14 Features Issue 12 July 2024 The RGS Gazette The Mysteries of MH370 Max Mo, Pranoy Sajeev and Ayaan Khan (Year 7) explore the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was a plane which set off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8th, 2014. Approximately 40 minutes into the flight, all communication with the air traffic control tower was cut off, and ever since, it has never been found. Many experts in the field have speculated on the whereabouts of the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members at the time. In this day and age, an entire plane completely disappearing from the radar is extremely unusual. A search began after the disappearance of the flight on March 31st, 2014, and continued for 4 years, costing millions of dollars. The search was halted, as there was no trace of the plane, even after all that time. The disappearance remains one of the most perplexing aviation mysteries in all of history. The pilot of the plane was Zaharie Ahmad Shah, aged 53, and the copilot was Fariq Abdul Hamid, aged 27. There were 12 crew members onboard the flight, as well as 227 passengers, bringing the total number of people to 239. The flight took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 on March 8th, 2014. All contact with the flight was lost just 40 minutes later. One of the popular theories is that Zaharie Ahmad Shah committed suicide and massacre by crashing the plane into the Indian Ocean. Although this is a popular theory, there is no evidence that this actually occurred. Neither Shah nor the copilot, Abdul Hamid, were found to have any major mental or physical problems during their lifetime. They did not have a criminal record either, leading many experts to discredit this theory, due to the lack of a clear motive. "Scientists have also speculated that the remains of MH370 could be traced using audio signals" Another increasingly popular theory about the fate of the Malaysian plane proposes that it fell into a hole, 6000 metres deep, approximately 1500m west of Perth, Australia. This was proposed by an Antarctic and Marine researcher named Vincent Lyne, but once again, the plane has not been found there since, and so it remains just a theory. Many marine scientists have also speculated that the remains of MH370 could be traced using audio signals emitted off the coast, which were then picked up by a hydroacoustic station. These have the potential to reduce any further search time to just a year. The last words of the captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, were: “Goodnight, Malaysia threesevenzero.” The families of the people on the flight who tragically disappeared were given between 380,000 and 540,000 pounds for the loss of their relatives and close friends. There are many more theories as to what happened onboard the flight. However, there is one that appears more likely. Several aviation experts believe that Captain Shah locked the first officer out of the flight deck. It is suggested he then shut down all communication with air traffic controllers and depressurized the aircraft. This would have caused the passengers and crew to die, due to a lack of oxygen. Finally, what are people doing about it today? Although the main body of the wreckage has not been located, some fragments of the plane have been found on the coast of East Africa. This does suggest that there is hope of finding the exact location of the wreckage, and that it could be closer than we imagine. The mystery of flight MH370 must be solved, so that the families of the passengers can finally be at ease. MH370 before the disappearance (2014) Messages of support for the victims in Malaysia (2014) A piece of MH370 discovered in the Indian Ocean (2015)
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