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Condolences to those who knew the pilots. Fortunately no victims on the ground.

Its too soon to say what caused this tragedy. Weather? Package? Other?

Whatever it was, the plane appears to have suddenly gone from a mile high to ground impact in about 10 seconds.

https://www.flightradar24.com/...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/2...

https://www.washingtonpost.com...

https://www.click2houston.com/...

https://www.flightglobal.com/n...

The Russians didn't use slave labor? I don't know, up to the 1980s more or less? And now we have have Slavery 2.0, the penal system.

But seriously, the weather... skies seem kinda hazy all the time now. wonder if it's all that air traffic

TCAS has no dependency on ADS-B. TCAS depends on other aircraft having mode C, and is itself built on mode S, which is just a digital enhancement to mode C.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

TCAS basically direction finds and ranges mode C broadcasts. TCAS antennas have multiple elements, thus multiple antenna cables, to allow the timed reception and calculation to determine range and direction.

ADS-B, once fully implemented, will mostly obsolete TCAS, as ADS-B has an integrated WAAS GPS source and broadcasts identity, location, and heading info. ADS-B transponders that both listen and transmit can provide proximity alerts and display relative positions and headings of other aircraft.

I say mostly because the ADS-B protocol is not secure, so bad actors can spoof being somewhere and/or someone they aren't. This could and would be detected, and, ah -eliminated with prejudice- rather quickly once deteced - i.e. in the range of a ground radar station (which is now most everywhere), but it would be very annoying none the less.

If you are really bored, you can buy a $10 usb TV tuner, now marketed as a 'software defined radio'. You can then run a program called dump1090, which will directly receive the 1090 MHz transmissions of aircraft transponders in the area. You can then plot these aircraft on a map (if they are broadcasting ADS-B), and see what commercial or civilian aircraft are flying in your area.

Flightradar24 would like you to send them the data you collect, which they will then display for the world to see:

https://www.flightradar24.com/...

Politicians and hoity-toity folks who think they are special can request that the FAA not pass on tracking data to folks like Flightaware and Flightradar24.

If you receive the transmissions directly from nearby planes, you can track whoever you damn well please, because the only way to prevent it would be for the airplane to turn off it's transponder, which is illegal :) Except for non-civilian aircraft. They have alien technology :-p

https://x.company/loon/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

You can track the flight tests on https://www.flightradar24.com/ by searching for HBAL as the identifier.

Who modded you Insightful?

I swear I have no idea. It's a mystery on par with the disappearing jetcrafts.

here's the full playback of its flight, including where it is right now.

I dutifully kept that link open for an hour but the plane doesn't seem to be moving.

He freely admits that he did so by manipulating a select group of reporters that he and staff think are idiots and molded them into his own personal echo chamber. "They literally know nothing."

It's so awful look at how many people avoid it daily.

This is what Flightradar24 uses. A little more expensive box, but no big deal.

And any executive person should be aware of this and not attend major events like the World Economic Forum in their private aircraft but instead travel incognito. Use Business Class and make sure that the clothing is not standing out. If you have a security team - make them look like a mix of tourists, business men and airport service personnel. (Who actually cares about the person pushing the airport wheelchair around?)

As soon as you have a helicopter you are standing out as a VIP like a polar bear in a kindergarten.

to crash. Air Traffic Control pinged the plane's transponder which, when prompted, relayed auto-pilot control settings. The co-pilot set the altitude target at 100 feet: http://forum.flightradar24.com...

Might be able to follow the progress of the Swedish SAAB 340 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... live on FlightRadar24 http://www.flightradar24.com/ but what would happen if they slipped in a Saab 340 AEW&C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... just for fun?

I only ask because Singapore Airlines said right after the shootdown that:
"Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace."

Flightradar24. Singapore Air Flight SQ351, 2014-07-17.

SA lied and are being shredded in social media for that comment. Finnair did exactly the same thing. Both have done the "if anyone was offended" non-apology and claimed they were referring to future flights.

Sure, even if common sense tells you that flying over a warzone is stupid as all fuck, it's okay because other people do it all the time!!!!

Clue

We kinda do know how many planes there are flying.
http://www.flightradar24.com/

Right now there are 10365 planes flying over the world. They also perfectly tracked the last few plane crashes up to the moment they disappeared. So position is covered.

We begin with Goodfellows argument for a fire which, by the way, was also raised by another anaylyst. The we demolish Slates counter argument.

1) There's an electrical fire, all the breakers are tripped (removing the data transponders and maybe the communications). http://www.airtrafficmanagemen... http://www.wired.com/autopia/2...

The Malaysian primary radar inferred a flight path with the turns at VAMPI and GIVAL after the Lankawi International airport overflight:
supposed: flight path :http://skyvector.com/?ll=10.332212843477643,95.11743164439306&chart=304&zoom=8&plan=F.WM.IGARI:F.WM.VAMPI:F.WM.GIVAL:F.VO.IGREX

So Slate asks how do we account for the red herring turns at VAMPI and GIVAL?

3) Coincidentally, after the incapacitated MH370 overshoots the airport, at that very moment UTC March 7 18:00, another 777 flown by Singapore Airlines (Flight SIA 68) crosses MH370s flight path.

http://www.flightradar24.com/2...

4) MH370 is low since its trying to land and so the Malaysian Royal Airforce primary radar is having some trouble following it. The primary radar initially sees one 777 (MH370) then after losing it confuses this with SIA 68, which is the only 777 they can now see in the air at the same GPS coordinate.

5) SIA68 then executes two planned waypoint turns (GIVAL and IGREX), so we get the red herring that a skilled pilot was in control of the flight just before SIA 68, not MH370, goes off the end of the Malaysian radar

We add one more flourish to explain why the Indonesians also missed the (tiny) overflight of one of their archpeligo, a point Slate did not raise.

6) The pilots are incapacitated as MH370 continues on the same line, skims low over the tip of indonesia and flys out into open ocean. As it happens at 18:05 UTC Flight UAE343 (as well as one other flight before it) , also a 777, is also flying over the tip of Indonesia at that same moment so again a potential for misattributed distant radar returns.

http://www.flightradar24.com/2...

Finally tie it into a bow to answer slates last objection:

7) if you extend that line out it will eventually intersect the supposed last ping satellite transmission radius somewhere far off the west coast of Australia, perhaps vaguely near the Coco islands. I can't be too precise because the maps are not draw with correct spherical geometry.

8) since Goodfellow's claim a new set of facts has come out that aid it further. It has been now revealed that the Lankawi overflight path was entered into the computer prior to the "goodnight all is well" message from the co-pilot to the tower. Some people saw that premeditaion as suspicious. However It has also been revealed that extremely conscientious pilots do this routinely. they program the nearest escape path into their flight computers and keep it updated as they travel from way point to way point. they don't hit the execute button. It's just there already to go if things go south and no matter who is flying the plane at that moment. Goodfellow also said the first thing he saw was a pilot who already knew what he was going to do in an emergency and didn't have to think about it. So rather than being suspicious it explains a lot.

Goodfellow also noted that while there is some uncertainty about the strange climb and dives inferred from the (altitude-unreliable) radar data, that these are consistent with a huge smoky fire: climb to 40,000 feet in a desperate move to starve it of oxygen. Then dive at a ridiculous rate to try to blow it out or at least get close to ground for a ditch in the ocean.

the theory is that by the time they got close to L

We begin with Goodfellows argument for a fire which, by the way, was also raised by another anaylyst. The we demolish Slates counter argument.

1) There's an electrical fire, all the breakers are tripped (removing the data transponders and maybe the communications). http://www.airtrafficmanagemen... http://www.wired.com/autopia/2...

The Malaysian primary radar inferred a flight path with the turns at VAMPI and GIVAL after the Lankawi International airport overflight:
supposed: flight path :http://skyvector.com/?ll=10.332212843477643,95.11743164439306&chart=304&zoom=8&plan=F.WM.IGARI:F.WM.VAMPI:F.WM.GIVAL:F.VO.IGREX

So Slate asks how do we account for the red herring turns at VAMPI and GIVAL?

3) Coincidentally, after the incapacitated MH370 overshoots the airport, at that very moment UTC March 7 18:00, another 777 flown by Singapore Airlines (Flight SIA 68) crosses MH370s flight path.

http://www.flightradar24.com/2...

4) MH370 is low since its trying to land and so the Malaysian Royal Airforce primary radar is having some trouble following it. The primary radar initially sees one 777 (MH370) then after losing it confuses this with SIA 68, which is the only 777 they can now see in the air at the same GPS coordinate.

5) SIA68 then executes two planned waypoint turns (GIVAL and IGREX), so we get the red herring that a skilled pilot was in control of the flight just before SIA 68, not MH370, goes off the end of the Malaysian radar

We add one more flourish to explain why the Indonesians also missed the (tiny) overflight of one of their archpeligo, a point Slate did not raise.

6) The pilots are incapacitated as MH370 continues on the same line, skims low over the tip of indonesia and flys out into open ocean. As it happens at 18:05 UTC Flight UAE343 (as well as one other flight before it) , also a 777, is also flying over the tip of Indonesia at that same moment so again a potential for misattributed distant radar returns.

http://www.flightradar24.com/2...

Finally tie it into a bow to answer slates last objection:

7) if you extend that line out it will eventually intersect the supposed last ping satellite transmission radius somewhere far off the west coast of Australia, perhaps vaguely near the Coco islands. I can't be too precise because the maps are not draw with correct spherical geometry.

8) since Goodfellow's claim a new set of facts has come out that aid it further. It has been now revealed that the Lankawi overflight path was entered into the computer prior to the "goodnight all is well" message from the co-pilot to the tower. Some people saw that premeditaion as suspicious. However It has also been revealed that extremely conscientious pilots do this routinely. they program the nearest escape path into their flight computers and keep it updated as they travel from way point to way point. they don't hit the execute button. It's just there already to go if things go south and no matter who is flying the plane at that moment. Goodfellow also said the first thing he saw was a pilot who already knew what he was going to do in an emergency and didn't have to think about it. So rather than being suspicious it explains a lot.

Goodfellow also noted that while there is some uncertainty about the strange climb and dives inferred from the (altitude-unreliable) radar data, that these are consistent with a huge smoky fire: climb to 40,000 feet in a desperate move to starve it of oxygen. Then dive at a ridiculous rate to try to blow it out or at least get close to ground for a ditch in the ocean.

the theory is that by the time they got close to L

like this:

http://www.flightradar24.com/6...

true, but radar only works in line of sight.
it doesn't see through mountains, islands, or the curvature of the earth.

This is standard on all commercial flights and all airplanes outside US.It is called ADS-B . In addition all aircrafts in US (except homebuilts) have transponders which transmit atleast part of the information (altitude, speed). You can even watch airplanes fly pretty much live on a webpage (These guys were the first to figure out that Asiana flight crashed in California).
The problem is not transmitting, it is tracking all of them real-time with accuracy. A minute delay in receiving/processing signals mean a 60 mile error in location, similarly a few feet error in altitude means big error in speed etc. In this particular case, atleast two radars had the airplane on their screens. They just disagree on where it was. Not to mention that the signal did vanish at some point when the aircraft shut down/disintegrated. The parts of the aircraft could well have continued flying after that. From the surface of the sea, there is nothing to be seen if the wings disintegrated in air (vaporizing all fuel and not forming slicks on the surface).

As such, you can track it at http://www.flightradar24.com/ - just search for it.

Since it's a registered aircraft with a transponder, you can track it HERE - just search for N878UP.

http://www.flightradar24.com/

Here's an even better site & link: http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/boe272

...without the dodgy onboard ethernet, and got USB right...

I was a victim of the so-called ethernet and USB issues before I returned 3 of the 5 boards as defective. I've got 5 good 512MB boards - one is running Raspmbc streaming video without a hitch, and the other is pumping 2 MS/S over the USB from a wideband receiver and doing DSP to decode ADS-B packets that are then sent to FlightRadar24. I've seen NO ethernet or USB issues since the bad batch boards were replaced (these were originally shipped out around Christmas, 2012).

As an aside, I believe that many of the supposed power supply issues were really bad boards. The mantra on that site (that turned into the cure-all) was 'You have a problem? It's your power supply, idiot!". I think a lot of prospective RPi supporters were turned off and turned away by that condescending attitude. I ignored it (let's see - 2 boards work perfectly with all 5 power supplies, 3 boards fail consistently with all 5 power supplies - what's the issue?), got good boards, and am a big fan.

And this is where integration with existing projects should come first, lest we end up reinventing the wheel. http://www.fixmystreet.com/ http://www.opentraintimes.com/ http://www.openstreetmap.org/ http://www.flightradar24.com/ the 45MB/min MIDAS Gold DATEX traffic information service from http://www.tih.org.uk/ - and many more. And by far not just travel related either, but lets not allow Glasgow to 'create' new apps and datasources that just replicate ideas and services that are already out there.

I hope the administrators of this fund have a good long hard look through http://data.gov.uk/ for inspiration and partners to work with, and that we as users and techs can help push them to make the right choices.

I've already emailed a few relevant parties. Have you?

Neat plots, but I find the real-time and historic plots of actual GPS tracks shown at Flightradar24 much more fascinating. Most European flights have an ADS-B transponder on board, which basically is a radio beacon that transmits a GPS position. These signals can be received by anyone with a cheap USB receiver over a few 100 km. For these planes, the position is plotted online with a delay of only 10 seconds or so. American planes seem to lagging behind with adoption of this system. I can watch this site for hours to see what airplane flies over my house, to see how airplane are holding in case of bad weather, to see when I have to pick up friends from the airport, ...

i wonder these pages are also aid to terrorists?
http://www.radarvirtuel.com
http://www.flightradar24.com

Actually everything around Baltic sea is currently no-flight zone. You can check out http://www.flightradar24.com/ to see that there's only single plane over northern part of Europe.

Showing: 0 aircrafts of worldwide. (NaN %)

Users online: Too many

can wreck the windshield and probably the worst thing is that ash and jet engines don't get along.

I'm not sure what's worse for pilots - broken windshield when they are facing huge blow of wind or no engines.. without engines you can at least sit in the cockpit.

The reason it's getting so much attention is that there are many many flight paths that go near Iceland as it provides a shorter path between the two continents.

Actually everything around Baltic sea is currently no-flight zone. You can check out http://www.flightradar24.com/ to see that there's only single plane over northern part of Europe.