Malaysia Flight MH370, the possibilities?

A Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER taking off last year

It has now been days since the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft disappeared whilst en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpa however the mystery over its disappearance is still present with no sign of the aircraft found. So what are the options? What could have possibly happened to the aircraft?

Terrorism

Perhaps it is possible that the aircraft could have been the target of a terrorist attack with a bomb smuggled on board. People will remember the tragic bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie which saw the complete destruction of the aircraft killing everyone on board as well as some on the ground. There has already been concern about passengers travelling with stolen stolen passports however the authorities have ruled out their involvement in terrorism.

Hijacking

In a post 9/11 world it is now much more difficult to launch a hijacking upon an aircraft as new procedures have been brought in to make it more difficult. Cockpit doors are now rarely left unlocked so entry would be even more difficult for a hijacker. However if there was a failing of this then a hijacker could have made their way into the cockpit and taken control of the aircraft. Another possibility would be that there could have been a struggle which resulted in the aircraft crashing, such as the fourth 9/11 flight heading for the White House that ended up crashed in a field.

Structural Failure

The aircraft was less than twelve years old which is not very old, however passenger planes are used extensively with cyclic stresses potentially leading to cracks forming and structural failure later. As a result, checks are regularly undertaken on aircraft for cracks and any found are dealt with. The Boeing 777 is widely regarded as a safe aircraft with a good safety record overall. Due to the altitude and a pressurised cabin an explosive decompression could occur if a crack gave way and lead to the complete destruction of the aircraft or just loss of various systems.

Mistaken identity

In 1988 Iran Air Flight 655 was mistaken for an Iranian F-14 fighter aircraft as it flew towards a US Navy Guided Missile Cruiser en route to Dubai International Airport and was shot down as a result. This resulted in a complete loss of the aircraft. It is unclear if any warships were in position in the area at the time that could have mistaken the aircraft and also, unlike Flight 655, there is no war occurring nearby.

Additional Points

There are also other factors to take into account such as the fact that no Mayday was called at any time which may or may not rule out some of the options above. Also, the delay between when the aircraft was lost on radar and the time when it was reported was an hour and twenty minutes which is a considerable amount of time and seems to be somewhat suspicious. Until the aircraft or parts of the aircraft, especially the black boxes, are found then determining the cause of the disappearance is highly unlikely to be found.

Internet connection for all

There are now rumours circulating that Facebook is looking to purchase the aerospace company Titan Aerospace only weeks after Facebook splashed out on purchasing Whatsapp. The plan, of the rumours are to believed, are that Facebook will be hoping to use the aerospace company to connect the people of Africa to the internet. This would be achieved by launching a large number of drones to initially fly above Africa and then also above other regions without internet connection.

It is widely accepted that Africa is a significant market with lots of room for development. It is also widely viewed that the economies of the future will be knowledge economies where internet connections will be highly valuable. By tapping into this large market Facebook would most likely be hoping that a significant number of those to be connected will decide to use its online services. The technology is hoping to be significantly cheaper than using satellites and a lot simpler to achieve now that high endurance solar powered aircraft have been developed.

Drones of this nature could also have a whole host of other uses, such as weather and climate monitoring as well as spying and other communication system. Therefore Facebook could use this as a product it could sell to many other clients in different markets across the world, resulting in Facebook becoming more of a conglomerate rather than just a simple internet company.

However the scheme would be in competition with Google's Project Loon which is set to use a series of balloons that circulate the globe to provide internet access to the world below. Google have been testing and refining the technology in New Zealand since June last year with the aim of rolling the system out as soon as possible. As testing is on the way for Project Loon, it could easily be argued that Google is ahead and at an advantage.

60th year of the C-130

A Royal Air Force Hercules

2014 marks the 60th year since the first flight of the C-130 aircraft which is one of the most successful aircraft since the second world war. The C-130 or 'Hercules' as it is affectionately called, makes up 21% of the active military transport fleet in the world. That puts it top with a distant second place being the King Air making up 6%. The result is 900 Hercules in active military service around the world at this time, but it is no surprise as it is an effective tried and tested design.

The Hercules has many features that makes it so desirable amongst the world's market.  The aircraft is versatile as it does not require a fully prepared runway to land on and it has an extremely flexible cargo bay for transporting various loads.  The cargo bay also means that air drops are easy to achieve due to the ramp being possible to lower and allow cargo or paratroopers to easily drop out of the back.

The Hercules has been developed into many roles over its 60 year period however it is still most commonly used as a transport aircraft.  Other roles have included the gunship variant (AC-130) which is used for ground attack; air to air refuelling tanker variant (KC-130) and there are as well numerous other variants.

It is important to realise the grand scale of the use of the aircraft with over 2,300 having been built with operators in 71 different countries. One could easily claim it to be Lockheed's finest aircraft and those that fly it do seem to love flying it.

The Hercules has seen off its competition over the years and its latest competitor, the Airbus A400M, has also been struggling to compete with lengthy delays and significant cost overruns. The A400M does however have the backing of numerous European nations and will come into service starting this year with a greater payload and range to offer. The Americans are however looking to the next generation of strategic airlifters with a greater payload and range desired.

The Return of the airship?

In Cardington, Befordshire the world's longest aircraft has been unveiled and promises to cause a revolution. The aircraft, known as Airlander is being manufactured by UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles and is expected to be released into the market to fill a variety of roles.

Interestingly, the hybrid design of the airship means that 60% of the lift is provided by the helium filled balloon and the final 40% is provided by the shape of the balloon acting as an aerofoil. A benefit of using helium also is that it is inert which means that no repeat of the Hindenburg disaster is possible due to it not being possible for helium to catch fire.

The Airlander has the ability to land anywhere as long as it is reasonably flat and has enough space, this opens up the aircraft for use in disaster relief situations where airports might have been destroyed and remote areas cut off. Another benefit of this is that cargo can be delivered into the most remote areas, such as remote desert oil fields which, another market for the aircraft to sell to.

It is claimed that Airlander is 70% more green than current cargo aircraft with the ability to travel for days without refuelling, reaching far across the world at a time.

The US military had initially placed an order for the aircraft but due to the US budget squeeze it has had to cancel the project. The project would have seen Airlander flying at 20,000ft to gather intelligence in war zones. Due to the aircraft's endurance and range, Airlander could have stayed in one position for a long time studying movements on the ground and relaying the information back to base in real time.

Airbus to increase A320 production

An A320 with the new Sharklets

Airbus, Europe's leading aircraft manufacturer has announced that it is now increasing production of its most popular family of aircraft, the A320 family.

The increase will see production levels rise from 42 a month to 46 a month in a bid to clear a backlog of over 4,200 orders. The A320 family represents approximately 75% of Airbus's order book due to the short haul market being so large.

A significant amount of the orders for new aircraft are coming from the East and developing markets as wealth increases in these parts of the world. What we are seeing is the expansion of airlines such as Air Asia and Lion Air but also interestingly, American Airlines has broken with its tradition of an all American fleet by ordering new Airbus aircraft.

The announcement comes on the back of a recent rise in profits of 22%. This is however in contrast with main rival Boeing that could not assure investors that profits would rise by a similar amount. The A320's main competition in the market is the long in service Boeing 737 with both companies now attempting to develop more efficient versions of each. The A320neo (new engine option) has already received over 2500 orders with more to come no doubt. Boeing's competition to this is the 737 MAX family which is also more fuel efficient compared with older models.

The announcement will be welcome news across Europe as it will result in more jobs across Europe, potentially in the Bristol area, as Europe recovers from the Global Financial Crisis. Airbus is also aiming to deliver its first new wide bodied aircraft the A350-XWB to Qatar Airways which is Airbus's direct competitior to the Boeing 787 in terms of wide bodied fuel efficient aircraft.