Checked her out yesterday afternoon. No idea what she's doing down there because if eventually heading 'back home' it seems a bit of an odd route to go considering she was previously heading in a N/easterly direction.
I suppose the Captain knows what he's doing. :cool:
Maybe it's the only port that would take her after her misdeeds?
I seem to recall that they are going to start winding down the debris search later this week, so I don't think it will be returning to the search area now. What ARE we going to do then, with only Echo and Ocean Shield to watch dancing around each other?
Maybe it's the only port that would take her after her misdeeds?
I seem to recall that they are going to start winding down the debris search later this week, so I don't think it will be returning to the search area now. What ARE we going to do then, with only Echo and Ocean Shield to watch dancing around each other?
Yes seems to have gone off in a bit of a huff. I'm really curious to know why it's down there though. Trouble is, i'll forget to keep an eye on her like i did with Xue Long! And they really clocked up some overtime on the S&R effort!
No idea at all how long Echo can carry on zipping around, though i suppose if the present crew come to the end of their duty, they can always fly a fresh lot out to Oz and Echo's boys all get to have some time off with the Bondi beach dolls!
Blimey Dixie.....wanderer returns! Thought you'd gone AWOL!!
Didn't know about the ship disaster until i read your post. Just caught up now via Google.
Oh, I've been around, looking at Sat maps, then gave up in disgust, as tomnod continued to give me strange stuff, and when I thought I was getting somewhere, tomnod stopped working, booo to them. I was going to get the authorites to check them over, as that needs to be done, as someone there has been doctoring the maps! duh!
Even Bluefin let me down as I was sure it would find something, but no, it can't do too deep and had to come up, and heard that new software has been added to it, so it better come up with something, 2nd time round. But reckon Ocean Shield and Echo are the ones to watch, as they seem to know what they are doing.
Yes seems to have gone off in a bit of a huff. I'm really curious to know why it's down there though. Trouble is, i'll forget to keep an eye on her like i did with Xue Long! And they really clocked up some overtime on the S&R effort!
No idea at all how long Echo can carry on zipping around, though i suppose if the present crew come to the end of their duty, they can always fly a fresh lot out to Oz and Echo's boys all get to have some time off with the Bondi beach dolls!
It's a bit different now. In the 60's it would be a 2 year tour for the RN to the far East. Now 6 months seems to be a long tour.
I see that they've added the search maps now to this morning's JACC report, and they show another planned sonobuoy drop today just south of Ocean Shield and Echo.
So they haven't totally given up on the black box pings just yet... I suppose they think if they've already got a load of adapted sonobuoys, they may as well give it a whirl just in case!
Also with planes, I can see them heading to and from Heathrow etc. and as they approach my house (usually at around 25,000 feet thank goodness!) nip outside and wave to them!
Mind you... I've nipped the few miles down to the coast to do that before today, after spotting big ships of interest on Marine Traffic.com... never monitored ships on the other side of the World before though!
Er I wave at planes too, but don't tell everyone. When a plane flies over our car at Gatwick I wave at it, with a blessing that it arrives safely.
Just had a thought, there's a fishing boat to the left of the search area where Echo and Ocean Shield are, and wondering if the fishermen could catch anything interesting in their nets.
Re that sinking ship....1 confirmed dead and 161 rescued, and not like CNN said earlier on. RIP to the dead person.:( They keep saying the ship has sunk, but showing a ship on its side....so it hasn't exactly sunk. Wish they'd make up their mind.
I see that they've added the search maps now to this morning's JACC report, and they show another planned sonobuoy drop today just south of Ocean Shield and Echo.
So they haven't totally given up on the black box pings just yet... I suppose they think if they've already got a load of adapted sonobuoys, they may as well give it a whirl just in case!
That sounds like very good news, re the sonobouys, and we may see more piccies on site later:) If you hear any result, you'll jot it down here won't you, as I'm going to bed. nn:)
It's a bit different now. In the 60's it would be a 2 year tour for the RN to the far East. Now 6 months seems to be a long tour.
I think so woody. I know when my son was in the Armed Forces his tours were 6 months......but then just 1 month in Iraq or Afghanistan is 1 month too long! He did two bloody lots of each!
Blimey, Echo has been busy overnight zigzagging back & forth over the search area! Strangely I've got Toowoomba as heading back out to sea having got really close to the coast but not actually docking. But not to the search area since she's pointed in the wrong direction & was around 219nm away from Echo around an hour ago,
CNN reporting that the oil sample travelled by "helicopter, jet and military ship" (presumably not in that order) so unless they're making an assumption, it could well be that Cesar Chavez was just a decoy to keep us entertained last night, and it was actually picked up by The Purple Pony, helicoptered to Learmonth and taken by jet to Perth!
News that Bluefin-21 can operate down to depths of 5,000m. Apparently, it just needs to be reprogrammed so that it doesn't panic and make a dash for home as soon as it crosses 4,500m.
Strangely I've got Toowoomba as heading back out to sea having got really close to the coast but not actually docking. But not to the search area since she's pointed in the wrong direction & was around 219nm away from Echo around an hour ago,
CNN reporting that the oil sample travelled by "helicopter, jet and military ship" (presumably not in that order) so unless they're making an assumption, it could well be that Cesar Chavez was just a decoy to keep us entertained last night, and it was actually picked up by The Purple Pony, helicoptered to Learmonth and taken by jet to Perth!
I wish the media would stop putting out duff information, or misinterpreting it! I still can't think of any other reason for Toowoomba to take the course it did at 23 knots (twice!) except to deliver an urgent package to RAAF Learmonth, so that latest comment from CNN makes more sense than their earlier one.
The ship slowed at about 300 miles out from RAAF Learmonth then loitered at 9 knots in the area for about 8 hours, heading slowly towards the coast. That's well within range for its Seahawk and gave plenty of time for it to get there, deliver an oily package, have a nice cuppa, be refuelled and return by about midnight last night, during which time a plane would have flown the package on to Perth.
And now she's headed at a more fuel-efficient 17 knots back towards the main debris search area, it seems. Mission accomplished! And we worked it out two whole days before CNN or the rest of the media did!
The RN built two identical survey ships in the 2000's, one got called the HMS Echo, the sister HMS Enterprise.
Imagine if the Enterprise got sent there instead of the Echo. Would we be jokng about 5 year missions?
Oh, I think so!
Speaking of "plucky little Echo" (as I like to think of her), she seems to have cleared "Ping Central" after dashing backwards and forwards for hours. Ocean Shield is just sitting there, so I assume she's in the process of recovering Bluefin.
I wish the media would stop putting out duff information, or misinterpreting it!
I still can't think of any other reason for Toowoomba to take the course it did at 23 knots (twice!) except to deliver an urgent package to RAAF Learmonth, so that latest comment from CNN makes more sense than their earlier one.
The ship slowed at about 300 miles out from RAAF Learmonth then loitered at 9 knots in the area for about 8 hours, heading slowly towards the coast. That's well within range for its Seahawk and gave plenty of time for it to get there, deliver an oily package, have a nice cuppa, be refuelled and return by about midnight last night, during which time a plane would have flown the package on to Perth.
And now she's headed at a more fuel-efficient 17 knots back towards the main debris search area, it seems. Mission accomplished!
I think it was a few of us who thought that Cesar Chavez was taking the sample back to Perth!
The Seahawk has a range of around 500 miles, so it could have quite easily flown the sample to Learmonth (and refuelled for the return journey) without The Purple Pony having to halve the distance. It just seems an inefficient way of doing things as Cesar Chavez was (presumably) heading for Perth anyway, and it's not as though the sample was urgent urgent!
The other odd things is that The Purple Pony did the same thing a few days ago, and there was no mention of any urgent deliveries ... despite me speculating that there might have been!
She could have been responding to a possible sighting from one of the merchant ships in the lanes to the west of Australia ... or even a report of some boat-people trying to sneak into Australia while the focus of attention was on the search!
I guess we'll never know, unless Angus happens to mention it in a press conference.
The main thing is: I assume the sample got to Perth (or wherever it was going) by some means! :cool:
* EDIT *
Apologies for any confusion with the names! I've been sneakily e-mailing ex- work colleagues with updates as they don't have "personal" internet access, and I've got into the habit of referring to Toowoomba by her official nickname of The Purple Pony ... which comes from the ship's crest.
There's a Malaysian warship currently on military ops heading towards Perth currently that has its destination listed as the Malacca Straits...CT time? ;-)
There's a Malaysian warship currently on military ops heading towards Perth currently that has its destination listed as the Malacca Straits...CT time? ;-)
If I was running MarineTraffic, I'd change the destination to Diego Garcia ... but I'm evil!
(Nan Hai Jiu 101 which has been in the search area for ages is still listed as heading for Singapore!)
If I was running MarineTraffic, I'd change the destination to Diego Garcia ... but I'm evil!
(Nan Hai Jiu 101 which has been in the search area for ages is still listed as heading for Singapore!)
Oh I think that would be so funny, but I'm pretty sure there would be way too many people who'd take it seriously & it would be all over the DI forum within hours
I think it was a few of us who thought that Cesar Chavez was taking the sample back to Perth!
The other odd things is that The Purple Pony did the same thing a few days ago, and there was no mention of any urgent deliveries ... despite me speculating that there might have been!
I presume that assumed that Cesar Chavez missed the boat so to speak i.e. that when she did her re-fuelling stop with Echo and Ocean Shield, either the oil sample had not yet been collected (though the slick may have been seen) or it was still under discussion what to do with it/were trying to do some crude analysis. By the time they decided to send it to Perth, I think Cesar Chavez had gone too far and being slow, they decided to use Toowoomba instead.
My ears pricked up as soon as I saw Toowoomba heading for Ocean Shield at 23.2 knots the first time, just before Angus made the announcement, a speed that I hadn't observed previously for any of the searching ships. But it was confusing when she hung around a few miles south of Ocean Shield for many hours - perhaps that was because Ocean Shield was at the time engaged in setting up Bluefin-21 or some other critical work?
But anyway, I think now we know, let us hope that something useful comes out of it after it's been analysed - a link of the oil with MH 370 would give the search team (and us) an absolutely massive boost, but it could be anything really.
I presume that assumed that Cesar Chavez missed the boat so to speak i.e. that when she did her re-fuelling stop with Echo and Ocean Shield, either the oil sample had not yet been collected (though the slick may have been seen) or it was still under discussion what to do with it/were trying to do some crude analysis. By the time they decided to send it to Perth, I think Cesar Chavez had gone too far and being slow, they decided to use Toowoomba instead.
My ears pricked up as soon as I saw Toowoomba heading for Ocean Shield at 23.2 knots the first time, just before Angus made the announcement, a speed that I hadn't observed previously for any of the searching ships. But it was confusing when she hung around a few miles south of Ocean Shield for many hours - perhaps that was because Ocean Shield was at the time engaged in setting up Bluefin-21 or some other critical work?
But anyway, I think now we know, let us hope that something useful comes out of it after it's been analysed - a link of the oil with MH 370 would give the search team (and us) an absolutely massive boost, but it could be anything really.
Wouldn't the oil have dispersed by now though if it was MH370 related?
It may be a stupid question but I know I read on a news report somewhere that they'd said that jetfuel evaporates & any oil slick caused wouldn't be there by now
Wouldn't the oil have dispersed by now though if it was MH370 related?
It may be a stupid question but I know I read on a news report somewhere that they'd said that jetfuel evaporates & any oil slick caused wouldn't be there by now
The suggestion is that it could be slowly leaking from aircraft, so as some of it disperses, the slick is being constantly replenished. If it had all come out in one go, it would be long gone by now.
I seem to recall that oil is still leaking from one of the ships sunk at Pearl Harbour ... and that was over 70 years ago! (Okay, it had a lot of fuel on board, but the principle is the same.)
I'm not sure how quickly jet fuel evaporates (I think it''s more like kerosene than petrol) but it might not be jet fuel. It could be lubricating oil or hydraulic fluid, but they tend to have specific (identifiable) grades of those oils.
Wouldn't the oil have dispersed by now though if it was MH370 related?
It may be a stupid question but I know I read on a news report somewhere that they'd said that jetfuel evaporates & any oil slick caused wouldn't be there by now
Possibly relating to the oil used by the engines/putput and associated oil tanks. Oil is also used for the hydraulic control of the aircaft as well, though probably different to the engines.
I'm not sure how quickly jet fuel evaporates (I think it''s more like kerosene than petrol) but it might not be jet fuel. It could be lubricating oil or hydraulic fluid, but they tend to have specific (identifiable) grades of those oils.
Yes, I think I heard (probably on CNN so beware! ) that samples of various oils and fluids have been sent from Malaysia Airlines to Perth for comparison.
Incidentally, a JACC update says that Bluefin-21 aborted this morning's mission due to a technical issue but was then chucked back in again, after grabbing the data it had collected. Nothing of interest has been observed so far.
I was talking to a rep today & he has a 'wonderful' theory, of which he is totally convinced.
He thinks that the reason the plane was flying so low was so that the person who had control of the plane could jump out and was picked up by a waiting boat along with what the plane was carrying. He believes this happened at the end of the Malacca Strait just prior to the final turn, or over the Indian Ocean before the plane crashed. He figures there was something or someone on board that someone wanted & they took that with them when they jumped out of the plane. The plane then flew on with nobody at the helm until it crashed into the Indian ocean.
I was talking to a rep today & he has a 'wonderful' theory, of which he is totally convinced.
He thinks that the reason the plane was flying so low was so that the person who had control of the plane could jump out and was picked up by a waiting boat along with what the plane was carrying. He believes this happened at the end of the Malacca Strait just prior to the final turn, or over the Indian Ocean before the plane crashed. He figures there was something or someone on board that someone wanted & they took that with them when they jumped out of the plane. The plane then flew on with nobody at the helm until it crashed into the Indian ocean.
He honestly believes this 100%!
Tell him they never quite got around to fitting Ejector seats in civil aircraft!
Comments
Maybe it's the only port that would take her after her misdeeds?
I seem to recall that they are going to start winding down the debris search later this week, so I don't think it will be returning to the search area now. What ARE we going to do then, with only Echo and Ocean Shield to watch dancing around each other?
No idea at all how long Echo can carry on zipping around, though i suppose if the present crew come to the end of their duty, they can always fly a fresh lot out to Oz and Echo's boys all get to have some time off with the Bondi beach dolls!
Even Bluefin let me down as I was sure it would find something, but no, it can't do too deep and had to come up, and heard that new software has been added to it, so it better come up with something, 2nd time round. But reckon Ocean Shield and Echo are the ones to watch, as they seem to know what they are doing.
It's a bit different now. In the 60's it would be a 2 year tour for the RN to the far East. Now 6 months seems to be a long tour.
So they haven't totally given up on the black box pings just yet... I suppose they think if they've already got a load of adapted sonobuoys, they may as well give it a whirl just in case!
Just had a thought, there's a fishing boat to the left of the search area where Echo and Ocean Shield are, and wondering if the fishermen could catch anything interesting in their nets.
Re that sinking ship....1 confirmed dead and 161 rescued, and not like CNN said earlier on. RIP to the dead person.:( They keep saying the ship has sunk, but showing a ship on its side....so it hasn't exactly sunk. Wish they'd make up their mind.
Handing something over perhaps?
Imagine if the Enterprise got sent there instead of the Echo. Would we be jokng about 5 year missions?
I wish the media would stop putting out duff information, or misinterpreting it! I still can't think of any other reason for Toowoomba to take the course it did at 23 knots (twice!) except to deliver an urgent package to RAAF Learmonth, so that latest comment from CNN makes more sense than their earlier one.
The ship slowed at about 300 miles out from RAAF Learmonth then loitered at 9 knots in the area for about 8 hours, heading slowly towards the coast. That's well within range for its Seahawk and gave plenty of time for it to get there, deliver an oily package, have a nice cuppa, be refuelled and return by about midnight last night, during which time a plane would have flown the package on to Perth.
And now she's headed at a more fuel-efficient 17 knots back towards the main debris search area, it seems. Mission accomplished! And we worked it out two whole days before CNN or the rest of the media did!
Oh, I think so!
Speaking of "plucky little Echo" (as I like to think of her), she seems to have cleared "Ping Central" after dashing backwards and forwards for hours. Ocean Shield is just sitting there, so I assume she's in the process of recovering Bluefin.
I think it was a few of us who thought that Cesar Chavez was taking the sample back to Perth!
The Seahawk has a range of around 500 miles, so it could have quite easily flown the sample to Learmonth (and refuelled for the return journey) without The Purple Pony having to halve the distance. It just seems an inefficient way of doing things as Cesar Chavez was (presumably) heading for Perth anyway, and it's not as though the sample was urgent urgent!
The other odd things is that The Purple Pony did the same thing a few days ago, and there was no mention of any urgent deliveries ... despite me speculating that there might have been!
She could have been responding to a possible sighting from one of the merchant ships in the lanes to the west of Australia ... or even a report of some boat-people trying to sneak into Australia while the focus of attention was on the search!
I guess we'll never know, unless Angus happens to mention it in a press conference.
The main thing is: I assume the sample got to Perth (or wherever it was going) by some means! :cool:
* EDIT *
Apologies for any confusion with the names! I've been sneakily e-mailing ex- work colleagues with updates as they don't have "personal" internet access, and I've got into the habit of referring to Toowoomba by her official nickname of The Purple Pony ... which comes from the ship's crest.
http://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/badges/Crest_Toowoomba.gif
If I was running MarineTraffic, I'd change the destination to Diego Garcia ... but I'm evil!
(Nan Hai Jiu 101 which has been in the search area for ages is still listed as heading for Singapore!)
Oh I think that would be so funny, but I'm pretty sure there would be way too many people who'd take it seriously & it would be all over the DI forum within hours
I presume that assumed that Cesar Chavez missed the boat so to speak i.e. that when she did her re-fuelling stop with Echo and Ocean Shield, either the oil sample had not yet been collected (though the slick may have been seen) or it was still under discussion what to do with it/were trying to do some crude
My ears pricked up as soon as I saw Toowoomba heading for Ocean Shield at 23.2 knots the first time, just before Angus made the announcement, a speed that I hadn't observed previously for any of the searching ships. But it was confusing when she hung around a few miles south of Ocean Shield for many hours - perhaps that was because Ocean Shield was at the time engaged in setting up Bluefin-21 or some other critical work?
But anyway, I think now we know, let us hope that something useful comes out of it after it's been analysed - a link of the oil with MH 370 would give the search team (and us) an absolutely massive boost, but it could be anything really.
Wouldn't the oil have dispersed by now though if it was MH370 related?
It may be a stupid question but I know I read on a news report somewhere that they'd said that jetfuel evaporates & any oil slick caused wouldn't be there by now
The suggestion is that it could be slowly leaking from aircraft, so as some of it disperses, the slick is being constantly replenished. If it had all come out in one go, it would be long gone by now.
I seem to recall that oil is still leaking from one of the ships sunk at Pearl Harbour ... and that was over 70 years ago! (Okay, it had a lot of fuel on board, but the principle is the same.)
I'm not sure how quickly jet fuel evaporates (I think it''s more like kerosene than petrol) but it might not be jet fuel. It could be lubricating oil or hydraulic fluid, but they tend to have specific (identifiable) grades of those oils.
Possibly relating to the oil used by the engines/putput and associated oil tanks. Oil is also used for the hydraulic control of the aircaft as well, though probably different to the engines.
Yes, I think I heard (probably on CNN so beware!
Incidentally, a JACC update says that Bluefin-21 aborted this morning's mission due to a technical issue but was then chucked back in again, after grabbing the data it had collected. Nothing of interest has been observed so far.
I was talking to a rep today & he has a 'wonderful' theory, of which he is totally convinced.
He thinks that the reason the plane was flying so low was so that the person who had control of the plane could jump out and was picked up by a waiting boat along with what the plane was carrying. He believes this happened at the end of the Malacca Strait just prior to the final turn, or over the Indian Ocean before the plane crashed. He figures there was something or someone on board that someone wanted & they took that with them when they jumped out of the plane. The plane then flew on with nobody at the helm until it crashed into the Indian ocean.
He honestly believes this 100%!