Notes

Why did it happen?

Initially it was feared that the aircraft had suffered a catastrophic event in flight, causing it to break apart or incapacitating the crew so that it crashed.

What happened and when?

Flight MH 370 was scheduled to depart from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00.35 on Saturday March 8, 2014 (20.35 UAE time).

Boarding began at 11.55pm on Friday March 7. The aircraft took off at 00.41 en route for an on-time arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport at 06.30.

At around 00.50, the aircraft passed through 3,000 metres, allowing passengers to unfasten their seat belts and move around the cabin. At 1:01, MH370 reached its cruising altitude of 10,700 metres (35,000 feet) over the Taman Negara national park.


At 01.07, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (Acars), which transmits the 777’s mechanical condition via satellite, made its final transmission, with the MH370 passing over the east coast of the Malaysian Peninsula and the Gulf of Thailand.

The final communication came at 01.19, when a voice, now believed to be the co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, says: "All right, good night" to air traffic control. Two minutes later, the aircraft’s transponder, which relays its location and altitude, was switched off. At 01.30, the aircraft left Malaysian civilian radar.


The New York Times reported yesterday that the aircraft diverged from its flight path and turned west, following established navigational aids known as "way points". According sources named as "senior American officials". the course change would have been entered directly into the 777’s computerised Flight Management system in a series of key stokes that could only have been by someone familiar with aircraft systems. It is not known if the new "way point" was entered before or during the flight.


At 01.37, the Acars system failed to make a routine transmission, indicating it had been turned off or was no longer working.

Malaysian military radar picked up the aircraft heading west and north across the Strait of Malacca and towards India and the Andaman Sea. Contact was lost at approximately 02.17.

Nearly seven hours later, and an hour and 45 minutes after Flight MH370 should have landed in Beijing, a satellite picked up a signal from the aircraft. The information was not precise enough to identify the location or altitude, but placed the 777 on a huge arc ranging from Kazakhstan in the north and the southern Indian Ocean. No further contact was made, although the aircraft could have flown for up to an hour more. At least six earlier signals should have been picked up by the same satellite, but the authorities have said nothing about what they reveal about the plane’s movements.

Where is the aircraft?

Search and rescue operations were launched in the early hours of March 8 by both Malaysia and Vietnam and involving dozens of ships and aircraft in both the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. In the first 24 hours, an oil slick and possible debris were seen, but a connection with Flight MH370 was rapidly ruled out.

Based on evidence that the aircraft had begun to turn back, the search was expanded on March 9 to the Strait of Malacca with the assistance of the Thai navy. Chinese satellite photographs that showed objects floating in the sea and a report from an oil rig worker of a burning object falling from the sky off Vietnam were both discounted.


By May 12, the search was expanded further, to the Andaman Sea and involving India. Operations in the area were suspended on March 16, with India saying that the: "Malaysian authorities have now indicated that based on investigation, the search operations have entered a new phase." Thailand also called off its search operations.

After the release of information that the plane had flown another six hours after final radar trace, a total of 21 countries were asked to join the search, from Kazakhstan in the north to Australia and including Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore and with assistance from the United States, United Kingdom and France.


On April 17, Australia announced that it would take charge of search operations in the southern Indian Ocean, while China said it had begun searching parts of its territory within the jet’s theoretical range. No trace of Flight MH370 has so far been found. The water-activated distress beacon has not activated, although experts say the device is only about 80 per cent reliable and may have sunk in deep water beyond detection. The current search area is estimated at 30 million square miles, much of it deep, empty ocean, and representing almost a sixth of the Earth’s surface.