Missing Flight Could Be Found In Days Based on New Evidence

Most people would have heard about the world’s most mysterious missing flight, MH370. The Malaysian Airlines flight was reported missing in March 2014, and no sign of the plane has ever been found. However, new information might change that, as we explore in this article.

A Missing Flight Like No Other

On the evening of March 8^th, 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 took off from the Kuala Lumpur airport as hundreds of other flights did that same day. Thirty-eight minutes later, the flight disappeared from flight tracking and simply vanished from air traffic control’s (ATC) systems. It has never been found.

Tracking of the plane continued after it disappeared from the ATC systems on the military band. The flight took some strange maneuvers, deviating from its flight path and seemingly changing course entirely. It eventually dropped off military radar an hour later. No wreckage was found that would suggest it was destroyed.

The Most Expensive Search in Aviation History

Following the plane’s disappearance, dozens of countries chipped in to help find the aircraft. However, the hope of finding survivors dwindled to zero as the hours turned into days. After the first month, any piece of wreckage that could come from the plane was highlighted to provide some closure for the families.

For three years, the search continued, turning up pieces of wreckage in the Indian Ocean in 2015 and 2016 that were confirmed to be from the missing plane. However, no conclusive evidence was ever found as to what happened to the plane or why the pilot made such a deviation from his flight plan.

Investigations Inconclusive Without Evidence

The investigation into the flight’s disappearance continued for a long time. Another privately funded exploration of the search area was done in 2018 under the company Ocean Infinity, but it was canceled after six months when no new evidence came to light.

Speculation about the flight’s cause of disappearance ranges from it being a failed hijacking to a hypoxia event where the pilot made terrible decisions due to a lack of oxygen in the cabin. Some far-reaching ideas about the flight even say it might have been shot down in error by military aircraft.

Breathing New Life Into an Old Mystery

While the MH370 disappearance isn’t the oldest missing aircraft, it’s one that got the world’s attention and still resonates to this day with many people. World news agencies covered it from when the disappearance was reported to when the search for wreckage was finally retired.

Because of the mystery surrounding the crash, many people are wary about approaching it. The crash has formed the core of many conspiracy theories, and professionals have just put it down to an accident. Two professionals, however, have stated that they could probably find the plane’s final location based on new evidence.

A New Chance for Closure

Pilot Patrick Blelly and Aerospace specialist Jean-Luc Marchand claim they could locate the missing plane’s wreckage based on new evidence. This revelation was given before an audience attending a September lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society.

The pair stated that they had done their homework and ruled out many potential areas that the wreckage could be in. The initial search had covered thousands of acres of ocean, but the smaller area proposed by the pair could theoretically be covered in as little as ten days.

Not an Inexperienced Pilot

Marchand noted that the evidence coming from tracking the plane suggests that the maneuvers were well-planned. He concluded that this wasn’t the result of hypoxia but of a highly skilled pilot who had to know what they were doing. He termed the flight an “atrocious one-way journey.”

As a result, Marchand opted to go with a potential hijacking as the explanation, but one with the intention of crashing the plane. The cabin was depressurized, and with soft-control ditching, the plane likely crashed into the ocean with minimal debris to point to its final resting place.

Navigation Could Not Have Been Autopilot

Some statements about the flight suggest that an autopilot malfunction might have caused the crash, but Marchand denies this. The transponder was turned off prior to the plane making a U-turn. The fact that the transponder was off suggests that human intervention was involved and denies an autopilot malfunction.

Without the transponder on, the ATC could no longer track the plane. As such, it could not get updates on where the aircraft was and why it was performing a U-turn in a place it should not have. An experienced hijacker would know that only military radar could track it without the transponder.

A Strategic Point for Transponder Failure

It took quite some time for ATC to report MH370 missing, and that was partially because of where the transponder was switched off. Typically, when an airplane reaches the point over the ocean, it is out of range of Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian, or Indian airspace. Switching off here would mask the hijack from everyone.

When the plane was finally reported missing, no one was sure at which point the transponder was switched off. All Malaysian ATCs knew it was on the screen until it left their airspace. This shrouded the mystery even further.

More Calls to Reopen the Investigation

The incident may have happened almost a decade ago, but it’s still fresh in the minds of all of those families who lost loved ones that day. With this announcement, families and friends have pushed the Malaysian government to reopen the case and give the pair of experts a chance to locate the wreckage.

The plane disappeared with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. Each of those passengers and crew had family members who remained with unanswered questions. This may at least give them some level of closure. The families hope to get anything to explain the plane’s bizarre last moments.

Measures to Prevent Disappearances

MH370 made the Malaysian authorities rethink how they looked at air traffic and forced them to update their measures for check-ins mid-flight. Now, flights are required to report in over the open ocean to prevent a similar disaster. Underwater locator beacons are also installed outside Malaysian airspace to track airplane movements.

With all of these extra measures, nothing approaching a similar disappearance has ever occurred. Even if it was a hijacking, no one knows what the hijackers were after. If the wreckage is found, it might create more questions than answers.