Description

I was intrigued by the clouds in the video, so my mind raced to the following rationalisation: we could easily disprove the video if we had access to weather images of the region, since the region is pin pointed with certainty by its coordinates. Therefore I went through the internet (I have no knowledge of proper archives of weather satellite images) and found the following website: http://www.weathergraphics.com/malaysia/iozooms.shtml

They have the weather satellite images of the probable path the flight took, as per Inmarsat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmarsat) data (the wikipedia Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370) article on the MH370 is pretty self explanatory and I do believe this to be the best possible route the plane took).

So I went on to the weather graphics website and downloaded the first NW patch that corresponds to the -8.834301 93.19492 coordinates.

I have attached the images to this post (hopefully it works, my second Reddit post ever so sorry for inconveniences).

I was expecting to see different cloud formations than the video... but the fact is that the clouds consist of very soft "Cirros" (subtle stretching clouds) and "Cumulus". Precisely what we see through the video and the weather satellite images.

We cannot disprove the videos based on the clouds. We have a corroboration that can only be further challenged by more detailed satellite images. By all means this analysis is sufficient but it raises the bar yet again for a fake.

The VFX artist (or team) would need to be sure they knew those were the kinds clouds they needed to replicate (or find a background plate - which I am inclined to dismiss due to the stereoscopic effect; either 2.5D or 3D clouds were needed). All clouds are different in the video.

Another thing to consider is that there were 2 calls made to the cockpit, both unanswered (check bottom for list of communications). The last pings were beyond the video coordinates. There were weird issues with the "ping" system, and it seems the ping tried 2 times to "login" to Inmarsat's network. This means the power to the pinging device was switched off 2 times. One at 2:25, another at 8:19. From the weather images we clearly see the sun rises between 800 and 830 MYT at those coordinates.

How could the crew, pilots remain unaware of all this until 8:19? The flight had fuel for 7h 31min. Took off at 00:42 MYT, which yields loss of fuel at 8:13. That would mean image "830 MYT (lat -5 to -20, lon 70 to 95)" would be the nearest weather satellite image of the last known position. It is fair to assume it could glide for a while, but most analysts seem to believe it lost fuel and precipitated vertically to the ocean.

The only way I can see the video being true is if the whole crew and passengers were knocked unconscious and the plane manipulated somehow (that would explain the unanswered phone calls). We do see the plane in the video doing a manoeuvre using for sure some fuel, while the clouds show the sun direction being above horizon (slightly up actually, I would assume between 9 and 9:30 MYT from the satellite images. That is almost 1h more fuel required to achieve that position with that sun alignment.

Unless 1) the plane glided, OR 2) some really weird out of this Earth tech, I am not convinced that would be possible.

From wikipedia:

Communications from 02:25 to 08:19 MYT

Although the ACARS data link on Flight 370 stopped functioning between 01:07 and 02:03 MYT (most likely around the same time the plane lost contact by secondary radar),[[57]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370#cite_note-… the SDU remained operative.[[55]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370#cite_note-…) After last contact by primary radar west of Malaysia, the following events were recorded in the log of Inmarsat's ground station at Perth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth), Western Australia (all times are MYT (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Malaysia)/UTC+8):[[55]](https:/…)

02:25:27 – First handshake ("log-on request" initiated by aircraft)

02:39:52 – Ground to aircraft telephone call, acknowledged by SDU, unanswered

03:41:00 – Second handshake (initiated by ground station)

04:41:02 – Third handshake (initiated by ground station)

05:41:24 – Fourth handshake (initiated by ground station)

06:41:19 – Fifth handshake (initiated by ground station)

07:13:58 – Ground to aircraft telephone call, acknowledged by SDU, unanswered

08:10:58 – Sixth handshake (initiated by ground station)

08:19:29 – Seventh handshake (initiated by aircraft); widely reported as a "partial handshake'", consisting of the following two transmissions:

08:19:29.416 – "log-on request" message transmitted by aircraft (seventh "partial" handshake)

08:19:37.443 – "log-on acknowledge" message transmitted by aircraft (last transmission received from Flight 370)

The aircraft did not respond to a ping at 09:15.[[57]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370#cite_note-…)

We need even better weather satellite images, if anyone can help. I'd assume there should exist better material...

Disclaimer: I am adding a VFX clouds image I've made in the past