March 2024 marks 10 years since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) went missing. In 2014, the Boeing 777 scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing sparked a great aviation disaster when it lost connection with the towers and reportedly went completely missing afterward. Search operations were started right after its reports of disappearance were made.
Yet, these operations bore no fruit, as even after 10 years, neither the complete information about the plane is made known nor have the theories linked to it been proven right or wrong. While it is reported that the debris of MH370 was found, the complications of it being found nearly 1000 km away from each other make the story more mysterious and complicated.
The Story of MH370
On March 8, 2014, the international passenger flight MH370 was scheduled to travel from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport, China. It did take off from Malaysia, but for some unknown reasons, it never reached its destination.
MH370 took off from Malaysian Airport at 12:41 am and was able to reach a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet by 1:01 am. Like all other airplanes, the Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was in touch with the control towers within Malaysia, and information about the plane’s performance was being transmitted. At 1:07 am, the connection was subsequently switched off, and about 40 minutes after the plane had taken off, its transponder communicated the last-ever message heard from the plane.
At 1.21 am, the plane was about to enter Vietnamese airspace over the South China Sea, so as a sign of passing the plane over to Vietnamese controllers, the team bid goodbye, to which the transponder communicated “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero” from Captain Zaharie. Everything went silent after that.
The plane’s transponders were turned off as well as the tracking system. The plane’s symbol went completely dark midway on the air controller’s radar. On the other hand, the Malaysian military radar was able to track them as soon as they saw that the plane had deviated from its original path and had flown southwest over the Malay Peninsula and then over the Strait of Malacca, northwest.
All methods of communicating with the team onboard failed, and at 2:22 am the military radar lost track of the plane as well. However, it is reported that an Inmarsat satellite in the geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean could detect the plane around it until 8:11 am.
Initial searches began to look for the plane around the South China Sea, but when the information of the satellite contact was revealed on March 15, the search area was expanded over the Indian Ocean as well. Desperate to know where the plane had gone off, the government of Malaysia even took the help of multinational companies, but to no avail.
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 only came back with pieces of debris. The overall search effort proved unfruitful. The future was dark, and there were no signs of the plane anywhere. Thus, on March 24, Malaysian PM Razak announced their conclusion that the plane had crashed and it was extremely unlikely for anyone to survive. The 227 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the passenger jet were, thus, presumed dead.
The People Onboard
When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, the profiles of all the people onboard were investigated, but nothing much out of the ordinary was ever found. The 239 people included mostly citizens from China. This included artists who were going back home after some exhibition events. The rest included people from different countries who were traveling to China for jobs and other affairs. While the data of passengers does not rule out any suspicious thing, conspiracy theorists have never ruled out the fact that there might be important people on the board that could have led to an attack on the plane.
Nonetheless, the 12 crew members were all Malaysian citizens. The co-pilots heading the plane to Beijing included 53-year-old Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who had been with Malaysia Airlines since 1981, and 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, who joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007. Noticeably, flight 370 was Fariq’s last flight as the officer was under training, and he was scheduled to be examined in the next one.
The search for MH370 has been going on and off for years, but all in all, none of the conclusions the research parties come across have been proven with solid evidence. The discovery of debris on the plane, however, led to more complications. On July 29, 2015, the first piece of the plane, the right-wing flaperon, was discovered on Reunion, a French island and about 3700 km away from the search area over the Indian Ocean. Afterward, more pieces of the plane were discovered on the shores of Tanzania and Mauritius.
The problem with these discoveries was that they suggested the plane had broken down into pieces that floated ashore, but the study of the debris itself did not suggest the plane being guided towards water before falling. The search for MH370 by the governments of China, Malaysia, and Australia continued till 2017 when they were called off.
An American company also tried to continue the search for flight 370, but in 2018 it was announced by the Malaysian government that the change of path was done manually, but no solid point was proven for the disappearance of the plane. Recently, on December 20, 2024, the decision was reached to resume the search for the aircraft after a proposal by the firm Ocean Infinity. The new search will cover an area of 15,000 sq km over 18 months.
The Conspiracy Theories
While all the passengers onboard, including the crew members, are now presumed dead, the disappearance of the plane has caused many to think over what the actual reasons behind it could be.
The Mass Murder
The most popular and consistent theory was the accusation against the pilot, specifically Captain Zaharie. It is said that Zaharie was very enthusiastic about airplanes, especially the Boeing 777. What caused the suspicion was the revelation of a flight stimulation to his home being found in his possession. This added to the comments from his colleagues that he was sad and depressed, suggesting that the captain had all the knowledge and circumstances needed to switch off all communication and tracking devices and take the plane down along with him. This narrative has long been taken up, and even the captain’s family suffered because of it.
The Cockpit Fire
Wired suggests cockpit fire as one of the most plausible theories. Accordingly, a fire in the cockpit might have led the pilots to turn to the west, aiming for an airstrip. The loss of communication might be because of that, as the pilots had to focus on surviving rather than radioing. The fire then might have caused the pilots to pass out due to the continuous smoke inhalation and eventually led the plane to fly for hours before it ran out of fuel and crashed.
US Involvement
A wild theory also suggests that it might be the US that could have blown up the plane. The theory mentions that there were suspicions of MH370 carrying technical cargo to China, and it was never revealed to the public’s eye. Thus, it could have caused other stakeholders to try to avoid their sensitive data being leaked and used by other countries, thus triggering the crash. While the theory is not supported by any solid evidence, it is still there until solid proof of what happened appears.
The Hijacking/Insurance Deal
As a matter of fact, the hijacking of the plane was the top investigated situation. Upon investigation of the passengers, 2/3 others were also considered suspicious, but one of the passengers was taken as the prime suspect. The passenger was a flight engineer for a Swiss jet charter company and was believed to have the needed aviation information to switch off all connections and take over.
However, Shaikh Haque, an MBA student, concluded that it could be a case of crew hijacking like the FedEx flight 705. As the crew members have more access to the cockpit as well as know the basics of planes, one of them could have hijacked the plane and crashed it to ensure insurance surety for their family.
The two scenarios add to the situation, as it was reported that a telco service provider received a “hit” signal from a mobile phone tower at Bandar Baru Farlim Penang. While no communication took place from the established connection, the number that was recorded to have attempted the communication was traced back to having belonged to the second pilot onboard, Fariq Abdul Hamid. Thus, it can indeed be a situation where the first officer attempted to connect to at least anyone to ask for help.
Conclusion
Ten years after Malaysian Airlines MH370’s disappearance, the mystery remains unsolved, leaving questions unanswered and families longing for closure. Despite extensive investigations, theories range from pilot involvement and cockpit fire to hijacking or external interference, yet none are proven. The tragic loss of 239 lives underscores the complexities of modern aviation. As new searches reignite hope, MH370 remains a haunting reminder of the limits of human knowledge and the enduring quest for truth in the face of profound uncertainty.
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Sabrina Sohail is a student of National Defense University, Islamabad.