Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, one of the most famous disappearances in aviation history, disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and crew on board. The incident began at 12:41 a.m. when the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a veteran pilot with 18 years of experience, and First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid were on board.
After reaching a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet and making contact with Kuala Lumpur air traffic control, the plane was handed over to Vietnamese air traffic control. However, shortly after entering Vietnamese airspace, the plane disappeared from radar without any distress signal. The plane’s transponder had stopped working, making it invisible to radar. This anomaly has raised many questions about what really happened to the plane.
After disappearing from radar, reports suggested that MH370 may have turned around and flown west over the Strait of Malacca, then north into the Indian Ocean. Subsequent reports from Inmarsat satellites indicated that the plane continued flying for hours after losing contact, but no one knew its exact location.
The initial search focused on the South China Sea, but later expanded to the deeper waters of the Indian Ocean. Finally, on 24 March 2014, the Malaysian Prime Minister confirmed that MH370 probably crashed into the southern Indian Ocean with no hope of survival for the passengers and crew.
Over the following months, searches continued at enormous expense, but no debris was found. In July 2015, a piece of the plane’s wing was found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, far from the search area. In the end, a total of 26 pieces of debris were discovered in various locations, some of which were confirmed to be from MH370. Later investigations suggested that the plane may have crashed into the sea without anyone controlling it, but the specific cause remains a mystery.
Hypotheses ranging from technical failure to deliberate action were considered, but to this day, the mystery of MH370 remains unsolved, becoming one of the most mysterious disappearances in aviation history.
In July 2018, Malaysian authorities released an in-depth report on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. This report dismissed mechanical failure as a cause, suggesting that the aircraft’s course was likely altered manually. Despite this strong implication of intentional intervention, experts were unable to determine the exact cause behind the flight’s disappearance.
A significant clue that raised alarms was the discovery that two passengers boarded Flight 370 using stolen passports—one from Austria and the other from Italy. These passports had been reported stolen in Thailand in the two years prior. Interpol confirmed that the stolen passports were in their database of missing documents. The situation grew even more concerning when Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s internal security minister, criticized immigration officials for allowing passengers to board with stolen passports. The passengers, who were young Iranian men, had bought one-way tickets to Europe with cash. They had entered Malaysia legally, and some speculated that they were seeking asylum. However, Interpol did not believe this was a terrorist act.
Further investigations into the passengers’ backgrounds revealed no signs of terrorism or violent intentions, though one individual—a Swiss flight engineer—caught attention due to his aviation expertise, leading to speculation that he might have been involved in a hijacking. One theory even suggested that Russian agents might have intentionally crashed the plane in Kazakhstan to distract from Russia’s actions in Crimea, though there was no concrete evidence to support this.
A particularly haunting aspect of the investigation involved the cell phones of the passengers, which continued to ring after the plane disappeared. Distressed family members tried calling the phones, fueling speculation that the plane had not sunk to the ocean floor. However, telecommunications experts clarified that a ringing phone does not mean a connection was made—it simply indicates the network’s attempt to connect to the device. This technical explanation offered some relief but did little to ease the growing uncertainty and sorrow.
The disappearance became even more perplexing when the plane unexpectedly altered its course and went silent, with no communication from the passengers. This silence was odd in a world where constant communication is the norm. No messages, calls, or posts were made by any of the passengers, even though many were from Malaysia and China, where mobile phone ownership is widespread. Theories arose that passengers might not have been able to communicate due to the altitude of the plane or that they might have tried unsuccessfully to reach out.
Further investigation revealed that military radar detected unusual behavior when the plane turned and climbed to 45,000 feet—much higher than it was supposed to go. The plane then descended to 29,500 feet and maintained that altitude for a period. Authorities suggested that this altitude could explain why passengers’ phones failed to connect. The higher the plane went, the more difficult it would be for cell phones to establish a connection with ground towers.
As the investigation progressed, the focus turned toward the flight’s crew, especially the captain, Zahari Ahmad Shah. Investigators discovered that Zahari had a flight simulator in his home, which showed a flight path that closely matched the route taken by Flight 370. This led some to believe that Zahari had premeditated the plane’s crash, possibly due to personal issues. Zahari was going through a separation from his wife and was distressed by the imprisonment of a family member, but his family and friends insisted that he was not struggling emotionally or psychologically.
However, as the investigation unfolded, attention also turned to the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, who had attempted to make a phone call from his personal phone while the plane was flying over Malaysia’s coastline. The call was briefly connected to a tower before being dropped, leading some to believe that Fariq might have had something to hide. Speculation swirled that Fariq might have taken control of the plane and intentionally caused its disappearance. However, Fariq had been looking forward to his upcoming wedding and was passionate about his career, making it difficult to understand why he would engage in such a drastic act.
The complexity of the investigation, combined with the various theories about the involvement of the captain, co-pilot, and even potential hijacking, has made the mystery of Flight 370 one of the most enduring and perplexing aviation cases.
