Triangle pilots talk missing flight

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar screens March 8 and has been the focus of searches for the Boeing 777 by multiple nations over a 6,000 mile area from the Indian Ocean and Australia to Kazakhstan. A trio of experienced Golden Triangle aviators – including a former Boeing pilot – speculates on theories of what happened. Former Boeing pilot and Columbus native Dudley Bearden suggests the most likely scenario – mechanical failure and poor radar capability - is simpler than most of the speculation. Former Navy and Delta pilot Lynn Spruill suggests without a visible debris pattern, terrorism can't be assumed. Local Navy civilian T-6 simulator and ground training instructor Les Pogue – a former F-16 pilot – says protocol in this type situation, when a pilot loses contact with radar, is to fly to compulsory sequence reporting or geographical points with pre-determined maneuvers. But he also points out that losing radar contact can happen based on terrain. He gives the example that the Birmingham (Ala.) Approach Control radar “can't see anyone below 3,000-4,000 feet” when approaching the Tuscaloosa area. If a pilot loses radar contact, they have to report at an intersection along the route all the way the plane’s destination. . “It truly is a huge mystery,” said Spruill. “You can play all kinds of scenarios out, but all of them have some flaws to them.” Source: Columbus Dispatch, 03/15/14.