun 28, 2022 | Airport News, Aviation News, Book Reviews, Online Logging, Spotting

So the testing of the tables and the search facility continues, this data set now comprises a full year of visitors to Prestwick. The based aircraft are not incorporated in the log, mainly due to the fact that each one would add 365 rows to the table – and a search would likely return 365 rows of data.

In order that the table is displayed properly it is at the bottom of the post, where it should be out the way of the rest of the post. The next test will be to break the year down into individual months, I’m going to experiment with various layouts and content to see what works best.

Some additional search and filtering tips, there is now a dropdown at the right hand side if the search bar. This allows the fields searched to be toggled on or off, this will allow more controlled searching and should make life a little easier.

It is possible to order the data by any of the column headings, simply click on the heading to order by alphanumeric ascending or decending – this will work on search results if required.

The data comes from a number of public sources, I have automated some of the data collection and hope to improve it over time.

Additionally I have started on the automation of the building of the logs but there is still some manual intervention required, it is still a manual proces to put it in the database – but eventually I may be able to automate some of the steps.

Visitor Log Prestwick (EGPK) 2021

Soviet & Russian Testbed Aircraft

by | Mar 15, 2021 | Book Reviews

In the books 400+ pages there were some real revelations for me, along with a number of major eye openers. When you compare the time lines of some of the Soviet projects covered in the book to some of the Western projects, the reasons for a few things become clearer.

The pictures of the full delta winged MiG 21 were absolutely fascinating, but there are so many photographs of one of types that it is hard to say what was the most interesting.

This is an other of these definative books, with over 700 photographs – many in colour and around 70 illustrations along with many technical specifications. The authors have done huge amounts of research, they have obviously been granted the highest levels of access to the information from a number of sources.

As someone with a lifelong interest in aviation, I was astonished at the information contained in this book. As a reference book it is brilliant, from a modeling point of view – probably only those interested in scratch building would be interested. All in all if you have any interest in Soviet Aircraft, this book is well worth the money.

 

Spitfire The History

by | Mar 14, 2021 | Book Reviews

I have written a review of this book once before, the book titled Spitfire The History is probably the definative work on the Spitfire. The book itself is technically superb, suitable for anyone who wants to know everything Spitfire related. Is it perfect, alas no there are a couple of things that do anoy me about the book – and yes I do have both editions and find the second infuriating as well.

But I have to be honest, if there is information missing it’s hard to think of. The only missing facts that I can see, is the GPS location for the Spitfires buried in Myanmar (Burma to some of us). You could probably take a guess at where they are using information in the book, as it does list the SOC location for many of the spitfires and it does list every single one of them individually.

What do I think of the book, well as I said have both editions and really do consider it to be the finest work that there is as far as information content goes. What do I find anoying about the book, from a technical perspective absolutely nothing. From a readers view point, I find it extremely anoying in some places. It reminds me of some of the early technical manuals, where they had been translated poorly.

A long time friend surmised it as follows;

“Why did two English speakers write a book in Japanese and then have it translated into English by someone who had Swahili as a first language.”

There are lots of places where the text doesn’t really flow, but given the information in the book – I’ll put up with it.

If you have an interest in the Spitfire whether as a researcher, a model maker or just as aviation enthusiast. This book will likely answer your questions on some of it’s 600+ pages, where it has the service history of some 20,000 Spitfires.

Where to get the book, not so easy as it is out of print at the moment. But a search on Amazon or eBay will return results, but hold onto your hat. I’ve just done a search for the book, there’s a couple on eBay being auctioned off with a few days to go one hasn’t moved but the other is at £35.00. There are several available on Amazon, with prices starting at £100. There are a couple of other specialist book searches online, some of these have prices for the book of anywhere up to £300 – so it is still out there if you want to pay for it.