Malaysia Flight 370
History's Greatest Mysteries
This episode explores the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 on March 8, 2014, with expert analysis on possible causes ranging
Key takeaways
- MH370 vanished from radar after its transponders were turned off, but military primary radar tracked it flying for another 230 miles with drastic course changes.
- Satellite data suggests two possible flight paths—south into the Indian Ocean or north through central Asia—leading to competing theories about the plane's final destination.
Main topics
- MH370 disappearance on March 8, 2014
- Transponder failure and radar tracking anomalies
Notable quotes
"Planes don't just disappear." – Speaker 8
Conclusion
Despite a decade of investigation and countless theories, Malaysia Flight
Transcript preview
Speaker 6 (0:00) And now, a History Channel original podcast presented by Rewind. Speaker 6 (0:15) Today, one of the most chilling aviation mysteries in modern day, 239 people vanish over the Indian Ocean without a trace. Speaker 5 (0:27) With not enough oxygen feeding the brain, people can't do the simplest things, let alone something as complicated as piloting a commercial aircraft. Speaker 6 (0:36) Now we'll uncover the top theories surrounding the world's most infamous missing aircraft. Speaker 7 (0:42) The officials and most of the media convinced themselves that the satellite data could only mean one thing, that the plane went south. But they were wrong. Speaker 3 (0:51) Was it potentially a murder-suicide? There's 227 passengers on board. Any of them could be responsible. Speaker 6 (1:00) Can new clues bring us closer to answers? Speaker 8 (1:03) If the plane isn't flying itself, was it something more sinister? Because planes don't just disappear. Speaker 6 (1:09) What really happened to Malaysia Flight 370? Welcome to History's Greatest Mysteries, a History Channel original podcast presented by Rewind Studios. Each episode, we take a deep dive into some of the greatest unanswered questions from history, backed by some of the foremost experts on the subject. Today, the mystery of Malaysia Flight 370. Speaker 6 (1:43) March 8, 2014, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia Flight 370 sits on the runway awaiting clearance for takeoff. Speaker 8 (1:54) The cabin has been secured, tray tables and seat backs are in their upright and locked position, and the flight attendants are ready for what they hope will be a routine flight. On board, we have 239 people, 227 passengers. We have 12 crew members. The 12 crew members are all Malaysian citizens. And up front, we have Captain Shah. They're headed to Beijing International Airport. It's a routine flight. They make it twice a day. March 8th is no exception. Speaker 5 (2:24) This flight was a flight that Zahari Shah, the captain of the flight, was quite familiar with. Speaker 8 (2:30) Normally, the flight takes about six hours, flying over a handful of countries and international waters. Speaker 6 (2:36) At 12.40 a.m., MH370 is cleared for takeoff. Speaker 8 (2:48) Recordings of the radio chatter back and forth between the aircraft and the tower shows that everything is routine, mundane even. Speaker 6 (2:57) At 1.06, the plane's computer sends an automated position report. Speaker 8 (3:02) The transponders are continuously communicating with air traffic control, relaying information about the flight status. These messages show up on what's called secondary radar. Speaker 5 (3:13) At this point, Malaysia 370 is flying on course and has 96,000 pounds of fuel remaining. That's enough fuel for another six to seven hours of flight. Speaker 6 (3:25) A few minutes later, at 1.19, Captain Shaw radios air traffic control as he transitions from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace. Speaker 8 (3:35) Air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur radios MH370 and says, contact Ho Chi Minh on 120.9. Good night. That means it's time for MH370 to call the Vietnamese controllers on the frequency given. Speaker 5 (3:51) Captain Tahari then says, good night Malaysia 370. So everything seems fine. The next thing that should happen is that air traffic controllers in Ho Chi Minh City should hear from Malaysia 370. Speaker 6 (4:03) But that's not what happens. Speaker 4 (4:06) The Vietnamese air traffic controller at Ho Chi Minh never hear from that flight at the scheduled time. And all of a sudden, the flight transponders aren't responding at all, and they disappear from the air traffic controller's screen. Speaker 6 (4:20) Just 38 minutes into the flight, Malaysia 370 simply disappears from radar. Speaker 5 (4:27) It's really inexplicable that this aircraft, which had been flying and transmitting the secondary data all along, would, at this point of transition, just disappear. The transponder was turned off. The power was in some way stopped to the transponder. We don't know why it happened. Speaker 4 (4:45) In modern aviation, air traffic controllers know exactly where their airplanes are through secondary radars and precisely scheduled communications. Speaker 8 (4:54) So this is something that doesn't happen. Planes don't just vanish. Speaker 6 (4:59) Alarm bells immediately ring, and Vietnamese air controllers desperately attempt to contact the aircraft. Speaker 5 (5:06) It's just not the case that an airliner would be flying through some nation's airspace without the controllers knowing who it is, where it is, and why it's there. That's the way it works. Doesn't happen otherwise. They Speaker 3 (5:19) tried to contact the cockpit through the satellite phone. several times, but there was no answer. Then it was clear to them that the aircraft crashed into the sea. Speaker 6 (5:31) Which brings us to theory number one, a catastrophic mechanical failure. Speaker 8 (5:36) How could this happen so suddenly? Why was there no warning from the pilot? No mayday? Nothing. This kicks off what will eventually become the most expensive search in aviation history. Everyone, dozens of governments, hundreds of families, all want to know what happened to MH370. Speaker 6 (5:57) By 5.30 a.m., a massive search and rescue mission is underway. Speaker 3 (6:02) They gathered 26 countries to help with the search by sending 50 ships and about 60 aircraft. They're looking for anything on the water, wreckage, oil slick. The search starts naturally where the last transmission from the aircraft occurred and the last radar trace was found. It was right on the border between the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea. Speaker 8 (6:31) So they do find some oil slick. They test it to see if it's aviation fuel. But it's not. Speaker 4 (6:38) They look at satellite imagery, they see what they think is debris, but they physically go out there and there's nothing there. Speaker 3 (6:45) If the aircraft had crashed in that area initially, there'd be debris and oil slick and plastic and stuff all over the China Sea. Makes no sense that there's no sign of this airplane anywhere. Speaker 6 (7:00) After two days of searching, investigators turned to military radar records. Speaker 4 (7:06) Radar on military bases are constantly tracking to see if there's anything in range. Malaysia Flight 370 would have been in radar range for bases in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. So their radar records track the plane as well. And they do it slightly differently. Speaker 6 (7:25) Civilians rely on secondary radar, which requires a signal from the airplane's transponder. And Speaker 4 (7:31) that's what they've been using to search for MH370 so far. but the military uses what's called primary radar. Primary radar doesn't require a special signal from an airplane. It sends out radio waves where it bounces off any object that might be in the sky, and it reflects that radio signal back. Speaker 8 (7:51) It's kind of like echolocation, like a bat would use, but on a large scale. A Boeing 777 has two transponders. Specifically in case one fails, the other one is still going to be fine. So when MH370 vanishes from all the radar, That means both transponders are dead at the same time. Speaker 4 (8:12) After the transponder is turned off, the secondary radar can't see the airplane anymore. But guess what? The primary radar can still see the airplane and continues to track it. It shows the airplane keeps flying. Not Speaker 8 (8:27) only does it keep flying, it makes drastic course changes, just as it's supposed to cross into Vietnamese airspace. Speaker 8 (8:36) So MH370 turns a little bit to the east, then kind of loops back around. It's almost like it's turning back, back towards Malaysia. Then MH370 approaches the Isle of Penang and flies near the Strait of Malacca. Speaker 6 (8:51) Military radar tracks MH370 for another 230 miles into the Andaman Sea until the aircraft finally goes out of range. So Speaker 8 (9:02) in other words, they're looking in the wrong place. The searchers move their search to the Andaman Sea. But once again, there's nothing there. So the investigators are closer, but they're clearly not close enough. Speaker 8 (9:15) Keep in mind, military radar doesn't pinpoint where this airplane stops flying. As far as we know, it's still in the air all the way until it goes out of range. Speaker 4 (9:25) After that, it could have gone in a lot of different directions. The Speaker 6 (9:29) radar records raise an important question. Why does the plane fly off course? The Speaker 4 (9:35) MH370 planned flight path would have had it flying over the South China Sea towards Beijing. But the radar tracking shows it made a series of turns going towards the west. And it just keeps flying until it goes out of radar range. Speaker 8 (9:50) Once investigators realized the airplane kept flying, every possible theory was out there. Was it a bomb? Was it terrorism? Was it a crime? Was it something more sinister? Because planes don't just disappear. The internet went crazy, and so did every global government agency. Speaker 6 (10:12) To some, there's an obvious explanation. Speaker 8 (10:15) Right away,