A Netflix docuseries on a passenger airliner that disappeared over a decade ago is reviving one of the biggest aviation mysteries.
Despite a massive multinational search, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and its black box remain missing.
The plane’s final journey is known and unknown.
MH370?
The airline flew MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It also referred to the missing Boeing 777-200 airplane on March 8, 2014. The airline cancelled the flight code days after the plane disappeared “as a token of respect” to all onboard.
MH370 vanished when and how?
- MH370 disappeared at 12:41 a.m. local time. Beijing was six hours away via flying.
- Malaysia Airlines confirmed the plane lost touch at 7:42 a.m.
- No radio mayday or passenger goodbye texts were received.
The officials used the plane’s last exchanges with air traffic controllers and information from its radar transponder and satellites to put together a partial itinerary. “There were no transmissions received from the aircraft after the first 38 minutes of the flight,” claimed a 2018 Australian Transport Safety Bureau study.
Around 1:21 a.m., the transponder ceased sending location data as the jet entered Vietnamese airspace. According to officials, the plane performed an unexpected abrupt left turn away from Beijing and back toward the Malay Peninsula.
After a massive worldwide search, investigators and Malaysian officials said the plane likely flew for hours without air traffic control. While nearing its fuel limit, satellites detected it until 8:11 a.m., 71.25 hours after takeoff.
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, said that the plane’s divergence from its course appeared to be “deliberate” and that satellite data showed that the plane could have last made contact anywhere along one of two wide corridors: one from northern Thailand to the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border, the other from Indonesia to the Indian Ocean.
“We truly regret that we have to assume beyond any reasonable question that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived,”
Malaysian Airlines texted relatives of the missing 10 days after the jet disappeared. Every evidence shows the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean.”
MH370 passengers
227 passengers from 14 nations flew with 12 staff members. 153 Chinese passengers. A group of Chinese calligraphers, two infants, three Americans, a stunt duplicate for Jet Li, and a Frenchman with two children were on board.
Two Iranian males on the flight used stolen passports, but Interpol said they were not terrorists.
The plane vanished—why?
The plane’s disappearance has fascinated the world for nearly a decade. None has been proven. The incident sparked a frenzy of discussion, particularly on CNN, which critics felt relied too much on supposition and expert analysis.
In 2015, Malaysian officials considered the plane’s disappearance an accident, allowing the airline to reimburse families.
A 2018 Australian version of “60 Minutes” panel of aviation experts suggested that the 53-year-old captain wanted to commit suicide and depressurized the plane after turning off its transponder and putting on an oxygen mask, knocking out everyone else on the plane.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau disagreed, believing that the captain, co-pilot, attendants, and more than 200 passengers were asleep as the uncontrolled airplane ran out of fuel and plummeted into the lake.
The MH370 safety investigation team’s 2018 report found no apparent reason for the plane’s detour. But, Malaysia’s civil aviation chief resigned due to air traffic control failures.
Some outlandish conspiracies have also emerged. On Wednesday, the plane’s anniversary, several Netflix viewers complained the streaming giant gave conspiracy theorists too much screen time and should have focused more on experts or relatives.
Was the plane ever found?
The airliner remains missing after more than 30 countries and 140 ships searched for it. The $150 million investigation searched over 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 square miles) of marine floor. The Indian Ocean is one of Earth’s most difficult search areas.
Australia, China, and Malaysia ceased searching in 2017, indicating they would resume if clues led to a new location. A U.S. firm completed a private search in 2018.
Black box remains missing.
. French specialists determined the flaperon was from MH370. Several personal items have been recovered on beaches in Madagascar.
According to the Australian assessment, the debris provided “significant new information regarding how and where the aircraft concluded its flight.”
After reviewing debris drift and satellite communication data, they found “an area of less than 25,000 square kilometres” (just over 9,600 square miles) to the north of the prior search zone had “the highest possibility of harboring MH370.”
A new search won’t be allowed without “solid proof,” officials said.
MH370 families’ opinions?
Numerous family members seek solutions. Voice370, a group of relatives of those on board, called on officials to continue the search Sunday, days before the plane’s ninth anniversary.
“As long as we remain in the dark regarding MH370, we will never be able to avert a similar tragedy,” the organization said. So, the hunt for MH370 must be completed.
