A decade of mystery surrounding MH370
New evidence? New Search?
Anniversaries often bring attention to major global events. We mark December 7th for the attack on Pearl Harbor. September 11th cannot pass without thinking of another attack on the United States. Friday will mark a milestone- one decade since the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines 777, with flight number MH370. The mystery has been the subject of several documentaries and a long list of conspiracy theories. The story is still very much alive. In two postings I hope to give you a sense of what it was like to cover this story and what is next.
The jet went missing on a Saturday after leaving Kuala Lumpur. It was still Friday evening in the US. I was getting ready for the weekend. About 8 pm I got a call from a Senior Producer at ABC News’ World News Tonight. One of the Seniors has to stay until 9:30 pm every night in case something happens that requires an update in the program before it airs on the west coast. With a big jetliner missing I had to hustle back into work for the update.
All we knew at the time was the aircraft type, the fact that it was a redeye to Beijing, passenger and crew count, and that it had disappeared from radar. It was the start of weeks of intensive reporting as the story unfolded halfway around the world. Working with colleagues Matt Hosford and Josh Margolin, we broke news over the next several weeks.
If you haven’t been paying attention, there have been a couple developments involving a new search and some new evidence that might help find the remains of the jetliner. Before those details, a little refresher on how we got here.
MARCH 8, 2014
MH370 took off and headed north toward Beijing. Before reaching Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur controllers told the crew to contact Hanoi controllers. The last verbal communication from the cockpit was an acknowledgement and a “goodnight.” Very soon afterward, MH370 disappeared from radar- at least the radar that tracks the signal sent by the aircraft’s transponder. As we learned at ABC News a few days later, those communication and transponder systems were turned off manually and deliberately. It appeared to be an effort to make the jet disappear.
We know the 777 turned around and headed south back over Malaysia, turned right up the Malacca Strait, and then turned south heading toward the Southern Indian Ocean. How do we know that if the transponder was deliberately turned off? Partly from Malaysia’s military radar. That radar sends out a signal. If that signal bounces back it has hit an aircraft that can often be identified. So, the Malaysian government knew within hours, if not minutes, that the large aircraft was probably what its radars saw and it had flown in the opposite direction of its planned route.
FIRST SIGN OF TURNAROUND
Still, the early Malaysian search efforts concentrated where the jet dropped from transponder radar. Several days into the mystery, when we reported the communication systems were likely shut off intentionally, the Malaysian Defense Minister (who was also acting Transportation Minister) dismissed our reports because they used unnamed sources. The next day, Malaysia’s Prime Minister announced the jet had “turned around” and that turn around was a deliberate act.
It should be noted that Malaysia’s government owns the airline and employs the crews. The government is responsible for the actions taken aboard the jetliners that fly under its flag.
Malaysia was slow to release the data it had from its military radars. There’s a possibility the Defense Minister, or other government officials, feared letting their rival Indonesia know its capabilities. Once the data was released it clearly showed, according to our sources, that someone was in control of the aircraft and it was heading into the Indian Ocean.
THE PINGS
Then there were the “pings.” I had been told by a source that even if the transponder and communications systems were disabled deliberately, the jet could still communicate. Some airlines want to know how their jets are performing. So, every so often, data is transmitted to a satellite, independent of the jetliner’s other systems.
MH370 was pinging a satellite with engine data. Those satellites just scoop up data transmissions. They don’t have the capability of GPS satellites to pinpoint exactly where the transmission came from. But the engineers at Inmarsat were able to do the math and create a map suggesting where the jet was when it pinged the satellite. These were not specific spots on the map. They could only provide what were called arcs. There were seven pings and seven arcs. The seventh ping and arc are thought to give a general idea where the jetliner went down.
A source told me the jetliner would have run out of fuel and gone into the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. I shared this with our top editors in New York and suggested we get to Perth, Australia as soon as possible. My colleague David Wright was in Perth days before our competitors.
“IT’S OFF AUSTRAILIA”
The search finally shifted to Australia with time running out on the other transponders on the 777. Those transmitters were on the two black boxes.
The searches in 2014 were unsuccessful. There was no sign of the jetliner. A vacuum of information is usually filled and it was by conspiracy theories that grew for the next year. That was until a piece of a 777 was found on Reunion Island off Africa.
It was a flaperon, part of the right wing structure. Over the next several months more sections of the right wing were discovered along the southeastern African coastline. Oceanographers produced drift models that predicted those finds. The scientists used that 7th arc outlining the possible crash zone as a starting point. They were remarkably accurate.
Still, it is a big and deep ocean. There was no sign of wreckage or the black boxes. It is those boxes that to this day might help solve much of the mystery around MH370.
That is why families of those onboard MH370 are hopeful Malaysia will make a deal with a US company that wants to return and search again for the missing jetliner.
Why go back to the same general area and search for a second time? Ocean Infinity has new technology, and some new data from a little-known source. That’s part two of this story.
SO MANY THEORIES
So what happened to MH370? The three most legitimate possible causes are hijacking, fire, or murder-suicide by the Captain or First Officer. If it was fire, why was there no mayday call and why did the 777 make some very specific turns? No one has ever claimed responsibility for a hijacking, but that doesn’t rule out another party being involved.
There is, however, evidence that implicates the Captain. He had a flight simulator at home. The Malaysian government allowed the FBI to examine the hard drive. They found way points (geographical points used for navigation) in the simulator that matched way points used in the southern flight into the Indian Ocean by MH370.
In the end, the Malaysians said, “the change in flight path likely resulted from manual inputs.” But added, “In conclusion, the Team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370.”
Tomorrow, the new search and new evidence.
Want more? This is one of the best pieces written about MH370. An extract is here.
Here is the final Malaysian report on MH370, and this is the Australian ATSB report.
The FBI undoubtedly has a good idea what happened to MH370. The Kuala Lumpur Police have not released its detailed report on the Captain. The FBI was involved by looking at the Captain's hard drive and certainly has a report filed inside the bureau. It may take another decade or so before a Freedom of Information Act request could lead to release.
Thank you Gary for the kind words. It was a big team effort and you were a big part of that. Gary is an accomplished scuba diver and understands the challenges ahead.