It was March 8, 2014, when 239 people boarded the Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 with absolutely no idea that their flight would be taking a very unexpected turn. The Malaysian airline departed from Kuala Lumpur Airport on route to Beijing, China, making its way over Cambodia and Vietnam on schedule and with no delays.1 While the airline was in flight, within an hour after takeoff, the airline went completely off radar; after that, no one knew what happened to flight MH370.2 Neither pilot nor co-pilot of the plane reported any problems to air traffic control during the beginning or throughout the remainder of the flight to Beijing. To this day, many do not know whether the pilots of the flight had anything to do with the disappearance of the airline.3 Research tells us that within less than an hour, Flight 370 lost all contact with air traffic control with absolutely no explanation. The last message ever heard from the airline was the pilot or co-pilot saying, “Good night Malaysian, three seven zero.” Then, one hour later after the final message sent to air traffic control, the airline went completely off military radar. In order for the flight to go completely off radar, the flight must have taken a different route or flown four hours more than scheduled. And according to the final radar image, the airline was last seen going the opposite direction from the original route.4 After being informed that the flight did in fact change its route to Beijing, many began to suspect that the airline was hijacked, either by a passenger or possibly by one or both of the pilots. Many also began to suspect that there was a possibility that the airline carried lithium batteries during the flight. Lithium batteries can cause any plane to catch on fire within the cargo and potentially cause the flight to crash land or land in airports that were not on route to the destination. This theory of Flight 370 made researchers believe that the airline did catch on fire due to lithium batteries and therefore caused the captain to change route, land in the nearest airport, and potentially go missing on the way to the nearest airport.5
In 2014, Australia took responsibility for searching for the airline in the Indian Ocean with just the slightest idea where the airline might have crashed, landed, or sunk. Within the week of Australia’s search for the airline, the search widened by over 3 million square miles.6 After months of rigorous searching, debris of the plane was found in the water. It was on July 29, 2015, when a flap of the airline’s wing was found, miles away from where Australia’s search team was searching, on Reunion Island. The plane’s part was found by a group of volunteers cleaning a beach on St. Andre.7
So, with the discovery of the flap, it leaves many wondering, where is flight MH370? How did the flight manage to crash, sink, or land with absolutely no clue as to how it did so? By December of 2015, the Australian search team widened the search even more. As of May 2016, three pieces of the airline have been found, and all in different places in the sea. But unfortunately enough, there has not been any more discoveries of the plane since then.8 After the pieces of the plane were found, the Malaysian government declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident with no survivors.9 The plane has yet to be discovered.
It was March 8, 2014, when the souls of 239 people became one of the greatest mysteries of all time. The story of the Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 will always have society wondering what exactly happened to the flight and where is it located. And for every time the story of the Malaysian Airline Flight is told, people are going to be left thinking of all the possible theories that might have caused the disappearance of the plane. Until the mystery of the airline’s disappearance is solved, all 239 souls will finally be able to rest in peace and their families will no longer have to mourn over the mysterious deaths of their loved ones.
- Samuel Davey et al., Bayesian Methods in Search for MH370 (Springeropen Singapore, 2016), 7. ↵
- Samuel Davey et al., Bayesian Methods in Search for MH370 (Springeropen Singapore, 2016), 7. ↵
- Jenthro Mullen, “Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: What we know and don’t know,” CNN News, March 13, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/ ↵
- “Missing Malaysia plane MH370: What we know,” BBC News, January 17, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news. ↵
- Ruwantissa Abeyratne, “Flight MH370 and the Lithium Battery Theory,” Air Cargo World, May 2014. ↵
- “Malaysia Airlines search: Jet already had turned before co-pilots ‘good night’ message,” Fox News, December 3, 2015, ” href=”https://www.foxnews.com/world/malaysia-airlines-search-jet-already-had-turned-before-co-pilots-good-night-message”>https://www.foxnews.com. ↵
- “Missing Malaysia plane MH370: What we know,” BBC News, January 17, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news ↵
- Lindsey M Bier, Sejin Park, and Michael J. Palenchar, “Framing the Flight MH370 Mystery: A Content Analysis of Malaysian, Chinese, and U.S. Media,” The International Communication Gazette, no. 2 (2018): 158. ↵
- “Experts have confirmed that the debris found on Reunion Island last week was that of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 that went missing last year, Malaysia’s prime minister said Wednesday,”Malaysia Prime Minister, August 5, 2015, Associated Press, 2o15, Associated Press Video Collection, streaming video, 1:46, EBSCO (AN 16aaa4d0-387b-45fb-8d9b-73e660291a38). ↵
108 comments
Diego Aguilera
This was so crazy to see and and hear about! I remember being in class and hearing this just sounded odd. For it to still not be found is a crazy thing to think about and I know people out there have hundreds of reasons buts not an actual. I would love to hear what happened years to come but it really makes you believe in stuff like the stories we heard as kids even the Bermuda Triangle that goes for ships or boats in the water.
Victoria Velasquez
Great work! Sad that these people’s families will never know what happened to them. It’s crazy to think how a plane can go missing with no evidence what so ever. Very suspenseful and interesting article.
Mariah Garcia
I don’t remember the whole story of the Malaysian flight just that it had mysteriously disappeared in 2014. There has been many conspiracy theories about the flight, but it was a tragedy that struck many people and families by surprise. No one knows what happened to the flight and not much information has surfaced about the flight. Many people, especially the families, still question what exactly happened and why there are no remains found since that day. This is a mystery that will, unfortunately, remain unsolved.
Alejandra Chavez
I have always heard about this mystery but never knew any real details. I find it insane how a plane could just be lost but this case is extremely suspicious. I hope there will be final details released so that families can mourn properly. Or at least to give them some peace at mind. I can only imagine how unnerving it might feel to not know what happened to your family member. This is a well-written article. I wish it would have been a tad longer but I understand that there’s limited information released about this.
Pamela Callahan
This was such a crazy story! It is scary to think that something could go so horribly wrong in the blink of an eye. I can’t imagine how the families of the victims must feel knowing that the death of their loved ones is unexplainable and unjustified. I, along with everyone else, wonder what happened to the flight. How is it possible that the plane could go completely off radar in the course of an hour? I also found the last message to the air control center to be somewhat alarming and it made it seem like the destruction was intentional.
Marina Castro
Super cool and interesting! I remember a couple of years ago reading and hearing about the Malaysian airplane disappearing out of thin air and never being heard of again. I was left with the doubt of what happened and never again looked into it. Although this article does not possess the answers to what happened, it informs the reader more in debt of what happened and the events that lead to the disaster.
Devin Ramos
The conspiracy theories of Malaysia flight MH370 range from realistic to supernatural. When I first heard about the plane going missing I thought it had run out of fuel and crashed but as search teams went on to find it and never found anything I changed my mind about the plane just running out of fuel. The explanation to me that makes the most sense would be that it was shot down but a country for unknown reasons.
Adrian Cook
I remember hearing of the disappearance of the Malaysian flight and had completely forgotten about it until now. It’s crazy how it still has not been found yet but I believe it’s only a matter of time before its discovered. So many families and others are searching for answers of what may have happened to them. There were so many theories as to what people believed to have happened but nobody really knows except the passengers aboard the plane. I hope to hear about this mysterious flight soon.
Clarissa Gonzalez
The amount of conspiracy theories I’ve read about the Malaysian flight is ridiculous. I’ve always seen different people’s thoughts on the situation on all different kinds of social media. Reading this and just vetting purely truthful information was a good change of pace. It still baffles me that over 200 people had died on this plane flight, and will most likely never be found.
Luis Magana
Everyone always loves a good mystery thats unsolved. I had heard of the Malaysian flight 370 because my dad had talked to me about it a while ago. There are so many conspiracy theories as to what happened how the plan just miraculously disappeared. The conspiracy theories make the story of this flight so much more interesting even though theres a possibility something not that bad might of happened.