MH370: The clock is ticking on search for missing plane

By T.K. Letchumy Tamboo and Syafique Shuib

The Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur to Beijing at 12.41am but never reached its destination. The ill-fated flight was carrying 239 passengers and crew from 15 countries including Malaysia. The flight had lost contact with the Subang Air Traffic Control outside Kuala Lumpur and remains disappeared until today. A multi-national search and rescue effort, the largest in history, was initiated to find the missing plane.

SAR and Investigations so far

Upon the plane's disappearance, the Vietnam waters, the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea were the focus of the search where it initially was thought to have flown in. Within a few days, this was extended to include the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 15, said the SAR mission enters a new phase, in the northern and southern corridors. Australia and Indonesia lead search in their own regions. A total of 26 countries are involved in the search.

Najib Tun Razak

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announcing that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean on March 24, 2014.

On 24 March, Najib confirmed two independently made analyses by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and Inmarsat, and concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt", that the aircraft had gone down in the southern part of the Indian Ocean with no survivors. This conclusion led to all earlier search areas being abandoned, with all efforts being concentrated on the Australian-led area.

Acting Transport minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said all MAS ground staff, engineers involved in handling the MH370 aircraft were under investigation by the police while the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the missing MH370 was investigated under Section 130 (C) Penal Code for hijacking, terrorism and sabotage offences, Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 and Aviation Offences Act 2003.

Police then seized flight simulator from the house of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the missing MH370.

On March 26, as many as 122 objects were captured by a satellite imagery. It was taken on March 23 and showed objects between one meter up to 23 meters in length and later, the FBI announced that analysis of data from a flight simulator taken from the home of the pilot of a missing Malaysia Airlines jet was due for completion.

Thai satellite images revealed 300 objects, ranging from two to 15 metres (6.5 to 50 feet) in size, floating in the southern Indian Ocean, on March 27.

Thai Satellite

A Thai satellite showing about 300 objects floating on the southern Indian Ocean on March 27, 2014, none of which have been found to be linked to the missing plane.

On March 30, The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said a number of objects retrieved by the HMAS Success and Haixun 01 on Saturday had been examined and were believed not related to the MH370.

Subsequently, Australian prime minister backed his Najib's view that MH370 aircraft's final flight path ended in the remote southern Indian Ocean and the transport ministry released the full transcript of the communication between MH370 and Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control, with no indication of anything abnormal. “Good night Malaysian three seven zero” was the last conversation in the transcript between the air traffic controller (ATC) and the cockpit.

On April 5 and 6, a black box detector deployed by the Chinese patrol vessel Haixun 01, picked up two short pulse signal in southern Indian Ocean waters. Another pulse signal was detected in the southern Indian Ocean by Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield, about 300 nautical miles from the pulse signals picked up by Haixun 01.

On April 7, the Australian defence vessel, Ocean Shield has detected two signals that are consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said the first pinger signal lasted for two hours 20 minutes, while the second lasted for thirteen minutes.

The search continues

A Malaysian Maritime vessel joining in the search for flight MH370.

What we do not know

Exact location The focus of the search has changed repeatedly since air traffic controllers lost contact with the Boeing 777 between Malaysia and Vietnam. It began in the South China Sea, then shifted toward the Strait of Malacca to the west. Then the plane automatically sent hourly signals to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, a British company, after the plane's transponder and all communication systems had shut down which prompted Najib to say that the flight ended in the southern corridor.

Black Box We will never know anything until we find the black box, which is crucial for investigators.

No physical evidence like bodies and wreckage Over the past month, there have been various “objects” sighted by satellites, namely from Australia, China and France. However, some of these “objects” appear not to have any linked to the missing flight.

Conspiracy theory

Numerous conspiracy theories have emerged following the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8, 2014.

Conspiracy theories

Since day one of the plane's disappearance, conspiracy theories kept cropping up. Here are a few frequent ones:

The Plane was hijacked The incident was likened to the 9/11 hijacking incident and aviation experts believed that aircraft may have been hijacked although not necessarily for ransom or other demands.

Hijack via mobile phone This is the claim is that the phone can be used to wireless hack into the plane’s system and "change the plane’s speed, altitude and direction by sending radio signals to its flight management system. It could then be landed or made to crash by remote control."

Diego Garcia Conspiracy theorists have suggested that MH370 was either captured by the United States and then flown to the United States' military base on Diego Garcia or that the plane landed at the base directly. The latter theory was raised at a White House daily briefing on 18 March, whereupon press secretary Jay Carney responded, "I'll rule that one out."

Terrorism Lack of distress call from the pilot suggested the place either experienced an explosive decompression or was destroyed by an explosive device led to this theory. It was reported that Malaysia is vulnerable to terrorist activity as it has been used as a transit hub.

Explosion on board The sudden loss of cabin pressure could caused an explosive decompression, say reports.

Mechanical fault Experts said an “air turn back” means the aircraft has to return to the airport of origin but the pilot never made a distress call.

Sudden stalling of the plane Some expert pointed to some similarities between the MH370 incident and the loss of Air France Flight 447.

Pilot error Pilot could possibly not realise the plane when off course.

Ghost Plane Some conspiracy theories suggest that the plane turned into a ghost plane after every passengers on board the plane, including the pilot, went unconscious due to cabin pressure. In 2005, Helios Airways Flight 522 using Boeing 737, crashed in Greece because the pilots had succumbed to hypoxia and had mistaken a pressure warning signal and lights for other safety alerts. A flight attendant who had pilot training and was able to stay conscious, tried unsuccessfully to control the plane before also passing out. The plane stayed in the air for two more hours before running out of fuel and crashing.