Nearly a decade after flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, experts and officials are no closer to figuring out what happened to the plane and its 239 passengers that vanished into thin air.
None of the passengers were ever found, and neither was the plane or its black box that could answer the mystery of its disappearance. While there are many theories surrounding the flight’s disappearance, officials were unable to tell the victim’s families what had happened, denying them closure.
Now, a new three-part Netflix documentary MH370: The Plane That Disappeared will re-examine the case, bringing together scientists, investigators, journalists and the victims’ families, who are all still searching for answers.
Here are the theories, timeline and possible debunks in the new series that investigates the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370.
Timeline: When did MH370 go missing on 8 March 2014?
MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 12.41 am local time, with a total of 239 people on board: 227 passengers and 12 crew members.
At 1.07 pm the data reporting system of the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft shuts down, although the aircraft remains on the way.
At 1.21 the transponder which transmits location and altitude data goes off. US investigators were unable to determine why the system shut down and did not rule out a hijacking or takeover, meaning “stealth action”.
MH370 made its last voice transmission at 1.19am, while the aircraft was over the South China Sea, when either the pilot or co-pilot said “Good night Malaysian Three Seven Zero”. The transponder went dead two minutes later.
The aircraft, still being tracked by military radar, suddenly turned west while flying over the Malay Peninsula, breaking with its north-easterly course.
At 2.22 it reached the edge of military radar range, about 230 miles from Penang. MH370 missed its arrival time at Beijing airport at 6.30 am.
Satellite communication data shows that the plane continued to fly until around 8.19 pm, when it probably ran out of fuel. Malaysian authorities concluded that it probably crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
Wreckage of the Boeing 777 was found off the coasts of Réunion, Madagascar and Mozambique, increasing the credibility of the possible crash site.
By 11 a.m., some of the victims’ families had gathered in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur as officials updated them on flight status.
Read more: Forgotten flight MH370 mass murder-suicide theory re-emerges
Tenet: The Pilot, The Hijack, The Intercept
The first theory presented in MH370: The Plane That Disappeared centers on pilot Captain Zahari Ahmad Shah.
The idea is that he depressurized the cabin after locking his co-pilot out of the cockpit and waited for the passengers’ oxygen masks to run out of air as he flew the plane over the southern Indian Ocean and waited for the fuel to run out .
There have been reports that Shah behaved strangely before the flight and his wife and three children are said to have moved out of their house the day before the flight.
The Sunday Times reported that a similar route over the southern Indian Ocean on a simulator in Shah’s home was found on deleted flight paths. His family has strongly denied this theory.
There are rumors that Shah’s marriage was falling apart and that he regularly slept with flight attendants. It has also been alleged that the Malaysian government knew more about his domestic life than what has been disclosed publicly.
The Netflix documentary series The Hijack presents a second theory, branded The Hijack by American aviation journalist Jeff Wise.
Wise believes Russian operatives stole MH370 to divert attention from the destruction of Crimea. The operatives would have accessed the aircraft’s electronics bay through a hatch in first class.
However, this theory ignores satellite data, which Wise says may have been tampered with.
A third theory, The Intercept, features French journalist Florence de Changy, the Southeast Asia correspondent for Le Monde.
De Changy speculates that MH370 may have been shot down over the South China Sea by the US government to prevent unknown cargo from reaching China.
Both Wise’s and de Changy’s theories assume that radar and satellite data are either inaccurate or have been tampered with.
JUST IN: Trump plans to publish Oprah’s private letters in new book
bang: no definite conclusion
Although the new series explores theories about the disappearance of MH370 like other investigations, it fails to come to a definite conclusion.
The documentary series focuses on what the experts don’t know and what they do about the mysterious phenomenon and those working on the show want to remind viewers that this story “does not have an end”.
“There were a lot of nationalities on that plane. I think we’re really proud of the people who chose to speak with us, because they make up a real cross-section of the MH370 community,” said series director Louise Malkinson In a Netflix press release.
She said: “They want people to keep talking about it.”
Similarly, producer Harry Hewland said: “More than anything, we want to sweep the hidden truth about MH370 out of the carpet they’ve been swept under, and remind people that it’s still There is a story that has no end, a mystery that has not been solved, that the world knows more than what has been told.
“And if we can raise the profile of the story again, and raise it by a decibel or two, then the cry to keep the search going, we’ll have done something useful.”
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared premieres March 8 on Netflix.
#MH370 #Plane #Disappeared #Theories #Timeline #Big #Bang #America #news