Where Has the Flight MH370 Disappeared?
What has happened to the flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It left KL at 12.41 am on March 8 and lost contact with civilian radar an hour later. It had 239 people abroad of which around 154 were Chinese and five were Indians. The plane a Boeing 777-200ER has mysteriously disappeared ever since losing contact with the radar.
A search on the internet indicates that the first recorded disappearance during a flight was on Dec 28, 1856, of the hot air balloon named Ville de Paris, which was lost while flying over the Straits of Florida north of Havana in Cuba. However the first plane to have been lost never to be recovered was the aircraft named S.29, piloted by Cecil Grace on December 22, 1910 while on a private flight over the English Channel.
Forty nine persons abroad the Zeppelin type aircraft named Dixmude were lost in a suspected mid air explosion while flying over Gulf of Gabes in near Italy on December 21, 1923. Many planes have disappeared over seas never to be recovered but it is first time a plane as big as Boeing 777 carrying 239 persons in an age of continuous connectivity has so mysteriously simply disappeared with out a trace.
It is reported that since 1948 around 82 planes have disappeared without their cause being known and have not been recovered. The causes of their sudden disappearance has never been explained. In the period 1940 to 1960's many planes flying over what is known as the Bermuda Triangle in the Pacific Ocean simply disappeared. Host of legends grew around the Triangle and bizarre theories were put forward to explain the disappearance of the planes never to be found again. Sensation seeking authors wrote books on the Bermuda Triangle, but none could explain what happened.
One of America's most famous missing pilot was Amelia Earhart, who in 1937, was attempting an circumnavigational flight. While making a descent in the Pacific Ocean, her plane was never found and no one knows what really happened to her.
So what has happened to the flight MH370? Will the truth ever come out? One can only speculate based on available data and yet not be sure as to what really happened. The bitter truth is that 239 precious lives have apparently been needlessly lost.
It is clear that the plane has not suffered an explosion as then the debris would have been spread over a large area and chances of it being spotted would have also been very high. It is apparent that someone in the ill fated plane singly or as part of a group has fiddled with the controls in the cockpit and in the process the plane has gone into the sea at perhaps relatively low speed and has not disintegrated. This is because when a falling plane at high speed hits the sea surface the impact is like hitting a bed of granite and the plane breaks up. That after 11 days also no debris has been found perhaps indicates that the plane has entered into sea as a whole and is now resting thousands of meters below on the sea bed, waiting to be spotted.
Was the plane hijacked? If yes, then before the hijackers could succeed the plane went down. The organisation behind the hijack for fear of international repercussions does not now want to identify itself.
Did both the pilots or one of them want to commit suicide and take the plane along. Looks probable but the pilots are highly trained and would surely think about the 235 innocent passenger lives. However can't be ruled out totally either but will be on hold till proof of a motive for suicide is not credibly established.
Did all of a sudden the controls of the plane get corrupted due to someone tinkering with them or due to some outside signal or due to a rare but severe malfunction, making it impossible for the plane to be controlled by the pilots till it eventually disappeared.
However what is confusing is the fact that after all the signal emanating systems were switched off the plane is supposed to have continued its journey on a different route for anywhere up to seven hours thereafter. That civilian and military radars could not track it or question the unauthorized route being followed also deepens the mystery further. Why should the pilots either on their own or under someone else's command continue low level flying without communicating with anyone on ground (or we are not aware of it).
A huge plane like Boeing 777 cannot land on earth and remain hidden with 239 live passengers for so long. Satellites are able to detect cycles and scooters from up there and they will not miss the plane. If it has crashed into some thick forests then in 11 days it would have come to light .
The unanswered questions are also there begging to be resolved. Why did the pilot switch off the transponder after saying 'Good night' to the air controller, as if he was putting off the bedroom light. Why did the plane change its route west wards to nowhere(!) and did not communicate with the air controllers. Where they neutralized and plane was under control of some one else who knew piloting as was the case with 9/11 pilots. If yes then was he in touch with his handlers and was to take the plane to hit some land based target. Having failed to do so for unknown reasons the group is now not coming forward to claim responsibility.
Why did the plane turn west and not east? Who can now tell. Was some group hostile to China involved as 154 passengers were Chinese.
Why did the two passengers who came from other places to Kuala Lumpur on real passports decide to use fake and stolen passports for their journey to Beijing? Perhaps the real answer may come out from this action of these two passengers. Why did they discontinue travelling on their real passports? Is it they who overpowered the pilots and made them divert the plane westwards and before they could accomplish their task catastrophe struck and the plane went down into the bottom of the sea. It is too risky for anyone to now claim responsibility for a botched up attempt.
Could the Malaysian security personnel not have detected the stolen passports being used by impersonators. Very difficult unless these were on watch list. Stolen passport data may not always be shared with Interpol.
The million dollar question is therefore what has happened to the flight MH370? As happens during investigations the information that is given out leads no where and the information that could lead somewhere is not shared. However the vastness of the Indian Ocean, the sudden breakdown in communications, the absence of a known motive, and the fact that even signals which are to be emitted upon the device coming in touch with salt water is not doing so adds to the deepening of the mystery with each passing day.
One only hopes that in these days of fantastic investigative tools the Boeing 7777 does not become the 49th plane which could not be located since 1948. Let us pray for the hapless passengers.
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