The Search For MH370 Continues

[PeterRS]

It remains one of aviation's most extraordinary mysteries, one that vast amounts of cash and years of searching yielded nothing but a few bits of debris off the coast of Africa. No one could or can explain exactly how or why it happened. Given that there are still people searching for the plane in which Amelia Earhart is assumed to have met her death all the way back in 1937, I suppose it was inevitable that a search for the remains of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 which totally disappeared of the face of earth and sea almost exactly 11 years ago would at some future time be restarted.

And that is what is now happening. A vessel from maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity was spotted in the South Indian ocean on 23 February. It has now been confirmed that it has resumed the hunt for the missing plane and the remains of its passengers. 

Quote

Malaysia agreed to resume the search in December 2024, with Ocean Infinity conducting the search on a “no-find-no-fee” basis. Loke said the government would sign a contract for 18 months, in return for which Ocean Infinity would receive $70m if the wreckage was located and verified. The search would cover 15,000 sq km, [Malaysian trasport Minister] Loke said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/mh370-search-resumes-malaysia-airlines-ocean-infinity

[PeterRS]

The most recent search which was called off temporarily due to bad weather in March is due to recommence on December 30. I'd have thought that the chances of finding anything from that flight after almost eleven years have elapsed since its disappearance is remote in the extreme. But we can always hope. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7v077dm0po

[unicorn]

This was quite some time ago, so maybe my memory's faulty, but I thought they had no idea where the plane fell into the ocean. It would be one thing if they had some notion as to where to look, but unless there's been some new info, I'm at a loss to understanding how they might find the wreckage. Has new information come to light as to where the plane might be--information I missed? 

[PeterRS]

I don't believe new information has come to light. The pressure to find wreckage is coming from governments and relatives of those who were lost. I suspect the airline industry also wants to know what likely happened? Was it a fault with the 777? Oxygen failure was at first considered but the subsequent discovery of the rerouting rules that out?.Was it terrorism? After all, the plane's transponders were deliberately switched off. The Malaysian government analysed the backgrounds of all crew and passengers and this was ruled out. Was it a rogue pilot intent on killing himself and everyone without anyone being able to prove it? Some still believe this is the most likely reason, the more so as he came from Penang and might have been taking a last look.

Part of the problem is that the Malaysian government held on to the facts it knew perfectly well for far too long. Why, we still do not know. Once the aircraft was lost from commercial aircraft radar, the assumption was that the plane must have gone down after being handed over to Ho Chi Minh controllers and before it acknowledged Vietnam's "hello" signal. So the initial search was conducted off the south east tip of Vietnam. But by that stage the Malaysian military knew perfectly well this was not true. Their military radar had tracked an off course aircraft doubling back, crossing over the north of Malaysia, turning north and passing around the top of Penang at a much lower altitude of flight before they lost track of it. The Thai military was also well aware the aircraft had turned back but they needed Malaysian approval before they could confirm that knowledge. The captain's home equipment was discovered to have this route, but that is not proof.

The result was the start of an exhaustive search off Vietnam's southern coast. It took two days for the Malaysian government to confirm the route change across Malaysia and around Penang. That extended the search to the  Straits of Malacca. But the government was still not revealing all it knew. Then 4 days later the status of the engines which is automatically sent back to its Rolls Royce manufacturer every 30 minutes (a routine occurrence for engines and makers) proved that the engines remained operating for at least five hours. Malaysia initially denied this. But 2 more days later, satellite operator Inmarsat reported detecting pings from the aircraft for even longer. The problem was that Inmarsat could not identify whether the aircraft was flying north or south. Countries to the north confirmed the aircraft could not have entered their air space as their military radars would have detected it. In fact Inmarsat had provided this information to the Malaysian government two days after the disappearance. The Malaysian government kept that information secret for another three days.

Thus five and a half days following disappearance, the search shifted to the southern part of the Indian Ocean roughly off the south west tip of Australia - the point at which the aircraft would have run out of fuel. Extensive searches on the surface and under the surface yielded nothing. Then, 16 months after the disappearance, some airline debris was discovered on the island of Reunion off Africa, some 4,000 kms west of the search area. In addition to a few items from passengers carry on luggage, there was a flaperon postively identified as belonging to missing 777. Analysis of the ocean currents confirmed this location was certainly possible. Part of an engine cowling was later discovered in South Africa. 

The ocean floor off Australia where the aircraft is suspected of having crashed is rather like a volcanic area with major peaks and troughs making any search especially difficult. The  chance of the new search coming up with any additional information after so many years must be infinitesimal. But the search company is undertaking it on the basis it will only get paid if it has some success.

[PeterRS]

A point I failed to note in the longer post. Had the Malaysian government been 100% open with the facts as soon as it was aware contact had been lost with the commercial aircraft and at the same time an unidentified aircraft was flying across the north of the county, it could I assume with relative ease have scrambled much faster military aircraft to fly alongside it. If the cockpit crew were unresponsive, it could have quickly relayed that information to miltary controllers. If the crew were responsive but not prepared to follow orders, tracking its flight path would have been relatively simple by bringing in Singapore, Indonesian and Australian military aircraft.  So in my book the fault lies totally with the government of Malaysia.