Update on the location of flight MH370

On 8 October 2014, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released an update detailing their best estimate of the current location of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The location of this 777, which went missing on 8 March 2014 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members who were on board, is unknown, and in the seven months since the aircraft went missing, no trace of the aircraft, its passengers, or its cargo have been found.

In spite of this lack of direct, physical evidence, information from other sources, including radar data and signals sent from the aircraft to an INMARSAT satellite, were used to estimate both the duration of flight for the aircraft, and its approximate position when the aircraft presumably ran out of fuel over the southern Indian Ocean.

After an initial underwater search was ended last May, the ATSB, along with support from other nations, has spent considerable time producing more detailed maps of the seafloor in the vicinity of the proposed search areas, and refining the estimate of the likely location of the aircraft. The recent ATSB analysis, which included simulations of various end of flight scenarios, came to the following conclusions

• The last satellite communication occurred very near the estimated time of fuel exhaustion.
• The ATSB, Boeing, and Malaysia Airlines have been working on various end of flight scenarios.
• In a scenario involving fuel exhaustion with no control inputs, the aircraft entered a descending, spiraling low bank angle left turn and entered the water in a relatively short distance after the last engine flameout.
• The results of the new analyses support the search area defined in an earlier ATSB report from June 2014.

While the government of Malaysia has the overall responsibility for the search for the aircraft, the government of Australia, at the request of the Malaysian government, is leading the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Related resources
ATSB flight path update from 8 October 2014
ATSB definition of underwater search area
AirSafe.com flight MH370 page

Photo: ATSB

Todd Curtis of AirSafe.com to discuss MH370 on premiere of Ghost Planes on the H2 channel

AirSafe.com founder Dr. Todd Curtis will appear in the special Ghost Planes on H2, which is part of the History Channel network. The show’s is scheduled to air again on Wednesday, September 3rd at 8 p.m. EDT (check for showtimes in your area).

The show will focus on Malaysia Airliners flight MH370, as well as a number of other aircraft have been declared missing over the last several decades, so-called ‘Ghost Planes’ that have vanished without a trace.

Todd was one of the experts interviewed by the show’s producers to discuss some of the theories that may explain the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

The aircraft, which was on a scheduled international flight from from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, went missing in March 2014, and while authorities suspect that the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean, no trace of the plane or its 227 passengers and 12 crew members have yet to be found.

This special utilizes interviews with experts and the families of passengers, and uses computer animated re-enactments and archival news footage to explore the several theories surrounding the fate of missing on flight MH370.

Malaysia Ministry of Transport releases preliminary report on flight MH370

1 May 2014 - The Malaysia Ministry of Transport released a preliminary report on the Malaysia Airlines 777 that went missing on 8 March 2014. As of the release date (report dated 9 April 2014 but released 1 May 2014), the aircraft is still missing, and no part of the aircraft has been recovered. The highlights of the report include the following:

• At about 1:38 am Kuala Lumpur time on 8 March 2014, Vietnamese air traffic control authorities contacted Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre about the whereabouts of flight MH370.

• After all effort to communicate and locate the aircraft failed, Malaysian authorities activated the Kuala Lumpur Rescue Coordination Centre. This activation occurred at 5:30 am, almost four hours after the Vietnamese authorities contacted the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre about the flight.

• A total 82 aircraft and 84 vessels representing 26 countries participated in search and rescue efforts.
• In accordance with international agreements, specifically ICAO Annex 13, countries with official representatives in the investigation include the US, UK, China, Australia, and Malaysia.

• Organizations providing technical advisors include Boeing, FAA, and NTSB from the US; Inmarsat and AAIB from the UK; as well as Malaysian Airlines.

• Citing the experience of flight MH370 and of Air France flight 447, both of which went missing over remote stretches of ocean, The Ministry of Transport recommended that ICAO examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard for real time tracking of commercial air transport aircraft.

Issues raised by the investigation
One of the key frustrations of many of those involved directly in the investigation and with many airline safety experts has been the delays in getting information to the organizations involved in the investigation and with search and rescue efforts.

Former NTSB board member John Goglia summarized many of these issues in an AINonline article released on 1 May 2014, and in the article Goglia suggests that Malaysia’s reluctance seeking assistance from other countries with more expertise and experience in accident investigations may have been do in part to misplaced national pride, and that this may not have been considered when ICAO Annex 13 was drafted.

Related resources
Preliminary report from the Malaysia Ministry of Transport
John Goglia comments on ICAO Annex 13
AirSafe.com flight MH370 page