What should have been a standard red-eye flight with an average flight time of 6 hours turned into nine years of loss and mystery.
On March 8, 2014, 239 people boarded Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 bound for Beijing from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and were never seen again.
Just 40 minutes into the flight, MH370 disappeared from radar after entering Vietnamese airspace, according to The protector. The last anyone heard from the plane was around 1 a.m. when the captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, said, “Goodnight. Malaysian three-seven-zero,” as Malaysian air traffic control radioed Vietnamese air traffic controllers to flight.
The plane’s disappearance has made headlines and fascinated people around the world, as the families of those on board continue to search for answers. But despite several searches and investigations, there is still little evidence of what really happened on Flight 370.
“It’s the greatest aviation mystery of all time,” says Louise Malkinson, the director of “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared,” a Netflix docuseries about the plane’s unexplained disappearance that will air on the streamer on March 8 — exactly nine years later. appears.
“This is a world where we have cell phones and radar and satellites and tracking, and so nearly nine years later… and still have so little is extraordinary,” the director added. The protector.
The three-part docuseries explores what could have happened to the flight by examining three of “the most controversial theories.” Peopleincluding a possible hijacking and government interference.
Here’s everything you need to know about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared.”
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What happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?
Before Flight 370 vanished, the Malaysian Air Force’s primary radar detected the plane was making a sharp left turn after entering Vietnamese airspace and heading for the Andaman Sea, according to The protector.
When the plane diverted over the South China Sea, officials said the plane’s transponder was turned off, presumably by the pilot or copilot. People reported.
The plane was reportedly spotted on an Indian Ocean geostationary satellite operated by Inmarsat in the six hours that followed after falling off radar. The records show that the flight turned south after reaching the Andaman Sea.
Some experts believe the plane probably flew straight for hours until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean between Australia and Antarctica, but no firm conclusions have ever been drawn.
Image credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Was Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Ever Found?
In the wake of the plane’s disappearance, Malaysian, Chinese and Australian authorities embarked on a two-year underwater hunt costing $135 million, according to Reuters. The search was called off in 2017 because it was unsuccessful.
In 2018, Malaysia began partnering with marine robotics company Ocean Infinity to search the Indian Ocean in exchange for $70 million if the plane is found. However, the search was cut short for unknown reasons, according to USA Today.
In the years since the disappearance, plane debris has reportedly washed up along the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean, with many speculating that the parts are from Flight 370.
After nine years, Malaysian investigators have not yet reached a conclusion about the plane’s disappearance.
Those on board the plane were presumed dead by the Malaysian government in 2015. At the time, they explained the disappearance as an accident.
In March, families of those aboard the flight called on the Malaysian government to resume the Ocean Infinity search in the Indian Ocean, Reuters reported. According to Voice370, a collective of relatives of those on the run, Ocean Infinity has made “real progress” in understanding what happened, adding that their discoveries have “vastly increased their chances of a successful search.”
While there is no word on whether the government will work with Ocean Infinity again, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said he wanted to “close the book” on the disappearance during a speech at a memorial event for the victims.
He said he would consider additional searches pending “new and credible information”.
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Where is Malaysia Airlines now?
After the disappearance, Malaysia Airlines began damage control and suspended its advertising campaigns out of respect for the victims.
Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said so Wall Street Journal a month after the incident that the “primary focus of the airline right now is that we take care of the families in terms of their emotional needs and also their financial needs.”
The company began providing $50,000 insurance benefits in June 2014.
In July of that year, 298 people died when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed over Ukraine after being shot down by a Russian missile while traveling from Amsterdam to Malaysia, according to the BBC.
The two incidents impacted the airline’s sales and reputation, prompting the Malaysian government to purchase and nationalize the remainder of the airline’s shares, alongside a major revamp.
Malaysia Airlines is still operating and reported $98.6 million in revenue in 2021.