Here's more on the UPS 747 fire/crash in Dubai:

http://www.emirates247.com/news/emi...to-lithium-batteries-2013-07-25-1.515438

From the report: “A cargo on the main cargo deck had ignited at some point after departure. Less than three minutes after the first warning to the crew, the fire resulted in severe damage to flight control systems and caused the upper deck and **** to fill with continuous smoke.

“The crew then advised Bahrain East Area Control [BAE-C] that the **** was ‘full of smoke’ and that they ‘could not see the radios’, at around the same time the crew experienced pitch control anomalies during the turn back and descent to ten thousand feet.

“The smoke did not abate during the emergency impairing the ability of the crew to safely operate the aircraft for the duration of the flight back to DXB.

“On the descent to ten thousand feet, the captain’s supplemental oxygen supply abruptly ceased to function without any audible or visual warning to the crew five minutes and thirty seconds after the first audible warning. This resulted in the Captain leaving his position. The Captain left his seat and did not return to his position for the duration of the flight due to incapacitation from toxic gases.

“The First Officer[F.O], now the Pilot Flying [PF] could not view outside of the ****, the primary flight displays, or the audio control panel to retune to the UAE frequencies.

“Due to the consistent and contiguous smoke in the **** all communication between the destination [DXB] and the crew was routed through relay aircraft in VHF range of the emergency aircraft and BAE-C.


This event happened over land, not far from where they departed and they were talking to Bahrain ATC on VHF radios.

The Malaysian 777 was way out over water, out of VHF radio and radar range. I think that's why there was no reported radio chatter, but as I said earlier, the problem causing the smoke could also have rendered their radios inop.