DAVE ROSS

More clues, more speculation

Mar 20, 2014, 6:07 AM | Updated: 10:17 am

A woman writes a message for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, on a glass at a s...

A woman writes a message for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, on a glass at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, March 20, 2014. An Australian search and rescue official says that planes have been sent to check on two objects possibly related to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight that were spotted on satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

(AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

There are now at least ten theories in circulation about what actually happened to Malaysian Air flight 370.

It isn’t just the media – there are thousands of highly technical posts on professional pilot blogs doing the exact same thing. Pilots have some skin in this game.

And the speculation has two things in common: frustration and impatience.

The unspoken message behind all the frustration and impatience is, how can it be that we don’t have the technology to more accurately track a giant passenger jet?

Now, I know we’re not getting all the information because this involves military radar, and what it can and can’t see, and the last thing a country wants to reveal is that its radar defense is porous enough for a giant aircraft to fly on for hours undetected.

Yet whatever information they’re withholding, even that, evidently, wasn’t enough, because if it was, one of those search teams would have serendipitously “stumbled” onto the evidence long before now, right?

Keep in mind the Washington Post has just revealed that the NSA is now able to record every single phone conversation taking place in an entire foreign country and store them for instant playback if needed.

So wouldn’t it also be possible to do that with airplane transmissions – which are far fewer? We might not want to disclose that we’re doing it, but is it plausible that in fact we’ve chosen not to?

Because even if we’re spooked by all the surveillance going on, I think we find it hard to accept that a plane the size of a 777 can veer off course and just go dark?
What’s more outrageous in a case like this? That we track too much, or too little?

Read more:
Australia checking 2 objects in search for plane

Dave's Commentary

Dave Ross on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to dave rossTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.

Dave Ross

car culture...

Dave Ross

Ross: Are we killing car culture? Or is car culture killing the US?

I don’t think the question is whether we're going to "kill" our car culture. The real question is can we stop our car culture from killing the U.S.?

4 days ago

drivers data insurance...

Dave Ross

Ross: As cars release driving data to insurance, is your driving my business?

Every move you make, every swerve you take, every lane change you fake – someone’s watching you. Do drivers have a right to keep driving data private?

11 days ago

rent control...

Dave Ross

Ross: Rent control was never the answer in Wash.

The rent control bill died in the Washington State Legislature this week, even though Democrats control both houses.

1 month ago

end of democracy...

Dave Ross

Ross: Conservative activist earns applause for pledging an ‘end of Democracy’

The theme from Jack Posobiec's speech is that Jan. 6 was a righteous attack not on democracy, but on those who threaten democracy.

1 month ago

Image: Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, is seen on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo: Alex Brand...

Dave Ross

Ross: Voters can help cull bad politicians from the herd early

Let's remember that just about every occupant of a higher office once occupied a lower office, and was put there by us, Dave Ross says.

1 month ago

Super Bowl celebration...

Dave Ross

Ross: The NFL does it again

The NFL once again put on a show that was able to keep me tuned in for four hours even though I had no stake in either team.

2 months ago

More clues, more speculation