Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing which disappeared on the 8 March 2014, 40 minutes after takeoff at 1.20 am MST. There were 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.

The flight departed from Kuala Lumpur at 00:42 MYT, at 01.19 MST while over the South China Sea the crew made the last contact with air traffic control. After that, at 01.22 MST the aircraft disappeared from the air traffic controller's radar screens. However Malaysian military radars continued to track the aircraft as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malaysian Peninsula. An hour later at 02.22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km) northwest of Penang, the airplane flew past the range of the military radars.

Shortly after the aircraft vanished from the radars one of the largest joint search and rescue operation began. The search initially began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea but later was expanded to include the Strait of Malacca, Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Later the search was extended to most parts of the Southern Indian Ocean in one of the largest underwater search operations in history.

Aircraft

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was operated by a Boeing 777-2H6ER with serial number 24820, registration 9M-MRO. This was the 404th Boeing 777 produced. The aircraft performed its first flight on 14 May 2002 and it was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 31 May 2002. It was powered by two Rolls Royce Trent 892 engines and it was configured to carry 282 pasegers. At the time of the disappearance the airframe accumulated 53,471.6 hours and 7526 cycles having no major incidents in its 12 year career at Malaysian Airlines. There was one minor incident while taxiing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in August 2012 which resulted in a broken wingtip.

The last maintenance check (A check) was carried out on 23 February 2014. It was in compliance with all applicable Airworthiness Directives for the airframe and engines. Just before the flight, on 7 March 2014 a replenishment of the crew oxygen systems took place. This was a routine maintenance task and a subsequent examination of the procedure found nothing unusual.

Disappearance

Departure

Loss of communication

Radar data

Satellite communications

Air traffic control response

News of the disappearance goes public

Timeline of events

Reported sightings

Presumed loss

Debris discovered

Search and recovery

Southeast Asia

Southern Indian Ocean

Aircraft

Passengers and crew

Investigation

Conclusions

Aftermath

Further reading

Timeline of events

• 8 March 2014 - Flight 370 disappears while enroute from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing. An initial search and rescue operation is launched in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

• 10 March 2014 - Sources in Malaysia's military reveal that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 might have turned back and flew west of Malaysia. The search operation is quickly extended to the whole Strait of Malacca

...

• 29 July 2015 - 16 months after the disappearance aircraft debris that is consistent with a right wing flaperon from a Boeing 777 is found on a beach of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The flaperon is sent to Toulouse for investigation by the BEA. According to several sources the part had a dense growth of goose barnacles and the size of the growth is consistent with having been in the sea for about one year.

List of aviation accidents by year
Aerial disappearances
Accidents and incidents involving a Boeing 777