The Disappearance
Despite losing communications with the plane, investigators were still able to gain info on what happened the the plane.
Losing Connection
According to a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the plane went missing shortly after air traffic control instructed the pilots to switch to ATC in Ho Chi Minh City. The plane never switched but instead, it remained disconnected. At first, it only seemed to be a delay in connecting, but the plane continued to fly without connecting to ATC. In addition to air traffic control, another way to communicate with a plane is through its transponder. It is mandatory for all planes to keep their transponders on, however shortly after MH370 lost connection with ATC their transponders also turned off. A third way planes can communicate is through the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System which is located in the cockpit and in the main cabin. Both of these went offline as well.
Within minutes, 3 methods of contact with the plane were lost. What could have caused this?
The only way a plane of this size could lose all communication was if there was a major fire or power failure in the plane. At first, it would seem possible that something like that could happen. However, just minutes before, the pilots were talking to ATC and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was no distress signal sent out either. A large fire would have brought down the plane promptly.
A cockpit of a Boeing 777 (Image from Swiss Airlines)
Normal aircraft tracking. All of which went offline except for satellite communication (Photo by BBC)
Yet, satellites were still able to contact the plane. The satellites were able to ping the plane for over 6 hours suggesting the plane remained in the air for a long time. If there was an accident, these satellite antenna would have also gone offline.
The Path
Another important detail that disproves that the disappearance was an accident was where the plane flew after the connection was lost. Not only was the plane still up after connection was lost, but another method of tracking, military radar, kept tabs on the plane even though the normal ways of tracking were offline.
According to the Safety Investigation Report, the data from the radar shows that the plane took a slight right turn then took a large left turn almost 180 degrees back towards Malaysia. If there was an accident, turning back to Malaysia to land would make sense as that was where the closest land was located. However the plane never attempted to land, it continued flying in a straight line until the plane took a slight right at Penang Island. From there the plane continued to fly in that direction until the plane went out of military radar range.
A map of the flight path
Location rings shows the possible locations of the plane
At this point, the only form of communication that was still online was the satellite antenna. The
satellites made multiple handshakes or pings with the plane. Although the pings don't provide location
data, analysts were still able to calculate how fast the plane was going based on the time it took for the
plane to respond. The plane was going at a normal speed of 600MPH away from the satellite based on this
data, multiple rings were made showing the possible locations of the planes.
By now it is clear that someone was in control of the plane, in the event of an accident the plane would
have likely crashed earlier or landed when it flew over malyasia. The precise turns made also means that
the likelyhood of the plane running on autopilot is low. Someone was still in manual control of the plane.
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