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
Dylan Sanchez
This was such a sad story with great writing that kept a mysterious tone lingering throughout the article. It’s sad to know that all of those people have gone missing unexpectedly and their mysterious death can’t even be brought to justice. I knew it had crashed but never knew that the pilots did not communicate at all throughout the flight. That’s just so odd.
Faten Al Shaibi
Despite the evolution in the world of technology and aircraft control, such mysterious incidents continue to occur. I feel sorry and sad for those who lost in this mysterious flight . I did not know that they were able to find some parts of the plane. I hope they can know what happened on this plane and the responsible for crashing.
Eloisa Sanchez Urrea
This is a very heartbreaking story and it is hard to realize that there may never be an answer to the mystery of Flight MH370. Although it may be hard for the loved ones to hear, it at least brings some closure to now where the remains of the plane lay.
Pedro Gonzalez Aboyte
I remember hearing about this accident in the news and thinking how this could ever happen. It is very frightening to know that an airplane, which is not a small object, suddenly disappeared never to be found again. This article does a great job of giving a brief overview of what happened and showing what has been done to try and find out what happened to the plane. This is a big and mysterious case in aviation and who knows if we ever find out what happened.
Lamont Traylor
This article honestly makes me appreciate the work that TSA workers do in finding bombs or to a lesser extent, just things that people bring onto planes that they know could be harmful to the flight of the plane and to the passengers that are also flying in the plane. That Malaysian airline must have had some slip up in the TSA part of the airport.
Sylvia Longoria
The article The Mystery Malaysian Airline Flight MH370 reminded me of the uncertainty of life and the importance of closure for the family. While it happened in 2014, I found the article interesting in that with all the advanced technology flight MH370 remains a mystery.
Alexander Manibusan
Sadly, I don’t think the mysterious Malaysian flight will ever be fully solved. With so little information, it’s nearly impossible to theorize what might have actually happened. However, I must admit it must feel so painful for those who’ve lost their families on that flight and not knowing where their body is. Other than Amelia Earhart, flight MH370 is likely the biggest tragic mystery in aviation history.
Sienna Guerra
It is frightening that there is still no sighting of a single person from this plan accident. I remember I would spend time watching the news and thinking about the disappearance and wondering so much about why it happened. I’m intrigued so much that this makes me watt o keep up with any further updates about this. Great and informative article!
Greyson Addicott
This was certainly an interesting topic, and this article did a great job describing it in its entirety! The flight crew and the passengers that are involved with this strange predicament surely deserve to be finally laid to rest via a discovery of their current location. Personally, I fear that they may be sitting at the bottom of the ocean somewhere very deep and dark. Wherever they are, I am sure that we will eventually find them!
Gabriela Ochoa
This is a very interesting story. I remember back on the news when they announced the plane going down and when they found the pieces in the sea. I never knew that the plane had Lithium on it and that it could case so many problems for a plane and its crew. I don’t think that the mystery of how the plane went down will ever be solved, unless more pieces show up.