Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A boy plays with an aeroplane shaped foil balloon during a candlelight vigil for passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, in Kuala Lumpur. AP/Press Association Images

MH370: What do we know? What have we yet to find out?

Here are some of the key questions in the search so far…

ONE MONTH AFTER flight MH370 vanished, there is still no proof of what happened to the plane or where it ended up, despite an intensive international search now focused on the Indian Ocean.

But authorities believe they may be zeroing in, after ping signals possibly emanating from the plane’s “black box” of flight and cockpit voice data were detected deep down in the search area.

What do we know? What have we yet to find out? Here are some of the key questions in the search so far…

Are the ‘pings’ from MH370?

That remains to be determined, but Australia’s search chief said Monday one of the country’s naval ships had twice detected signals “consistent” with aircraft black boxes, the strongest indication yet that the hunt for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was on the right trail.

The Ocean Shield is towing a US Navy deep-sea device designed to detect signals from “black boxes”, moving slowly back and forth across the ocean to try to pin down a location.

Australian search coordinator Angus Houston said if further readings can be obtained, it could be possible “to establish whether the detections can be confirmed as being from MH370″.

But the signal beacon on the black box has an average battery life of around 30 days, and could expire at any time now. And numerous undersea factors can distort such signals and their location.

If they are from MH370, what happens next?

If the pings are confirmed, authorities would deploy a submersible device to scan the seabed for debris.

If found, the difficult task of reaching and recovering the black box in ocean depths ranging from 4,000-5,000 metres would begin.

Seafloor-mapping and recovery is “a very intense and time-consuming process”, said Anthony Brickhouse, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States.

But lessons were learnt during the two-year search for the data recorders from the 2009 crash of Air France flight 447, which contributed greatly to today’s body of knowledge, he said.

“We know a lot more now that we did before Air France about how to do this,” he said.

If the pings are not from MH370, might the plane never be found?

If the pings are confirmed not to be from MH370, the search is back to square one, raising the daunting spectre of an open-ended surface search for floating debris or painstaking seafloor-mapping.

But Air France showed that success is still possible.

Its black boxes were not located before their signals expired, necessitating a two-year search using submersible drones and other means to locate a debris field.

A Remotely Operated Vehicle which can recover items in extreme depths was eventually sent down to pluck the recorders from the seabed.

But authorities had a better idea where the Air France crash occurred. Houston warned that in any scenario, “the recovery operation will take a long, long time” for MH370.

Was the plane commandeered by hijackers or terrorists?

This theory gained early attention due to the revelation that two Iranian passengers boarded using stolen passports, and after Malaysian authorities said the plane appeared to have been deliberately diverted.

But Interpol said the Iranians were apparently just illegal immigrants heading to Europe, and Malaysian police last week said investigations had “cleared” all of the plane’s 227 passengers.

“I think the possibility of this theory is pretty low,” said Terence Fan, an aviation expert at Singapore Management University.

“No one has claimed responsibility or made any demands or any specific threats that we know of to Malaysia Airlines or Malaysia in general. I think we are looking more at technical problems on the plane.”

Did one or both of the pilots go ‘rogue’?

Malaysian authorities have said a knowledgeable flyer likely diverted the plane and that its communications systems appear to have been shut off around the time MH370 went missing, suggesting deliberate action in the cockpit.

All of this has led to intense scrutiny of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, but no evidence has yet emerged to suggest either held extremist views, had pyschological problems or any other motive.

Zaharie, a 33-year veteran of Malaysia Airlines, was a respected senior pilot and evaluator of younger aviators.

Questions were raised about Fariq when a young South African women said she and a friend were invited into the cockpit of a 2011 flight that he served on – in breach of cockpit security rules.

But those who know Fariq have attested to his good character. He was engaged to be married, according to reports, and was considered a promising pilot.

Did MH370 become a ‘ghost plane’?

This idea gained traction after Malaysia announced on 15 March – a week after MH370′s disappearance – that the plane apparently flew for nearly seven hours after vanishing from radar.

“Ghost planes” – in which the crew is incapacitated, leaving the plane to fly on aimlessly – have occurred before. In 2005, a Greek Helios Airways plane with 121 aboard flew for hours after a sudden lack of oxygen incapacitated the cockpit crew. It crashed, killing all aboard.

Some believe MH370′s pilots diverted the plane due to such an event – possibly attempting to return to Kuala Lumpur airport – but were subsequently incapacitated, leaving the plane to fly on autopilot.

The shutting off of communications systems may have been an attempt to stem a fire cause by faulty electrical circuits.

The stretch of ocean where the plane is believed crashed is also about the distance it would have travelled before running out of fuel, the airline has said.

“For pilots, when something bad happens it’s ‘Aviate, navigate, then communicate’,” said Brickhouse. “If ‘communicate’ is the third step, in a catastrophic failure your job is to fly the plane first. That may be one reason why we don’t know what happened.”

Do we know everything the authorities know?

The Malaysian government has continually refused to release full details of the sequence of events around the time MH370 went missing, and what little that has been released has frequently been contradictory.

This has helped sustain conspiracy theorists who allege that the truth is being hidden or manipulated by Malaysia’s authoritarian government – which has a history of covering-up embarrassing scandals and coddling the flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysia has said it is hiding nothing, but “there are things here and there that suggest they know a bit more than they are telling”, said Fan.

“Maybe they are discussing some details with US investigators or there is a slight possibility of some terror link that they are trying not to release.”

What aviation changes might arise from MH370?

The aviation industry has a history of learning from disasters and implementing safeguards, making air travel one of the world’s safest modes of transport.

However, unless MH370′s black box or some wreckage can be recovered, that learning process cannot begin.

But MH370 has already sparked new discussion of implementing real-time satellite tracking of airliners to stop them going missing, and possibly reassessing the pilot’s ability to turn off communications systems.

“Having an improved way of tracking aircraft and always knowing where every aircraft is at any given time” is “clearly now a high priority,” International Air Transport Association chief Tony Tyler said last week.

- © AFP, 2014

More: Two signals detected are the “most promising lead” in search for MH370

Read: Teams detect three underwater signals in search for missing plane

Author
View 60 comments
Close
60 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute My Views
    Favourite My Views
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:19 PM

    Black box data should be instantly transmitted rather than recorded and stored on the plane

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John S
    Favourite John S
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 6:51 PM

    Yes I was thinking the same, but can it be transmitted over such a distance from a plane? It must not be possible? But surely it is something which could at least be fitted with some form of flotation device so it can’t sink? At least if it floats, it can be traced easier.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel Sinnott
    Favourite Nigel Sinnott
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:30 PM

    Seeing as no one knows what happened to this plane isn’t every theory a conspiracy or is it just the theories that the media make up the real theory?

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pedro
    Favourite Pedro
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:06 PM

    Some theories are more credible than others Nigel. For example:

    The plane was likely crashed in to the Indian ocean in a tragic pilot suicide

    vs.

    The plane was likely hijacked, remotely, by the US Government

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John S
    Favourite John S
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:35 PM

    I’m waiting for Jim Corr to give his version of events…..

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute graham galvin
    Favourite graham galvin
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:35 PM

    Has anyone searched Diego Garcia yet to put all the rumours to rest?

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Favourite Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:48 PM

    Diego Garcia is an ETOPS emergency landing site and as such covered by commercial radar so if it did fly there someone would have noticed, that and it’s last known position based on satellite data and the distance it had all ready travelled puts it out of range of Diego Garcia

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:05 PM

    MSM has been told to keep a lid on it..

    Not mention of it even in the rags.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonathan Medlar
    Favourite Jonathan Medlar
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:19 PM

    @Frank, been reading your comments and responses to this over the past few weeks and across various articles but have never replied .You have had some very valid points and the comments aimed towards you have been unfair in my opinion.

    The US government has been known for creating many false flag events over the years, 9/11 was a prime example with many many signs pointing towards such…A good source of documented information can be found across many websites and in various documentaries like ‘ZeitGeist’ for example (can be found on Netflix).

    Over the past year we have seen the US and various EU states move towards control of the internet-(also well documented) and whistle-blowers like Mr. Snowdan have helped those of us who have our eyes open to see what we are being force fed through the general media is a lie.
    The ‘War on Terror’ is a farce and was created to instill fear in the general public, and it would hardly surprise me if there was not some of the same bullshit involved with this incident.
    Security has already been bumped up on airlines right around the globe but more-so in the states where people civil liberties are being broken while passing through these airports.
    Could this possibly be a similar situation to allow the US and allied EU states gain some control over the ever free internet?
    A top hacker recently showed at a conference how planes can easily be hacked and controlled without anything the pilot can do, same as Iran did when it took down a US drone with similar methods.

    I cannot speculate exactly what happen to flight MH370, but one thing seems to be very sure and that is there some form of cover up going on and the families and media are not being told the truth.

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 8:02 PM

    I have also mentioned the Netflix Movie Dirty Wars 2013 by Freelance Journalist Rick Rowley ….It gives you some insight to how evil the US Government has got under the Obama Administration. After watching it one can well understand why people become so sceptical about the US Global agenda.

    http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Dirty-Wars/70267831

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Clancy
    Favourite John Clancy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 11:18 PM

    Two tards

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JakkiB
    Favourite JakkiB
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:55 PM

    I just find it unbelievable that a plane can fly for 7 hours unnoticed, After 9/11 I thought the skys were monitored and secured because as this stands anyone could take a plane and fly it wherever they want and not be detected and cause any amount of damage

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:39 PM

    Was the plane commandeered by hijackers or terrorists?

    Yes ……Remotely by the US Government…

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pedro
    Favourite Pedro
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:48 PM

    Never change Frank, if nothing else your comments never fail to make me laugh!

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:51 PM

    The shills come out in force..

    22
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pedro
    Favourite Pedro
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:00 PM

    Yes Frank, I work for the US government and have been planted here in the comments section of thejournal.ie to steer people away from the real truth.

    Well done, you got me.

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Duggan
    Favourite Stephen Duggan
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:30 PM

    Certain events will always mark time periods for people. This is one event that I will always remember. Yes became its a major tragedy for all involved, but mainly for the mystery involved. It really is like something out of the twilight zone.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Linda Conlon
    Favourite Sean Linda Conlon
    Report
    Apr 8th 2014, 1:00 AM

    Aussies on verge of sending down underwater vessel to look for wreckage: http://ab.co/1stOcnW

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:32 PM

    If they are from MH370, what happens next? ……

    ….Iran gets blamed and the War starts…

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute simon shewster
    Favourite simon shewster
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:10 PM

    I know what you mean about shills frank but sounds like sheep is more appropriate. I said to a mate at the weekend that i’m skeptical about 9/11. I was jeered at and labelled jim corr.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:09 PM

    Did MH370 become a ‘ghost plane’?

    Never in this day and age with such sophisticated surveillance and communications… It can certainly become a ‘ghost plane’ if the cockroaches in Western powers want you to believe it that way.

    http://s27.postimg.org/ftx7q5zir/Plane.gif

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chief
    Favourite Chief
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:13 PM

    Frank are you really Mel Gibson?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute eye_c_u__
    Favourite eye_c_u__
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:16 PM

    Frank trolling only works when you drop the odd bomb. But when ya commenting over and over we know your just taking the mickey :)

    Have to say I had thought no chance of that pinger working but there you go. Go on the us navy

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Beep
    Favourite Sean Beep
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:31 PM

    It’s funny that even though we live in such a technological world where information is emerging 24/7 from all angles, the media all over the world still insists on being carbon copies of each other and reporting and emphasizing the exact same stories. There are far more important matters that are being neglected, but why??? Are we incapable of any originality?

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Walsh™
    Favourite Ian Walsh™
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:35 PM

    It’ll be one hell of a movie……

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:52 PM

    One damn good propaganda movie….

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jaymie
    Favourite Jaymie
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:13 PM

    Frank what are you going to do if they find the plane you seem to be loving the conspiracy theory’s

    13
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:32 PM

    Even if they did pull something out of the water I would take it as a lie.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jaymie
    Favourite Jaymie
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:59 PM

    Frank what happened to the plane and why?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:15 PM

    Anything could have happened to it… Most alternative media and CT point to Diego Garcia military base.

    My speculation is that it was a botched false flag attempt by the West intended to draw Iran into conflict.

    Either the passengers were all bumped off or else they never existed in the first place. The US Government has hired professional crisis actors in the past.

    Coincidentally ex Malaysian Airways clone of this missing plane has been sitting in a hangar at Teliviv airport since November. Whether this had anything to do with a botched spectacular also leaves questions. https://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/why-do-the-israelis-have-a-777-identical-to-mh370-in-a-hangar-in-tel-aviv/

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jaymie
    Favourite Jaymie
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:38 PM

    So you’re saying all the relatives that we see on tv crying with pics of their families and kids and their backgrounds are made up?

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan.V
    Favourite Alan.V
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:48 PM

    Frank, you wouldn’t happen to be a friend of Jim Corr would you?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 7:09 PM

    Jaymie There are such things as crisis actors, a phenomena among corrupt Governments that stoop so low to push their agenda’s by playing on the minds of people.

    This is a brilliant 10 minute documentary on the Boston Bombing that shows you exactly how actors and special effects were a major part of this hoax.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03UMewFYD6w

    I would well believe crisis actors were used in this incident and if so it won’t be too long before all the discrepancies start cropping up on UTube.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Favourite Wayne O'Fathaigh
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 11:56 PM

    Frank I know a victim of the Boston bombing your comment is digitising and out of order!

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sat singh
    Favourite Sat singh
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 6:58 PM

    We know f**k all,let’s be honest,
    Hope relatives get closure soon,how
    I don’t know.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Keith Duncan
    Favourite Keith Duncan
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:23 PM

    If the pings aren’t from the black box then what are they from?

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute eye_c_u__
    Favourite eye_c_u__
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 6:47 PM

    An orange box with flight data recorder writing on it?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute eye_c_u__
    Favourite eye_c_u__
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 6:48 PM

    Written

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute orla
    Favourite orla
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:23 PM

    One truth is that the plane was carrying employees from a company,called Freescale,who,invented a component,that would make the plane undetected.They were about to make TRILLIONS,from this,another businessman had a share too,The 20 of them,were in that plane!! A few days later the Patent,came through, they missed out on Trillions, only the business man,will get the money,the component will be invaluable in war zones,because planes wont be detected.I looked up Freescale,and yes,20of their employers were on that plane!And they. .

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honest Tom
    Favourite Honest Tom
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 7:47 PM

    According to Forbes magazine Bill Gates is currently the worlds richest man, worth $76 billion. However, according to you this business man no one has heard of is about to top Bill Gates, and is worth thousands of Billions? He is going to be worth more than 25 times what Bill Gates has earned with one business deal. Nonsense.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rupert Ruccus
    Favourite Rupert Ruccus
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:05 PM

    The pilot flew the plane into the remotest part of the Indian ocean he could find-end of !

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute My Views
    Favourite My Views
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:16 PM

    End of for you but not for the families of 239 people on board the plane. Or for anyone else who is interested in the fact that a plane (most of us fly in them at some point) can vanish – id certainly like to know what happened so lessons could be learnt

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James St John Smith
    Favourite James St John Smith
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 3:27 PM

    What will the black box tell us? Whoever hijacked it wouldn’t be giving much away to the black box would they?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank Mc Carthy
    Favourite Frank Mc Carthy
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:51 PM

    Black Boxes are not Gospel and have been substituted, doctored and interfered with right down through history.

    http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/1519470/

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute eye_c_u__
    Favourite eye_c_u__
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 5:12 PM

    The box will record voice and every input and system settings as well as what instruments were reading for last few hours before impact.

    So yeah they will reveal everything. If someone throttles up or makes an adjustments the boxes will tell and we know it was suicide or not. It will reveal a huge amount

    14
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dexter Ferguson
    Favourite Dexter Ferguson
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 10:31 PM

    Give it a rest Frank, or I’ll drive around to your basement apartment and give you a right whack on your noggin with my ivory handled cane!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James St John Smith
    Favourite James St John Smith
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 10:36 PM

    I’d say Frank’s been interfered with.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jacintha Dumbrell
    Favourite Jacintha Dumbrell
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 4:32 PM

    Im sick a hearin about dis bleedin plane at dis stage, its bleedin gone

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Dude
    Favourite The Dude
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 7:01 PM

    Ah jaysus, yeah, georgie burgess!

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Dude
    Favourite The Dude
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 7:03 PM

    Ah jaysus, dats right, georgie burgess!

    1
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Dude
    Favourite The Dude
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 7:08 PM

    Ah jaysus, georgie burgess!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James St John Smith
    Favourite James St John Smith
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 10:37 PM

    Gone where Jacinta?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute orla
    Favourite orla
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 9:12 PM

    Honest Tom,it was nice of you to send me a link to some classified info!!!

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute orla
    Favourite orla
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 8:01 PM

    Honest Tom, I wont be naming anyone,here,go find out for yourself, its easy.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honest Tom
    Favourite Honest Tom
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 8:28 PM

    Orla. Freescale semiconductors had 20 employees on the flight. From that fact you have jumped to the conclusion that those people were the patent holders of some new amazing technology. Are you saying there was 21 people who owned the patent, Those 20 plus the 1 other patent holder who wasn’t on the flight?

    I am employed by a very large American software/technology company. It doesn’t mean I own any of their patents.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honest Tom
    Favourite Honest Tom
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 8:54 PM

    Orla. Further to above, the patent does exist. However if you look it up you will see that none of the owners of the patent were on the passenger list of the flight.

    http://www.google.com/patents/US8650327

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute orla
    Favourite orla
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 9:37 PM

    Four of the chinese employees were patent holders,Tom.Il say no more.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Honest Tom
    Favourite Honest Tom
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 9:50 PM

    Orla. I wasn’t suggesting it was classified info. If anything I was showing how easy it was to see the patent and check the facts. None of the owners of the patent were on the passenger list of flight MH370.

    Four of the Chinese employees were patent holders, you’ll say no more. So basically you have nothing intelligent to say. None of the names listed on the patent were on the passenger list. You carry on though, don’t let the facts get in the way if your crazy conspiracies !

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Walsh
    Favourite Barry Walsh
    Report
    Apr 7th 2014, 9:40 PM

    On the conspiracy theory note,i dont think this is one,but 9/11 has some smoking guns,the level of misdirection it takes to manage to make the third wtc building go so unnoticed,in spite of the fact that it fell demolition style,after some localised fires,now i could at a stretch believe that two buildings would fall like that,but three is pushing credibility,especially when the third building didnt take a hit!

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.