The Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2019)
Summary
TLDRThe mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in March 2014, remains unsolved. The transcript details the events leading up to the disappearance, the confusion among air traffic control and military responses, and the extensive search efforts that followed. Despite numerous investigations, debris findings on Reunion Island, and the utilization of advanced data from Inmarsat, the cause of the aircraft's disappearance and the fate of the 239 passengers and crew have not been determined. The search, which spanned over 144,000 square miles in the southern Indian Ocean, was the most expensive in history, yet yielded no definitive answers. The story highlights the need for continued investigation and the importance of finding the aircraft for the sake of the victims' families and to understand what caused this unprecedented aviation event.
Takeaways
- ð« The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is one of the most enduring aviation mysteries, with the aircraft vanishing five years ago without a trace.
- ð The plane was considered state-of-the-art and its loss was completely unexpected, highlighting how even the most advanced technology can fail.
- ð¢ The emotional impact on the families of the 239 passengers and crew has been immense, with many left searching for answers and closure.
- ð Despite extensive searches, including in some of the most remote parts of the world, the aircraft has never been found, leading to numerous theories and speculations.
- ð©ïž The plane's transponder and ACARS system, which communicate with air traffic control, stopped functioning, leaving the plane 'dark and silent' to the outside world.
- ð€ The lack of a distress call from the aircraft suggests that whatever happened occurred quickly and/or was intentionally concealed.
- ð¬ The last known communication from the cockpit was unremarkable, with no indication of the impending tragedy.
- ðš The Malaysian military briefly tracked the aircraft on radar, hundreds of miles off course, but did not act on the information, which was not shared with civilian authorities.
- ð¡ Inmarsat data revealed that the plane continued to fly for several hours after its last known contact, contradicting initial assumptions.
- ð The search area was expanded dramatically based on mathematical analysis of the Inmarsat data, which suggested the plane ended its flight in the southern Indian Ocean.
- ð The detection of pings in the search area raised hopes of locating the aircraft, but these were later determined not to be from the plane's black boxes.
Q & A
What was the significance of the ACARS system in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
-ACARS, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, was significant because it was a communication system that sent out large amounts of information about the aircraft's status. When ACARS stopped transmitting, it indicated a crucial moment where all communication systems were disabled, switched off, or broken, suggesting either a mechanical failure or intentional intervention to make the plane 'go dark.'
Why was the handoff between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control considered a critical moment in the flight's disappearance?
-The handoff between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control was critical because it was a period where the aircraft was essentially in a 'no man's land' in the sky, with no one actively monitoring it. This was the time when the plane's transponder went dark, and it made an unexpected turn, which some investigators believe could indicate nefarious activity.
What was the role of the Malaysian military in the disappearance of Flight 370?
-The Malaysian military spotted a blip on its radar, which was later believed to be MH 370, flying with erratic speed and flight path. However, they did not act upon it immediately, as it was not identified as MH 370 at the time. The military tracked the plane for an hour until it disappeared from radar but did not share this information with civilian authorities, which contributed to the delay in the search and rescue operation.
How did the conflicting information from Malaysia Airlines affect the initial search efforts?
-Malaysia Airlines provided air traffic control with incorrect information, stating that the aircraft was still flying and in normal condition, even though they had no communication with it. This led to a delay in initiating search and rescue operations and caused confusion about the plane's actual location, significantly hindering the initial search efforts.
What was the significance of the debris found off the coast of Reunion Island?
-The debris found off the coast of Reunion Island, specifically a part of the wing known as the flaperon, was significant because it was the first real evidence that confirmed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. It provided closure for the families by confirming the plane had ended up in the water, although it did not reveal the cause of the crash or the exact location of the wreckage.
What was the role of Inmarsat data in the search for Flight 370?
-Inmarsat, a British satellite communications company, provided crucial data that changed the direction of the search. The data showed that Flight 370 had exchanged digital signals, known as handshakes, with their satellites, indicating that the plane had been in the air for several hours longer than initially thought. This information led investigators to believe that the plane had flown west and south, significantly altering the search area.
Why was the search area in the southern Indian Ocean considered so challenging to search?
-The search area in the southern Indian Ocean was challenging due to its remote location, vast size, and complex underwater terrain, which included valleys and ocean mountains. The area was also subject to harsh weather conditions, including high seas and strong winds. The search required specialized equipment and techniques, and despite extensive efforts, no wreckage was found in the priority search zone.
What was the impact of the lack of a distress call from Flight 370 on the investigation?
-The absence of a distress call from Flight 370 was perplexing and raised questions about the nature of the disappearance. It suggested that the plane's communications were deliberately shut down or that a sudden catastrophic event occurred without the crew having the chance to send a distress signal. This lack of communication added to the mystery and made it more difficult to determine the cause of the disappearance.
What were the qualifications and backgrounds of the pilots of Flight 370, and how did they factor into the investigation?
-The pilots of Flight 370 were First Officer Fariq Hamid, a young and qualified pilot who had recently been promoted to fly the Boeing 777 without an instructor, and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a seasoned pilot with over 18,000 hours of flight experience. Both pilots were investigated as part of the search for a possible intentional act, but no evidence was found to suggest either pilot was involved in the disappearance. Their backgrounds and qualifications were considered in trying to understand the events leading to the plane's disappearance.
What was the significance of the flaperon found on Reunion Island in understanding the fate of Flight 370?
-The flaperon found on Reunion Island was significant because it was the first tangible evidence that Flight 370 had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. The part was identified as belonging to the missing aircraft, confirming that the plane had indeed gone down in the water, which helped to narrow down the search area and provided some closure to the families of the passengers and crew.
What were the challenges faced by investigators in determining the cause of the disappearance of Flight 370?
-Investigators faced numerous challenges, including the lack of physical evidence, the vast and remote search area, the complexity of the plane's potential trajectory, and the absence of any distress call or clear indication of mechanical failure. The limited information available from the ACARS system and the Inmarsat data, along with the conflicting initial reports, added to the difficulties in determining the cause of the disappearance.
Outlines
ð Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The first paragraph introduces the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared five years prior to the script's context. It discusses the unexpected nature of the incident, the extensive search efforts, and the emotional impact on the families of the missing passengers and crew. The narrative also sets the scene at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the day of the flight, highlighting the aircraft's preparation for departure and the credentials of the pilots, First Officer Fariq Hamid and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.
ð© The Routine and the Unexpected Turn
This paragraph details the routine nature of the flight's initial phase, the sudden disappearance of the plane's transponder signal, and the unexplained turn off course. It raises questions about the lack of a distress call and suggests potential reasons for the aircraft's diversion. The discussion involves various experts, including former safety inspectors and aviation correspondents, who weigh in on the possible scenarios, including intentional diversion, communication failure, or mechanical problems.
ðµïžââïž Investigation and Miscommunication
The third paragraph focuses on the confusion during the investigation, particularly the miscommunication between air traffic control and Malaysia Airlines. It describes how the airline's internal flight tracking system provided incorrect information, leading to a delayed response in initiating a search and rescue operation. The narrative criticizes the airline for providing unhelpful and, at times, damaging information, and highlights the crucial delay in notifying emergency responders.
ð Global Search Efforts and Conflicting Information
This section covers the extensive search efforts that followed the disappearance of Flight 370, the conflicting reports provided by authorities, and the challenges faced by the Malaysian government and airline officials. It discusses the public's perception of the investigation, the emotional turmoil of the families, and the various theories that emerged, including hijacking and mechanical failure. The paragraph also touches on the military's tracking of the plane and the lack of immediate action.
ð The Search Area Confusion
The fifth paragraph delves into the confusion surrounding the search areas for the missing plane. It describes how authorities initially focused on the South China Sea before shifting their attention to the western area based on military radar data. The narrative highlights the challenges of conducting the search, including the lack of debris and the vastness of the search area. It also mentions the role of Inmarsat data in shifting the focus of the search.
ð¡ Inmarsat's Revelation and the Prime Minister's Announcement
This paragraph reveals the pivotal moment when Inmarsat, a British company, provided data showing that Flight 370 had been in contact with their satellites, suggesting the plane had flown for several hours longer than initially believed. Using complex calculations, Inmarsat was able to determine the plane's general flight path. Based on this information, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Flight MH 370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, a conclusion met with shock and disbelief by the victims' families.
ð³ïž The Underwater Search and False Leads
The sixth paragraph discusses the underwater search efforts led by the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which detected pings believed to be from the aircraft's black boxes. However, these pings were later determined not to be from Flight 370, causing a significant setback in the search. The narrative emphasizes the frustration and disappointment felt by investigators and the families of the missing.
ðµïžââïž Investigating the Crew and Passengers
The seventh paragraph shifts the focus to the investigation of the individuals on board Flight 370. It examines the backgrounds of First Officer Fariq Hamid and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, finding no apparent motive for them to deliberately crash the plane. The narrative also explores the possibility of a hijacking or other passenger involvement, but no suspects matching the profile of a hijacker are identified.
ðïž The Flaperon Discovery and Ongoing Hope
In the eighth paragraph, the search for Flight 370 continues with the discovery of a flaperon, a part of the wing, on Reunion Island. This confirmation that the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean provides some closure for the families but also fuels hope for finding more wreckage. The narrative describes the immense challenges of searching the vast and remote Indian Ocean.
ð¬ Unresolved Mystery and the Search for Answers
The final paragraph summarizes the ongoing mystery of Flight 370, with investigators from eight countries unable to determine the cause of the disappearance. Despite searching over 144,000 square miles and examining over 30 pieces of debris that washed ashore, the exact location and circumstances of the crash remain unknown. The narrative concludes with a message of hope that the plane will eventually be found, emphasizing the importance of understanding what happened for both humanitarian and safety reasons.
Mindmap
Keywords
ð¡Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
ð¡ACARS
ð¡Transponder
ð¡Radar
ð¡Black Box
ð¡Inmarsat
ð¡Flaperon
ð¡Search and Rescue (SAR)
ð¡Debris
ð¡Underwater Search
ð¡Aviation Safety
Highlights
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared five years ago with a state-of-the-art aircraft, leaving hundreds missing and sparking a global mystery.
The plane's transponder went dark 40 minutes into the flight, with no distress call, leading to speculation of human intervention or mechanical failure.
The plane made unexpected turns off course shortly after the transponder stopped, raising questions about whether this was intentional or due to duress.
Despite rigorous training, First Officer Fariq Hamid was flying the aircraft without an instructor for the first time, though he was up to date on its operation.
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had over 18,000 hours of flight experience and was considered highly competent by peers.
The Boeing 777 had multiple backup systems for critical electric or hydraulic components, indicating a high level of safety and redundancy.
The Malaysian military tracked the plane for an hour on radar before it disappeared, but did not share this information with civilian authorities.
Malaysia Airlines initially provided incorrect information about the plane's location based on an internal tracking system that was not reliable for positioning.
Air traffic control did not notify emergency responders for four hours after it was clear the plane was lost, a delay that hindered the initial search.
Inmarsat data revealed the plane had been in contact with satellites, proving it was in the air for several hours longer than initially thought.
Using mathematical calculations, Inmarsat was able to determine the plane's likely flight path, suggesting it went south into the Indian Ocean.
The search for MH 370 became the largest oceanic search in history, covering millions of square miles with no significant findings for over a year.
A flaperon found off the coast of Reunion Island was confirmed to be from the missing plane, providing the first physical evidence of the crash.
Despite extensive searches and the discovery of over 30 pieces of debris, the cause of the disappearance remains unknown, and the plane has not been found.
Investigators from eight countries could not determine the cause of the disappearance, and the final safety report published in 2018 stated significant questions remain unanswered.
The search in the southern Indian Ocean spanned over 144,000 square miles, with the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau leading the effort.
The disappearance of MH 370 is considered one of the greatest aviation mysteries, with the need for continued search efforts emphasized by the families of the missing and the broader aviation community.
Transcripts
⪠âª
- Malaysian 370.
- It's been five years since a state of the art
aircraft disappeared.
- Nobody expected triple seven to vanish.
It just doesn't happen.
- Where is Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
- Hundreds of loved ones gone missing.
[wailing]
- Years of searching.
- It's in exactly the most remote part of the world.
- The surprises.
- Debris found off the coast of Reunion Island
in the Indian Ocean.
- The second piece of MH 370s wreckage picked up.
- And the setbacks
- It was terrible, it felt like we were
right back at the beginning again.
- Questions still unanswered.
- We need to know what happened.
And the only way you're going to do it is
to find the aircraft.
- There's just too much at stake here to say we're going to stop.
- Now, Vanished, the Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
⪠âª
- March 8, 2014,
Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Just after midnight, the pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
are preparing for takeoff.
- It's all about checklists in aviation,
they're going through checklists.
- Miles O'Brien is a pilot and aviation analyst for CNN.
- It doesn't matter how mundane it is,
how many times you've done it, you do it religiously because
that is absolute foundation of safety and aviation.
- In the cockpit, 27 year old First Officer Fariq Hamid.
This video shows him training on the triple seven,
flight 370 was his first time flying
the aircraft without an instructor.
- So, while his experience of it might have been low
on the aircraft, he was totally up to date on how to fly it.
A lot of airline pilots told me these are the best people to fly
with because they've just come out of rigorous training.
- Next to Fariq, Zaharie Shah, a captain with over
18,000 hours in the air and a stellar reputation.
- Nick Huslan is a former chief pilot for Malaysia Airlines.
- And there was real confidence in the aircraft
they were about to fly, the Boeing triple seven.
- It's a great airplane, it's got a sterling record of safety.
- For any critical electric or hydraulic system that
would fail, there are two or three backup systems.
After making their final preparations,
the pilots are ready for pushback.
- At 12:32am the pilots taxi to the runway.
- Cleared for departure, flight 370 takes off
for a five and a half hour scheduled flight to Beijing.
⪠âª
- By 1am, the crew and 227 passengers
on board are cruising comfortably at 35,000 feet.
Even the pilots can relax a little,
the plane is basically now flying itself.
- There was no particular challenge there
for a seasoned captain, and that first officer
to handle that flight without any problem.
- And in 1:07am, all seems well, according
to an automatic message sent from the
aircraft's communication system called ACARS.
Richard quest is an anchor
and aviation correspondent for CNN.
- Think of ACARS as a giant smartphone
that will send out huge amounts of information
via satellite or by radio transmission.
- Then at 1:19am, a standard handoff with air
traffic control as the plane leaves Malaysian
airspace and enters Vietnamese airspace.
- There was no indication
that anything had gone wrong.
- David Soucie is a former safety inspector for the FAA.
So, for the first 40 minutes of this flight,
up to that point, everything has been routine.
- Mhm, yes.
- Everything was routine until now.
Two minutes after talking with air
traffic control, 40 minutes into the flight,
the plane's transponder goes dark.
- The plane's transponder is effectively the instrument
by--which sends out a signal to air traffic control.
It tells you what height it's at,
which direction, and what speed it's traveling.
Suddenly, this giant triple seven is--is blind to the world.
- And there's no easy explanation for why it happened.
- Either it was intentional and someone tried to turn all
of those systems off at once, or the pilot was unable
to communicate, kept from communicating,
or there was a mechanical failure of some kind
that took all those systems out at one time.
- Then, minutes after the transponder stops,
the triple seven makes an unexpected turn
heading west, and way off course.
- That the plane turned immediately
after the transponder went off is
completely inexplicable, and very worrisome.
- Peter Goelz is a former Managing Director of the NTSB.
- We don't know whether this was done voluntarily,
whether it was done under duress, we simply have no idea.
- No idea what really happened, but Goelz sees a red flag.
- It was completely out of the ordinary that there was
no distress call, that the turn takes place and there's absolute
silence, it means that somebody on that plane redirected it
to a new course heading and they were not telling anyone.
- Not telling anyone and never checking
in with Vietnam air traffic control.
- The fact that that westerly turn happens at
the point of handover between Malaysia and Vietnam,
for many, is the strongest evidence
that something nefarious was going on.
- You've investigated many incidents,
is that coincidence, that everything seems
to go wrong at this particular critical moment?
- It can't be coincidence,
I don't believe in coincidence with my accidents.
It just seems to me that there was something,
now it doesn't mean that it was nefarious,
it doesn't mean anything else, but remember, there's a lot
of systems doing a lot of things at that time as well.
- So, the critical moment is immediately after this
handover when you're essentially in this
kind of no man's land in the sky.
- Yeah, nobody's watching right then.
- No one was watching and flight 370 would vanish.
⪠âª
- Coming up, a critical mistake by
air traffic control with time running out.
- The aircraft was still flying as we know now,
that just is so painful to think about,
that four hours later, no one's looking yet.
⪠âª
⪠âª
- In the middle of the night on March 8, 2014, at 1:21am,
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanishes into thin air.
There's been silence from the cockpit
and by 1:37am, a second flight communication
system, ACARS, isn't working either.
- ACARS was either switched off or it failed,
we don't know which because whatever did happen,
this is the crucial moment.
We pretty much know that all the comms are
disabled, switched off, broken, blown up.
- As an investigator looking at this,
what would the determination be, at least to this point,
as to what is happening?
- At this point, I've got two different paths.
One is that that aircraft was taken over
and that the systems were intentionally set--shut down.
The other side would be that there was a singular failure
at a common location, and that singular mechanical
failure would have done exactly the same thing.
At this point in the investigation,
there's no evidence one way or the other.
- But there would be piles of evidence if
ACARS hadn't stopped transmitting.
- You'd know the condition of the engines,
the route it was taking, the altitudes it was taking,
we would know exactly the state of that aircraft.
⪠âª
- Just the kind of information someone taking
over a plane wouldn't want anyone to know.
- If you were doing something nefarious, then switching off
ACARS would be a crucial part of making the plane go dark.
- The plane was dark and silent.
There was still no check-in with Vietnam
air traffic control, a call former chief pilot
Nick Huslan has made thousands of times.
- Around 1:27am, Ho Chi Minh's control
center tries to reach the aircraft.
- They tried the radio, they tried to call and see if
MH 370 was out there, no response.
- You attempt to communicate
directly with the aircraft first?
- Right, that's the first thing you do.
If that's not successful, then you try to contact other
aircraft around and they did do that, and those airplanes
tried to raise MH 370 as well, no success.
- With no response, an air traffic controller
in Kuala Lumpur calls Malaysia Airlines for help.
- I think fundamentally, you have to assume nobody
expects one of these planes to fall out of the sky,
nobody expects a triple seven to vanish.
- And Malaysia Airlines tells air traffic
control a completely different story.
They say MH 370 hasn't vanished at all,
according to their own internal flight tracking system.
- Malaysia Airlines says, "Oh, the aircraft's fine,
we know exactly where it is."
- Yet, they've had no communication with the aircraft.
- They've had none, they've had none.
So their system was showing that the aircraft
had continued to go on that heading.
- Over the next hour and a half, Malaysia Airlines gives
air traffic control more promising messages.
They had exchanged signals with the flight, the plane was
in normal condition, and the plane was flying
off the coast of Vietnam along its scheduled flight path.
- And at that point, the guard is let down, you start
going in a different direction, you're not search and rescue
anymore, you're just trying to communicate.
- But an hour and a half after that
first reassuring message, a tragic realization.
Malaysia Airlines now tells air traffic control
the information was wrong.
- We don't know where the aircraft is.
Our system told us it was there, but it wasn't.
- The airline tells air traffic control their
flight tracking program was based on flight
projection and not reliable for aircraft positioning.
- Everything went wrong there, everything,
it borders on scandal.
The airline in the middle, there, just offering up,
just, complete red herrings and dead ends, it's inexcusable.
- At best,
the Malaysia Airlines information
to air traffic control was unhelpful.
At worst, it was downright damaging
to getting an investigation and a search underway quickly.
- Not only did Malaysia Airlines have bad information,
air traffic control waited to sound the alarm.
- I think air traffic control waits so long because
it's just a normal confusion of the moment, but at some point
in all of this, an air traffic controller can push the big
red button that says,
help, panic, missing plane.
And that's what they didn't do until much later.
⪠âª
- Not until four hours after it's clear the plane
is lost, did air traffic control notify emergency responders.
- That, just, is so painful to think about,
that four hours later, no one's looking yet.
- As precious hours pass, time is running out.
While flight 370 flies further and further over
one of the world's largest oceans.
⪠âª
- Coming up, what happened onboard flight 370?
⪠âª
⪠âª
- In the pitch black darkness, minutes after its last
radio contact, the Malaysian military spots
a blip on its radar, its speed and flight path erratic.
They don't yet know, it is MH 370.
- If you see a primary unidentified return
flying towards your country at 500 plus knots,
that should raise concerns very quickly.
- But it didn't seem to.
By now, the triple seven is believed to be
hundreds of miles off its original course.
- We don't know what's normal for their military and I think
that a big part of the problem with this investigation is that
the Malaysians were very tight lipped about what they had,
what they knew, and when they knew it.
- The Malaysian Air Force continued to track the plane
for an hour until it disappeared from radar.
They never tell anyone with civilian authority.
- Governments don't want to talk about this, they don't want
to talk about holes in their radar system, a posture which is
not as ready as they want the world to believe it to be.
- Not only is no one told, nothing is done,
no jets are scrambled.
The military would say later, they chose not to intercept
the plane because it was friendly and did
not pose a threat to national security.
- Why would you have an Air Force if it's
not capable of doing something like this?
That's a big error, that's a big mistake,
and frankly, the Malaysian government
has not really accounted for it in a proper way
to these families, and to the rest of the world.
- For David Soucie, however, there's a gray area.
- Here in the United States, we would know that
in a heartbeat, over there, it wasn't set up that way.
It was a clear delineation of firewall
between military and civil operations,
and the two just didn't meet each other.
- A missed opportunity.
- Exactly.
- On the ground in Beijing, of course, the families waiting
patiently for the arrival of flight 370 knew none of this.
Finally, an hour after the plane was expected to land.
Malaysia Airlines makes its first
public announcement on Facebook.
- This flight, MH 370, lost contact
with Subang Air Traffic Control
at 2:40am this morning.
- It quickly becomes the biggest story in the world.
- Where is Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
- More questions than there are answers.
- The hunt for flight 370 now covers millions of square miles.
- The world's attention turns to the Malaysian
government and airline officials.
To many critics, they don't seem to know
what they're talking about.
- There was a deer in the headlights
component to those early news conferences.
And you can almost see them struggling through it,
not knowing what they were doing.
- We cannot indulge in speculation at this stage.
- Not understanding how to begin the investigation.
- There are currently 43 ships and 40
aircraft searching for it.
- An unprecedented investigation that would
baffle the greatest minds in the aviation
world and the accident investigation world.
- They put out information without really corroborating it,
and much of it turned out to be false.
- I would like to refer to news reports
suggesting--suggesting that the aircraft may have
continued flying for some time after last contact.
As Malaysian Airlines will confirm
shortly, those reports are inaccurate.
- So they ended up, you know, on both sides
of a bad situation with too little information.
[wailing]
- Even days after the plane disappeared,
families believe they aren't being told the truth.
[wailing]
- This Chinese woman demanded answers just
before another press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
She didn't get any.
- After ten days to two weeks,
there was a public perception
that was set in stone, that the Malaysians were
not able to handle this situation,
and that they were having trouble.
- As far as the images is--are concerned,
I don't think we can actually verify when they were taken,
I will check with the Australian
- Excuse me, hold on ladies and gentlemen.
- Sorry, but this is very important.
- I know, I know, I know it is very important.
- Family members were left asking what
on earth was happening.
- And one wonders whose interests are being
served or protected by this long wait,
and something that's increasingly feeling
surreal and rapidly turning into a farce.
- The main priority area is the orange area.
- Adding to that, the early conflicting reports
on where authorities think the plane actually is
and whether it had turned or not.
- Initially, the Malaysians said there was no turnaround,
the transport minister said no turnaround.
And he was very definitive, and that
was misleading, and that was wrong.
It's noticeable in the day, and days after,
he became--he hedged--he hedged.
He suddenly--I'm not talking about that,
I'm not saying that, we're not commenting on that.
- Weeks after the flight vanished,
Richard Quest put some of those questions
to Malaysia's, then, Prime Minister.
- What would you say to the critics, and be blunt,
Prime Minister, who say Malaysia wasted
time at various parts of the investigation?
- I don't think they were fair criticism.
You remember when the plane was reported last,
I was briefed that morning, and I took the decision that we
must search both areas, the South China Sea
and the northern part of the Straits of Malacca.
- But no one was willing to comment
either on the biggest unanswered question.
Did MH 370 vanish because somebody
with intent took over its controls?
- Nick Huslan has piloted the plane thousands of times.
- No matter what scenario you go with.
We're deep into the world of crazy, crazy scenario,
obscure scenario, evil scenario, whatever it is,
it's--it's--we're in crazy land, right?
This is stuff that doesn't happen.
- But it did happen, a truly astounding mystery.
There is only a handful of verifiable facts,
and after the confusion, delay, and chaos engendered
in the first few weeks, comes this, a completely
different search area based purely on mathematics.
- It's never been done before.
They were making it up as they go along.
They were using information that was
never intended to be used for this purpose.
- Coming up, searching in all the wrong places.
Why was there so much confusion when it came to where to search?
- We had no idea where that aircraft was,
but yet the pressure's on to do something.
⪠âª
⪠âª
- On the morning of March 8, four hours after flight
370 disappears, a search is launched
in the South China Sea, east of Malaysia.
[shouting]
- As with any search, you start where the plane was last seen.
- We begin this morning with a desperate search at sea
after a jet carrying 239 people vanished
off the southern coast of Vietnam.
- But very quickly, overnight, very quickly,
there's no debris, they can't find anything
from the aircraft, and that's unusual.
- Even more unusual, searchers also start looking
in the opposite direction, hundreds of miles to the west.
- I sat in the studio covering this and we would
look at each other and he'd say, "Hang on, did he just simply
say--did he simply say we're looking to the west?"
- Yes, that's because newly discovered military radar
reveals the plane may have turned back to the west,
at the same time, new leads are coming in.
- Late today, Chinese authorities released
satellite photos of what they call a suspected crash site.
- An international fleet of aircraft and boats
are now searching in two different areas.
- They had to look in the east because
that's where debris was allegedly being reported.
They had to look in the west because that's where
their radar data had told them the plane had gone.
- But searchers still find nothing.
Days turn into weeks, and the search area
expands even farther.
Why was there so much confusion when it came to where to search?
- We had no idea where that aircraft was,
but yet the pressures on to do something.
- Rescue seven one...
- It became the biggest oceanic search of all time.
- This is completely unprecedented on so many levels.
Nothing has ever happened quite like this.
- And into this confusion suddenly
drops the Inmarsat data.
- Inmarsat, a British company, reports
that flight 370 had exchanged digital signals
known as handshakes with their satellites.
- That was a watershed moment, and that changed everything.
- It changed everything because everyone had thought flight 370
had gone completely dark, but the discovery of the digital
handshakes was proof, the plane was in the air
for several hours longer than anyone thought.
- Suddenly, they have evidence that it flew west
and south and continued to fly for some six and a half hours.
- Using complicated calculations,
Inmarsat could roughly determine where the plane was going.
- This is evidence that is,
kind of, getting close to black magic.
I mean, it's--it's a feat of mathematics
and ingenuity and reverse engineering,
but we just don't know how accurate it is.
- But it is also the only hard evidence
available to investigators and Malaysia's Prime Minister
at the time, Najib Razak.
- I asked them again and again, are you sure?
And their answer to me was, "We are as sure as
we can possibly be."
- He needed to be sure because based
on those calculations, the Prime Minister
was about to deliver some very somber news.
- Flight MH 370 ended
in the southern Indian Ocean.
- The southern Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away,
where no one could likely have survived.
[shouting]
- Family members were shocked, distraught, and angry.
There would be no rescue.
One last hope remained, could they find the black
boxes before they stop emitting pings?
- You're not in an ivory tower, you haven't got the luxury
of time, you've got pingers that may
expire so you've got to say this is our best guess now.
- Their best guess is a remote area more
than twice the size of California.
- Good morning, these are all the aircraft flying today.
- The Australians take over the search...
...and soon after, the Australian ship,
Ocean Shield, lowers its towed pinger
locator into the water, pings are detected.
- Clearly, this is a most promising lead.
- It was, wow, again.
- It was miraculous.
They had just put the towed pinger locator in the water.
- I was convinced this is it, they've got the answer,
it's a matter of days.
- A robotic submarine scours the 329 square
mile area where the pings were heard.
It's painstakingly slow work.
Then, two months later.
- A massive setback in the search
for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the US Navy says
the underwater pings are not from the plane's black boxes.
- How big a setback was that?
- Oh, it was terrible, it felt like we were
right back at the beginning again.
- Back to the beginning, and no closer
to solving the mystery of Malaysia flight 370.
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- Coming up, authorities investigate
the last two men known to be in the cockpit of flight 370.
- We need to know what happened, it is not an option not to know.
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- These are the last words heard from the cockpit of Malaysia
flight 370, and the moment the mystery begins.
- You have a series of events that appear to be human driven.
You have a transponder being turned off, you have an ACARS
system being turned off, you have the plane being turned,
not once, but at least twice, probably three times.
- And most perplexing, no distress call.
- There are so many ways to notify people that there's
a distress, UHF radios, VHF radios, many, many, many ways.
- None of that happened? - None of it.
- Could the disappearance of MH 370 had been deliberate?
To answer that question, investigators zero
in on the last two men known to be in control
of the plane, seen here passing
through security on the night of the flight.
First Officer Fariq Hamid was only 27 years old.
- Very young to be flying a triple seven in the US,
but had gone through all the--the gates,
and had passed, and was with a very senior guy.
That's a perfectly safe scenario.
- Fariq had no known motive and no apparent
reason to take down the plane.
- There was just no indication that there was anything
going on in his life other than he had made it.
- Fariq had made it and was on an impressive
career trajectory.
- At 5000 hours on the 737, you go from a small
plane to a big plane, and this was his promotion.
- CNN aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, gained permission
to fly at Malaysia Airlines in February 2014.
In an eerie coincidence, it was one of Fariq's
last training flights on the Boeing triple seven.
- There is absolutely no question
that he was a qualified, competent pilot.
The captain said he was one of the best they had.
He landed the aircraft perfectly.
- One of Fariq's next flights would be his last,
Malaysia 370.
And what about the pilot sitting beside Fariq Hamid,
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and the flight simulator
he had built in his home to practice landings.
- Yesterday, officers from the Royal Malaysian Police
visited the home of the pilot.
- It seemed like a potential lead,
until investigators declared it a dead end.
- Examination of the flight simulators revealed
nothing suspicious for the authorities.
- Like First Officer Fariq,
Zaharie lacked any apparent motive.
- Many aspects of the case have been centered on the captain,
and the more they've looked, the less they have found.
- Zaharie's sister, Sakinab Ahmad Shah, spoke out
to Channel News Asia months after the plane's disappearance.
- Nick Huslan met Zaharie at Malaysia Airlines during
the rigorous days of flight school, 35 years ago.
- Above all, Huslan remembers his friend as
a skilled and seasoned pilot who loved to fly,
seen here in a video tribute posted by his family.
- But if it wasn't Zaharie and it wasn't Fariq,
what about the other passengers on flight 370?
Could it have been a hijacking?
- It would explain the fact that the radios were shut down,
possibly systematically, it would explain why
there may not have been communication.
- Are there any suspects?
- They've gone through everybody on an aircraft
and they've determined that there is no one there that would
match the profile of someone who would take over that aircraft.
- If not human intervention,
could something on the plane have malfunctioned?
- It's got to fly for another six hours.
That's the problem with the mechanical questions.
- What kind of catastrophe could shut down the plane's
communications, but still have allowed it to fly?
- Anybody that chooses to hang their hat on one scenario
or the other, in my view, is heading for a fall.
The entire experience of crash air crash investigations
is that, yes, it's usually the obvious, but it's
quite frequently--it's something you've never even thought of.
- There's no way to know until the black boxes are found.
Until you find the plane, how can you rule
anybody, anything, out?
- Well, you can't, what you'll know from
the black boxes is what happened.
What you won't know, necessarily, is why.
- There are no black boxes inside human beings,
that's what we need in this case.
- Our best hope of solving one of the greatest mysteries
of all time, is presumably somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
- We need to know what happened, we need to know whether
this plane came down at the point of a gun,
by the hand of the pilot, or whether
by mechanical failure, it is not an option not to know.
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- Coming up, a brand new search for answers
begins in the Indian Ocean.
- It's a big, big hunk of ocean.
It's as remote as you can get and still be on this planet.
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- The southern Indian Ocean, rough, remote, forbidding.
- When we look at that route, as pilots,
we all look at the charts and we look
for the waypoints in the airways.
There aren't any.
It as remote as you can get and still be on this planet.
- This is where experts believe the wreckage
of flight 370 may lie.
Finding it, an immeasurable challenge.
- To put the analogy of what we got out there at the moment,
we're not searching for a needle in a haystack,
we're still trying to define where the haystack is.
- That was March of 2014 when this vessel, the Ocean Shield,
set out in hopes of finding the plane and failed.
- This is no easy task.
We have very good techniques
for detecting needles in haystacks.
We have high confidence that if we've got
the right haystack, we will find a needle in it.
- The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau
was leading the search, with Chief Commissioner
Martin Dolan in charge.
- It's six days sailing out from the coast of Australia,
and we're operating at the range towards
the limits of the equipment that's available to us,
which is the best equipment available.
- In May, 2015, after the initial
efforts turned up nothing, they doubled
the size of the priority search area.
- It is a huge area and it's a complicated area with valleys,
and ocean mountains, and crevices.
- Complex terrain is not the only challenge they faced.
- You're grinding through high seas,
strong winds, incredibly difficult conditions.
- They've had to winterize the ships so that they
could keep searching throughout the brutal winter.
- It wasn't easy, and it wasn't cheap.
- The most expensive search in human history, period.
This is all uncharted territory, literally and figuratively.
- Yet 16 months of scouring the priority search
zone yielded nothing.
- Not a single shred of evidence, not a one.
Is it possible there's floating wreckage out there
and we just haven't seen it?
As time goes on, it's very hard to say that, I mean,
eventually the stuff washes up, something washes up.
- Finally, in July, 2015, something did wash up.
- Debris found off the coast of Reunion Island
in the Indian Ocean.
- Thousands of miles from the search area, beach cleaners
found debris on a remote island near Madagascar.
- What they found was an extremely intricate
part of the wing, it's known as the flaperon.
- French investigators later confirmed it was
from the missing plane.
The first real discovery in a year and a half,
and the first evidence that MH 370 didn't simply vanish.
- It confirms that flight MH 370 ended
in the southern Indian Ocean.
It doesn't tell us where, it doesn't tell us how,
but it gives you that closure for the families,
it tells you the plane ended up in the water.
- But for family members like Sarah Bajc,
true closure won't come until the crash site is found.
- In the absence of a body, how do you not hold out hope?
How could you just walk away from the potential,
however small it is, that--that some miracle has happened?
- Hope would cling to the more than 30 pieces of debris
that have washed ashore in the five years since
the plane's disappearance, but so far, no miracles.
- There's more than 1000 triple sevens out there,
that speaks to the crucial nature of finding the aircraft.
Not just for the humanitarian reasons of those on board,
but they've got to know what happened, and the only
way you're going to do it is to find the aircraft.
- Will we find it?
I hope so.
As long as we continue to look,
there'll be a chance it will be found.
- Since its disappearance, investigators have searched over
144,000 square miles in the southern Indian Ocean.
In a final safety report published in 2018,
investigators from eight countries reveal
they don't know much more than they did five years ago.
The reason for the loss of communication,
why did the plane change its flight path,
where did the plane end up, they don't know.
To date, the investigation could not determine the cause
of the disappearance of MH 370.
239 passengers and crew remain missing.
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