The astounding disappearing plane

A different picture for once!

The Malaysian flight that can’t be found

Article: Paige Kreutzwieser – Staff Writer

[dropcaps round=”no”]I[/dropcaps]n one of the biggest searches in aviation history that makes David Copperfield’s magic look like child’s play, a Malaysia Airlines B777-200 aircraft disappeared from south Asian radar systems. March 8 at 2:40 AM UTC, the MH370 flight carrying 227 passengers, two infants, and twelve crew members lost contact between Malaysia and Vietnam.

The plane departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Selangor, Malaysia at 12:41 AM local time (LT) and was expected to arrive at China’s Beijing Capital International Airport at 6:30 AM LT. Approximately two hours into the flight at the expected altitude of 35,000 ft, Subang Air Traffic Control reported they had lost communication with the aircraft.

Malaysia Airlines Vice President of Operations Control, Fuad Sharuji, told CNN early morning March 8 that they had “no idea where this aircraft is right now,” and that the seven to seven and half hours of fuel had probably run out.

160 Chinese passengers made up majority of the 241 people on board. Relatives of the Chinese passengers have since been pressuring Beijing officials for more after The Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese state admitted to producing satellite images of the believed crash site should not have been released on their Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense website.

Some of those also involved in the search for the aircraft included Australia, Burma, New Zealand, Japan and the United States military. Local fisherman from the Port Blair islands, east of Thailand, were also contacted by senior police officials in the area after search for the plane expanded into the Indian Ocean.

After nearly two weeks of confusion and a myriad of theories, latest satellite images of wreckage were spotted in the southern Indian Ocean. Analysis of these images confirmed that flight MH370’s “last position was in the Indian Ocean, west of Perth,” explained Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak the morning of March 24.

Chinese and Australian planes both located similar objects within the same area of the world’s third-largest ocean. The Daily Mail reported that on March 28, pictures by the Chinese of 72 ft by 42 ft objects were located 75 miles apart of Australia’s suggested location.

No distress call was given by Captain Zaharie Shah, which created a cloud of confusion over the incident. Ships are now being sent to the location and information will continue to be disclosed as to what happened on flight MH370 when the plane’s black box is detected and examined.

The National Post reported March 24 that an emergency landing in Hong Kong by Malaysian Airlines flight MH066 was necessary after a generator failed on the A330-300 aircraft holding 271 passengers.

[button style=”e.g. solid, border” size=”e.g. small, medium, big” link=”” target=””]Image: Pieter van Marion[/button]