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OF PRESSURIZATION OR SOME OTHER
INCIDENT.
>> Reporter: GHOST PLANE, ZOMBIE
PLANE, PLANE WITHOUT A BRAIN.
IT WOULD BEGIN WITH MAYBE SOME
KIND OF AN ALARM THAT WOULD GO
OFF.
COULD BE FIRE, COULD BE SUDDEN
DECOMPRESSION.
EITHER WAY.
WE'RE SIMPLIFYING THIS GREATLY.
PILOT MITCHELL HERE PUTS IT INTO
A VERY STEEP DESCENT.
AT THE SAME TIME THE AIRCRAFT
BEGINS TO TURN.
THE IDEA YOU WANT TO GET THIS
PLANE HEADING BACK TO SOME
AIRPORT.
WE WERE OVER WATER AT THE TIME
SO EITHER BACK TO KUALA LUMPUR
OR THE CLOSEST NEAR BY.
BUT YOU'RE DESCENDING PRIMARILY
BECAUSE YOU'VE ONLY GOT SO MUCH
OXYGEN.
PILOTS WOULD ALREADY HAVE THEIR
EMERGENCY OXYGEN ON BOARD.
IF IT'S A SUDDEN DECOMPRESSION,
THE PASSENGERS HAVE HAD THE
MASKS FLOPPED DOWN IN FRONT OF
THEM.
THEY ONLY GET ABOUT TEN MINUTES.
YOU'VE GOT TO GET DOWN QUICKLY
TO AN ALTITUDE WHERE PEOPLE CAN
BREATHE.
IN THIS CASE WE'RE SAYING
12,000, BUT EVEN PER WOULD BE
ABOUT 10,000 FEET.
BUT FOR THE SCENARIO YOU
STABILIZE.
YOU GET THE AIRCRAFT BACK INTO A
REASONABLE POSITION.
YOU LEVEL OFF.
YOU'VE APPARENTLY FIGURED OUT
IT'S NOT THAT SEVERE.
AND SOMEHOW YOU GET IT ON
AUTOMATIC PILOT.
OR YOU PUT IT ON AUTOMATIC PILOT
AND YOU'RE OVERCOME EITHER BY
SMOKE OR SIMPLY LACK OF OXYGEN.
YOU PASS OUT, PASSENGERS PASS
OUT.
AIRPLANE'S GOT PLENTY OF FUEL.
IT'S ON A PREDEMMTERMINED COURS.
IT WILL NOW FLY FOR HOURS UNTIL
EVENTUALLY IT RUNS OUT OF FUEL.
THAT'S THE SCENARIO.
WE DON'T KNOW IF IT REALLY
HAPPENED THAT WAY.
MANY SPECULATE IT COULD HAVE.
>> MILES O'BRIEN, THE PLANE DID
MAKE SEVERAL TURNS.
SO WOULD THAT BE POSSIBLE UNDER
AN AUTO PILOT SCENARIO?
>> YOU WOULD HAVE TO PUT IN THE
WAY-POINTS FOR THOSE TURNS.
THAT GIVEN THE SCENARIO YOU JUST
LAID OUT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY.
WHAT THAT PILOT WOULD HAVE DONE
IS EXACTLY WHAT MARTY AND HIS
FRIEND -- I'M SORRY SPACING ON
HIS NAME --
>> MITCHELL.
>> -- MITCHELL DID IN THE
SIMULATOR.
THEY WOULD TURN AROUND DO, A
180, HEAD BACK TO LAND, GET DOWN
TO 10,000 FEET AS QUICKLY AS
POSSIBLE.
IF THEY WERE OVERCOME THE PLANE
WOULD JUST CONTINUE ON THAT
HEADING.
WHAT WE SEE FROM THE INMARSAT
DATA THAT WAS RELEASED TODAY ARE
TWO ADDITIONAL TURNS.
TWO ADDITIONAL TURNS.
ONE SENDS THEM UP TO THE
NORTHWEST, THE OTHER ONE SENDS
THEM DOWN TO THE SOUTH TO THE
AREA WHERE WE'RE SEARCHING.
SO IN THE HEAT OF THAT BATTLE AS
IT WERE, WOULD THEY HAVE PUT IN
EXTRA WAYPOINTS OR STORED
WAYPOINTS?
EVEN THOSE STORED WAYPOINTS
DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE OR TAKE
HIM TO AN AIRPORT CLOSE BY.
UNFORTUNATELY THAT'S WHERE THIS
THEORY TEND TO FALL DOWN.
THERE MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING
ELSE GOING ON.
>> AND RICHARD, AS YOU LOOK AT
THE MAP AND YOU AND I WERE
LOOKING AT IT, IT DOES LOOK AS
IF THERE'S AN ARGUMENT TO BE
MADE THAT THE PLANE WAS PERHAPS
TRYING TO AVOID INDONESIAN AIR
SPACE.
>> YES.
IF YOU ACTUALLY LOOK AT THE MAP
AN RUNNING THE ANIMATION NOW,
THAT TURN THAT MILES WAS TALKING
ABOUT TO THE NORTHWEST AND THEN
TO THE SOUTH, IT'S NOT JUST A --
THAT LAST TURN SOUTH APPEARS TO
AVOID INDONESIAN AIR SPACE
DLIDL
DELIBERATELY OR GOING OVER LAND
INDONESIA.
IF YOU WERE IN EXTREMIS YOU'RE
GOING OVER MALAYSIA AND THERE
ARE AIR SPACES WHERE YOU CAN
LAND.
AND SECONDLY THERE ARE PLENTY OF
PLACES WITH THE MAY DAY CALL
THAT YOU COULD HAVE LANDED IN
INDONESIA.
AND THEN YOU'VE GOT THIS
SOUTHWEST OR SOUTH TURN BEFORE
YOU GET THIS LONG JOURNEY DOWN
INTO THE SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN.
SO THE GHOST PLANE THEORY IS
THERE, AND HELIOS IN 2005 DID
EXACTLY THAT.
THE PILOTS BECAME OVERCOME.
EVERYBODY WAS OVERCOME EXCEPT
FOR ONE FLIGHT ATTENDANT WHO
MANAGED TO GET TO THE COCKPIT.
THEY SCRAMBLED, IN CYPRUS, THIS
SCRAMBLED FIGHTERS.
AND THE FIGHTERS ACTUALLY
WATCHED THE PLANE ALL THE WAY TO
THE GROUND.
THEY WATCHED THE ENGINES FLAME
OUT.