Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370)[a] was a scheduled international passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that lost contact with air traffic control[2] on 8 March 2014 at 01:20 MYT,[b] less than an hour after takeoff. At 07:24, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) reported the flight missing.[4] The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 14 nations.[5]

A multinational search and rescue effort, later reported as the largest in history,[6] began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.[7][8] Within a few days, the search was extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea.[9][10][11] On 15 March, based on military radar data and radio "pings" between the aircraft and an Inmarsat satellite, investigators concluded that the aircraft had headed west across the Malay Peninsula, then continued on a northern or southern track for approximately seven hours.[12][13][14] The search in the South China Sea was abandoned.[15] Three days later, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority began searching the southern part of the Indian Ocean.

On 24 March, the Malaysian government confirmed two independently made analyses by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and Inmarsat, and concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the aircraft had gone down in the southern part of the Indian Ocean with no survivors. Earlier search areas were abandoned and all search efforts are being concentrated on the Australian-led area.[16][17][18] There has been no confirmation of any flight debris[19][20][21][22][23] and no crash site has been found.[24]

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Disappearance

o 1.1 Timeline of disappearance

o 1.2 Satellite pings

• 2 Assumed loss

• 3 Search

o 3.1 Hypothesised routes

o 3.2 Hypothesised locations

 3.2.1 First phase

 3.2.2 Second phase

 3.2.3 Third phase

 3.2.4 Fourth phase

o 3.3 International involvement

o 3.4 Information sharing

o 3.5 Analysis of satellite communication

• 4 Aircraft

• 5 Passengers and crew

o 5.1 Passengers

o 5.2 Crew

• 6 Investigation

o 6.1 International participation

o 6.2 Possible passenger involvement

o 6.3 Crew and cargo

• 7 Criticism and response

• 8 Timeline of events

• 9 See also

• 10 Notes

• 11 References

• 12 External links

Disappearance[edit]

Route: Kuala Lumpur – Beijing. Insert: initial search areas and known path through waypoints IGARI, VAMPI, and IGREX. Small red squares: radar contacts. Small circles: claimed spotting of debris.

The flight departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 8 March 2014 at 00:41 local time (16:41 UTC, 7 March) and was scheduled to land at Beijing Capital International Airport at 06:30 local time (22:30 UTC, 7 March). It climbed to its assigned cruise altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m) and was travelling at 471 knots (872 km/h; 542 mph)[25] true airspeed when it ceased all communications and the transponder signal was lost. The aircraft's last known position on 8 March at 01:21 local time (17:21 UTC, 7 March) was at the navigational waypoint IGARI in the Gulf of Thailand, at which the aircraft turned westwards, heading towards a waypoint called VAMPI in the Strait of Malacca,[26] primary radar tracking suggests that the aircraft descended as low as 12,000 feet (3,700 m). From there, the aircraft flew towards a waypoint called GIVAL, arriving at 2:15 local time (18:15 UTC, 7 March), thereafter to the Southern Thailand Islands (Andaman Coast) of Phuket, and was last plotted heading northwest towards another waypoint called IGREX.[27][28][29]

The crew was expected to contact air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City as the aircraft passed into Vietnamese airspace, just north of the point where contact was lost.[30][31] The captain of another aircraft attempted to reach the crew of Flight 370 "just after 1:30 am" using the International distress frequency to relay Vietnamese air traffic control's request for the crew to contact it; the captain said he was able to establish contact, and just heard "mumbling" and static.[32]

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) issued a media statement at 07:24, one hour after the scheduled arrival of the flight at Beijing, stating that contact with the flight had been lost by Malaysian ATC at 02:40.[4] MAS stated that the government had initiated search and rescue operations.[3] It later emerged that Subang Air Traffic Control had lost contact with the aircraft at 01:22 and notified Malaysia Airlines at 02:40. Neither the crew nor the aircraft's onboard communication systems relayed a distress signal, indications of bad weather, or technical problems before the aircraft vanished from radar screens.[33][34]

Timeline of disappearance[edit]

Elapsed (HH:MM)

Time Event

MYT

UTC

00:00 8 March 7 March Take-off from KUL (Kuala Lumpur)

00:41 16:41

00:20 01:01 17:01 Crew confirms altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m)[35]

00:26 01:07 17:07 Last ACARS data transmission received;[36] crew confirms altitude of 35,000 feet, a second time[35]

00:38 01:19 17:19 Last Malaysian ATC voice contact[37]

00:40 01:21 17:21 Last secondary radar (transponder) contact at 6°55′15″N 103°34′43″E6.92083°N 103.57861°E[38]

00:41 01:22 17:22 Transponder and ADS-B no longer operating.

00:49 01:30 17:30 Voice contact attempt by another aircraft, at request of Vietnam ATC; mumbling and radio static heard in reply[32]

00:56 01:37 17:37 Missed expected half-hourly ACARS data transmission[36]

01:34 02:15 18:15 Last primary radar contact by Malaysian military, 200 miles (320 km) NW of Penang

01:41 02:22 18:22 1st of 6 roughly hourly Classic Aero[39] pings (handshakes) since last ACARS transmission, via the Inmarsat-3 F1 satellite[40][41]

05:49 06:30 22:30 Missed scheduled arrival at PEK (Beijing)

06:43 07:24 23:24 Malaysia Airlines pronounces flight missing in statement released to media[38]

07:30 08:11 8 March 6th and last successful automated hourly handshake with Inmarsat-3 F1[40][42]

00:11

07:38 08:19 00:19 Unscheduled, unexplained partial handshake transmitted by aircraft[43][44]

08:34 09:15 01:15 Scheduled hourly ping attempt by Inmarsat goes unanswered by aircraft[40]

Satellite pings[edit]

On 11 March, New Scientist reported that, prior to the aircraft's disappearance, two Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting

...