Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was a scheduled international commercial passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The flight lost contact with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff and its fate is unknown. All commercial flights have electronic tracking devices that are designed to be disabled by the pilot. Someone had turned off the tracking devices on the plane.

Under international law, the country where a missing plane is based controls the search and rescue effort. Although a number of passengers were residents of China, the Malaysian government started an investigation about an hour after the last radio contact with the flight. The government failed to seek proper assistance from other nations.

In general, the airline and the Malaysian government have been criticized for poor communications with the public and in particular with the families of the passengers.

Engine status messages to satellites[edit]

Although the Malaysian government believed that all tracking devices on the plane had been turned off shortly after takeoff, the plane's engine had a device that automatically reported on its status to satellites. On March 11, New Scientist reported that, prior to the aircraft's disappearance, two Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) status reports had been automatically issued to engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce's monitoring center in the United Kingdom;^[1] and The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the US government, asserted that Rolls-Royce had received an aircraft status report every thirty minutes for five hours, implying that the aircraft had remained aloft for four hours after its main tracking device stopped.^[2][3]

The following day, Hishamuddin Hussein, the acting Mayalian Minister of Transportation, refuted the details of The Wall Street Journal report stating that the final engine transmission was received at 01:07 MYT, prior to the flight's disappearance from secondary radar.^[4]

Based on the engine data, the search was relocated to the Indian Ocean. As of April 21, 2014, the plane has not been located.

References[edit]

1. ↑ Paul Marks (11 March 2014), Malaysian plane sent out engine data before vanishing New Scientist.
2. ↑ Peters, Chris. "U.S. investigators suspect missing Malaysian plane flew for hours -WSJ", March 13, 2014. Retrieved on April 21, 2014. 
3. ↑ Flight MH370: Australia spots possible plane debris in sea. The Week.
4. ↑ "Malaysia says no evidence missing plane flew hours after losing contact", 13 March 2014. Retrieved on April 21, 2014.