You've got to be kidding me. So even if they find the things we might never know why the plane ended up where it did? WHY THE HECK IS THERE NOT A DATE STORAGE FOR THAT INFO!!!???

It is misleading to use the term "black box" and the media is guilty of using this "dumb down" term more than anything

Not only are these boxes painted high visibility orange, but there are generally two separate pieces of tech which are often referred to as a single "Black Box" or plural "Black Boxes"

first is the Cockpit Voice Recorder or CVR

Second is the Flight Data Recorder of FDR

Usually separate devices

The CVR only records sounds that occur which are audible within the cockpit of the aircraft, for the past 8 or 9 years, regualtions have required that only the preceding 30 minutes of flight deck sounds be recorded, despite the NTSB recommendation of 2 hours.

The FDR records a set of conditions, control positions, switch positions, speeds, altitudes, rates of acceleration/ deceleration, active warnings etc

While convenient, especially in a case such as this, accidents can be solved with a high degree of certainty even in situations where the CVR fails to record a single sound... especially if the FDR data is recoverable.

So it is possible that the CVR will produce 30 minutes to 2 hours of silence, while the FDR, if ever recovered will tell a story all it's own.

given information that puts the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean, in addition to the information which suggests that Lithium Batteries were recently installed on the aircraft, it is plausible that the crew and passengers were overcome with noxious fumes when the batteries overheated, with electrical systems possibly affected in some way, the crew turned back, only to fall victim to the fumes and pass out, at this point the aircraft would have remained on its new course until fuel was exhausted.

Occam's razor: Given a series of competing theories or hypothesis, the one that makes the fewest assumptions is generally the one that is correct.

Rgr that...very much a recovery exercise now.

Given they're able to locate the wreckage.

Nice article on the largely rubbish reporting of the incident: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-0...ystery/5340242

I wonder if any of our submarines were within a buttload of miles where they could have heard the splash? I am sure the exact distance is classified but I have been told by some Navy people that our subs can hear stuff from a "very long way away".

I see Jeremy Clarkson is facing some stick now for a comment on twitter. People really need to lighten up unless they're somehow involved.

How the Inmarsat data tracked the flight via ACARS after other comms had ceased: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-0...nal-ro/5342690

http://cagematch.dvorak.org/index.php?topic=3751.0

If they find debris I wonder if they can tell where it was made :o

Well, the plane involved in this tragedy wasn't a Dreamliner 787, as mentioned in the article. It was a 777. I'm fairly certain the manufacturer (Boeing) already has a manifest on record specifying where each and every part was made for this particular plane.

You may well be right :)

Not sure id this as been posted before but its last up date was 7:08pm UK, Tuesday 25 March
http://news.sky.com/story/1231748/se...ssing-airliner

Been hearing rumors that the stuff in the Indian Ocean might NOT actually be from the flight. If true it's back to square one and more endless speculation.

Not quite square one, now the data from Inmarsat has been verified and public it confirms the region as the Southern Indian Ocean, not square one - Gulf of Thailand, square 1.1.0 - Vietnam, square 1.1.1 - South China Sea, square 1.1.2 - Andaman Sea, square 1.1.2b - Malacca Strait, . . . square 2.0.0 Kazakhstan, square 2.0.1 Bangladesh, square 2.0.2 Secret Chinese Airfield, square 3.0.0 Chagos Islands, . . .

Not really. The data analysis from Inmarsat, combined with the radar data from the countries along the northern arc (and lack of any evidence of an unknown 777 on it), is pretty reliable. They know where the pings came from - unless an engine detached and flew on its own without the plane for 7 hours while sending pings, that's not possible. What is easily possible, of course, is that what they think is debris isn't from the plane at all. But the plane is somewhere out there. And it's totally plausible that they won't find it, but with this search, they will probably eventually get some kind of sign.

Rumors are rumors!