

Notes for Signalling Unit Log for Flight MH370 [pdf] - floetic
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/05/27/flight.370.data.logs.pdf

======
WestCoastJustin
Wondering what this is about? These are the long awaited satellite
communication logs from flight MH370 with Inmarsat. Basically, the raw data
that indicated the likely crash in the Indian Ocean off Australia, and thus
gave an area to search. CNN has some info @
[http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/world/asia/malaysia-missing-
pl...](http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/world/asia/malaysia-missing-
plane/index.html)

There have been all sorts of theories about the math and data. So we finally
have the data and others can peak into it. Although, I suspect we are going to
see some crazy new theories now. Here are just some of the links I found while
researching the topic and what to do with this raw data:

[http://www.duncansteel.com/](http://www.duncansteel.com/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/MH370/comments/218i36/how_the_satell...](http://www.reddit.com/r/MH370/comments/218i36/how_the_satellite_company_inmarsat_tracked_down/)

[http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/03/how-did-
inmars...](http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/03/how-did-inmarsat-
really-find-flight.html)

[http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2623/how-did-
the...](http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2623/how-did-the-aaib-
assist-in-locating-mh370)

~~~
jfoster
It's a pity this has been released this so late. I have to wonder if they
might have found MH370 by now if only they had released this within the first
week of it going missing.

~~~
mikeash
It's a pity the authorities have been so catastrophically incompetent in the
search. Normally it would make sense to just release data to the authorities,
because they'll have smart people on the case and making it public will just
add noise. Nobody was expecting the response to this one to be so badly
handled, and it takes a while to change your mindset in the face of that.

------
int19h
Extracted to a couple of CSV files (but didn't have time for the appendices):
[https://github.com/BigDataMalaysia/MH370_Inmarsat](https://github.com/BigDataMalaysia/MH370_Inmarsat)

Watch out for errors.

~~~
floetic
Sweet!

------
msandford
They have info on the aircraft for some 8 hours.

MH370 was a 777-200ER.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370)

That gives it a range of 7725 nautical miles.
[http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/777family/pf/pf_200p...](http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/777family/pf/pf_200product.page)

Cruise speed is 0.84 mach at 35000 feet which is around 500mph.

That's only 4000 miles of the 7000 mile range.

If this is the full log including some time on the ground it would seem like
they didn't necessarily run out of fuel.

Kuala Lumpar to Beijing is about 2700 miles so I suppose they would probably
carry enough fuel for the flight plus some reserve. So the fly-til-empty
theory is still plausible.

~~~
mikeash
You note this at the end, but just to reinforce: looking at the maximum range
of the aircraft is pointless here, because airliners don't fly with full fuel
unless they need to. Surplus fuel means surplus weight means you burn more
fuel than you need to. They fly with what they need to get to the destination
plus a margin, so a pad on top of the KL->Beijing distance is the right number
to look at.

~~~
Zancarius
And even then it assumes that the aircraft was at or near FL350 for the
duration of the flight. If its altitude didn't remain constant (or its speed),
fuel consumption is going to be affected by denser air at lower altitudes. So
going off the figures of KL -> Beijing, plus reserves, is the best bet for the
absolute maximum range of the aircraft in question with actual travel distance
potentially being less. Examining the rules for fuel reserves might be a good
place to start, as illustrated in this conversation [1].

As you pointed out in one of your other comment, the way MH370 was so badly
mishandled will probably dramatically affect the outcome of our ability to
ever find the aircraft. Although this data is interesting, I'm not optimistic
there's anything much we can do with it that hasn't already been done. I
suppose it serves as public evidence that the aircraft was indeed flying for
the claimed duration earlier news reports suggested. But I don't recall anyone
who was in disagreement with that figure.

Conspiracists are undoubtedly quite happy to see this data, and although it's
fun to consider outlandish possibilities, I wouldn't dare try my hand at
speculating what the "ufologists" must believe happened.

[1] [http://www.airliners.net/aviation-
forums/tech_ops/read.main/...](http://www.airliners.net/aviation-
forums/tech_ops/read.main/134720/)

