"About 11 minutes later," the airplane entered the jurisdiction of the
Vietnamese Air Traffic. "That's
why the Air Traffic Control of Kuala Lumpur, " "radios the airplane saying,
""Malaysian 370," Contact
Ho Chi Minh. 120.9. "Goodnight.""" "Captain Zaharie answered by
saying," """Good
night. MAS 370.""" Everything
sounds normal. And it was normal till
this point in time. "But these
words by Captain Zaharie," were the
last words from this airplane. "After
this, there was no news from this flight."
The Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared suddenly. And this became the biggest aviation mystery
in the world. """Breaking
news tonight,"
"a Malaysian Airlines flight, MH 370," "disappeared on route to
Beijing.""" """Flight
MH370 entered in the Southern Indian Ocean.""" "Merely 30 seconds after entering the
Vietnamese Airspace," this plane
disappeared from the radar suddenly. It
was 01:21 AM in the morning. "The
Air Traffic Control in Kuala Lumpur didn't notice this," "and when they do, they think that" "the plane had flown out of the range of
their radar," and had entered
Vietnam's airspace. So there's nothing
unusual. "On the other hand, the
Air Traffic Control in Vietnam," "saw
that the MH370 entered their airspace,"
but disappeared from their radar suddenly. "They tried to communicate with the
plane," but there was no response
from the other side. "After
repeatedly trying for 18 minutes," "Vietnamese
controllers informed Kuala Lumpur,"
that MH 370 had disappeared suddenly.
"Generally, in such situations," "Kuala Lumpur's Aeronautical Rescue
Coordination Centre," "should
have been notified, within 1 hour,"
about the disappearance of the plane.
"But it was only after 4 hours had passed," that an emergency response began. It was 06:32 in the morning. This was the time by when the airplane should
have landed in Beijing. But it did not
land. A search operation was called
immediately. Efforts began to find the
plane. "If you look at the
map," "the plane was flying
from Malaysia to Beijing," "Vietnam
lies in the middle," as well as the
South China Sea. "So
obviously," "the search
operation began in the South China Sea,"
to look for the plane. This
search operation was an international effort.
"34 ships and 28 aircraft from 7 different countries," try to look for this plane that morning. But there was no trace of the plane. "About 4 days later," "on 12th March, it was reported
that" "though the plane had
disappeared from the civilian radar,"
but a military radar had spotted the plane that night. "And surprisingly, according to this
military radar," this plane was
last seen at 02:22 in the morning. 02:22 AM.
But it wasn't located above the South China Sea.
"Rather, it was near the Andaman and Nicobar
islands." "Westward from
Malaysia, above the Strait of Malacca."
"And according to the readings of this military radar," this plane was flying North in the direction
of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The
other way from Beijing. This news left
everyone shocked. Where did this plane
go? "Did it fly towards India's
direction," and crash in the
Himalayas or in Kazakhstan? "Some
more days later," a new piece of
evidence was discovered. From satellite
data. It was found that the plane was
trying to automatically communicate with a satellite. It is actually quite common. The large airplanes like the Boeing 777 they try to establish communication with
satellites often. To make their
communication easier. It is the same as
your phone trying to automatically
connect to known WiFi. It's similar. But the problem was that "when this plane communicated with the satellite," "it merely tried to log in," trying to establish a connection. No data was transmitted about the location of
the plane. The satellite was simply
aware that this plane tried to
communicate but nothing more about where
the plane actually was. But some
scientists and investigators thought to
use this to approximate the location of the plane. "They thought that when the satellite
received the communication," the
satellite would have moved its antenna towards the direction of the plane. "So they took the angle of the antenna
of the satellite," "to measure
it and make calculations upon it," estimated
the location of the plane. "As I
said earlier," "the exact
location couldn't be determined with the help of the satellite,"
but it could be used to estimate "that this circle that you see in white
colour," the plane could be
anywhere within this circle. When it
tried to communicate with the satellite.
The plane tried to establish communication with the satellite 7 times. That's why you can see 7 different circles in
white colour. These are known as
Satellite Handshakes. Every circle shows
the time when the plane tried to
communicate with the satellite. "The
last circle here," "the 7th
circle," shows the latest time when
the plane tried to communicate with the satellite. The last point where this airplane could have
been. And it was really surprising
because this circle was huge! It covers a lot of areas. "From Kazakhstan, China, Indonesia to
Australia," "and covering a
vast ocean," the plane could be
anywhere in the last circle. Or perhaps
further than this. This was the last
point it tried to communicate. "After
this, the investigators did more calculations." With the speed of the plane. "The remaining fuel in the plane," and then estimated that the plane could be in this shaded area of the
circle. On this arc of the circle. It was famously called the 7th Arc. "This 7th Arc is 2,000 km west of
Australia," and occupies a large
expanse of area. It was in such a part
of the ocean that hasn't been explored
much. "On this map, you can
see" the location of the satellite
that was used for the prediction. "The
outermost yellow dotted circle that you see," is the range till which the plane could
travel with its fuel. With the flight
time of 7 hours. "And the curved
arc in red that you can see," "is
the 7th Arc," the place where the
plane is assumed to have crashed. "After
this, several search operations were called," The yellow shaded regions show you the places where the search operations were
conducted.
"And the orange area," "is the priority search area," where the most number of search operations
were conducted. "By April
2014," the search operations on the
surface of the ocean were stopped. Because
it wasn't fruitful. "Since the
plane had crashed, it would've sunk into the ocean." It wouldn't be floating on the ocean's
surface. And so deep ocean searches were
being conducted. "At this point in
time, this was the largest and" the
most expensive search operation conducted.
"For weeks, months and even years," they tried to look for the plane but didn't
find anything. "3 years later," "And after spending $160 million," they called off this operation. And this operation was deemed a failure. "But there was one piece of good news
amidst all of this," "in July
2015," the first piece of debris
was found from this plane. The debris
reached the Island of Réunion by floating.
This island is in the East of Madagascar. The flaperon of the plane was found here. "You can see it in the photo," it is a broken part from the plane. "After this, in 2018," an American company Ocean Infinity signed a
new contract with the Malaysian government. They wanted to conduct the search operations "and if they aren't able to find the
plane," they wouldn't charge any
fees. "No find, no fee."
"On this condition, they began a new search
operation." They have highly
advanced underwater surveillance vehicles.
"While conducting this search operation," they were mapping the ocean floor. "And in this search operation, they
found" "in the area of the 7th
Arc," "that there are several
underwater volcanoes," several
cliffs and mountains as well. They kept
searching for months. "But
unfortunately, they failed in their mission too." They couldn't find anything. "Now, let's return to the topic." "During this, the Malaysian police
started their independent investigation."
They decided to run background checks on the passengers of the plane. And a background check on the pilots of the
plane to look for their history. And whether someone tried to hijack the plane. "After these investigations," some theories came forward. About what could have happened to the plane
exactly. "Come, let's look at the
theories and assumptions one by one."
"First, they started with how could the plane disappear from the
radar." Either there'd be any
electrical failure in the plane.
"Or there'd be
an accident," "Or there might
be some technical failure in the plane,"
"because of which, the equipment stopped working." Or perhaps any passenger or pilot switched off the transponder manually. Doing this intentionally. "In the first theory," Captain Zaharie Shah is being accused. It is being said that the captain
intentionally disabled communication and
took the plane and crashed it into the ocean.
But what could be the reason for him to do this? Some people say that he may have not been in the right mental
state. Some people believe he was
suicidal. "Some people claim that
this was a result of hijacking," like
a terror attack. But why is Zaharie Shah
actually being blamed here? There are
some arguments that support this theory.
"The first point is that,"
the airplane turned nearly 180° "from
Vietnam back to Malaysia," autopilot
couldn't have done this on its own. The
airplane's pilot must have done this manually and intentionally. "The second point is that," the airplane was flown directly above the
border between Thailand and Malaysia. It
is said that it was deliberately done. It
was done intentionally. So that they
could escape the airspace radar of both countries. "The third point is really
interesting," it is said that
Zaharie Shah had a flight simulator at his home
"which isn't very unusual on its own," "but on that flight simulator, he had
mapped out a path," "while
playing a game," "The path,
coincidently, was near the same path,"
that MH370 actually flew. "Hearing
this, you may think this must've been the case."
But the official in charge of this search operation completely denied this theory. He said that this couldn't have happened
because there are many counter-arguments
too. "First, he was a highly
experienced and seasoned pilot." He
was respected by all. "He had no
family problems," "no economic
problems," "he didn't have any
past behaviour to suggest this," so
there is no reason to doubt his integrity.
"If a pilot wanted to commit suicide," "to crash the plane," there would be some sign in his behaviour or
in his life. But nothing as such was
found. "That's why the second
theory that is afloat," "is
that there must be some hijackers on the plane," some terrorists. They must have done this. "When this second theory came
forward," 2 passengers of the plane
were under suspicion. "They were
Iranian," and they were suspicious
because they were travelling with fake passports. One of them had the passport stolen from an
Italian man. And the other had the
stolen passport of an Austrian man. Both
passports were stolen in Thailand. It is
said that these men wanted to use the stolen passports to go to Europe and settle there. "First, they had taken a flight to
Beijing," and then they were
supposed to take a flight from Beijing to Europe. Investigations revealed that "the mother of one of these guys was
present in Hamburg, Germany." Waiting
for her son. "But in the end, this
theory of terror was rejected," "because
other than these stolen passports,"
there was no proof
that they were actually terrorists
intending to carry out a terror attack. They
simply wanted to go to Europe and settle there.
Using the stolen passports. "In
fact, Interpol confirmed this," saying
that they were probably not terrorists. That's
why we come to our third theory. It is
said to be the most probable. It is said
that "the passengers and the crew
on MH370," fainted because of
oxygen deficiency. Including pilot
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot.
They were unconscious too. The
entire plane actually passed out. And
kept running on autopilot. "And
there must have been some technical malfunctions on autopilot too," "but basically, the autopilot kept
running till" the fuel of the plane
ran out. And then the plane crashed into
the ocean. "Now, how could this
oxygen deficiency have happened?" There
are several theories for it.
"Some people claim that there may have been a fire in
the cockpit," electrical fire. "Due to this, many systems may have
stopped working," including the
transponder. Some people believe that
there may have been an accident due to which
there was a sudden shortage of oxygen.
Some people blame hijackers here as well. That some hijackers may have tried to create
an oxygen deficiency. Let's take a
possible example to see what might have happened. "If I have to cite a typical example of
this theory," it is said that this
plane "as soon as it entered the
Vietnamese airspace," "the
pilots noticed some malfunctions," some
wrong with the plane. "So the pilot
turned the plane 180°," to take the
plane back to Malaysia. "But when
the plane started flying towards Malaysia," "a terrible accident may have occurred,
" "which led to oxygen
deficiency," and everyone present
in the plane fainted. Because of oxygen
deficiency. Several systems stopped
working and then the plane kept flying
on autopilot. The military radar spotted
the plane after this. "And the
autopilot turned Southwards suddenly,"
"and it kept flying Southwards above the Indian Ocean," "and crashed into the ocean 2,000 km
West of Australia." "Initially,
there were many more theories about the plane."
such as it was abducted by aliens. Or that the US military may have shot down the
plane and it was trying to hide the
fact. Or that Russian President Putin
knows the location of the plane. Or that
a new Bermuda Triangle may have formed at the place. There were many such theories. "But obviously, they are not very
likely." Many years have passed
since this incident. "And now in
2022, friends," "finally,
there's proof" to tell us where
this plane may actually be. "Friends,
this news is from 1 month ago." "Richard
Godfrey, a retired aerospace engineer,"
claims that he had found out the secret of this mystery. He did his calculations using some radio wave
technologies. """Richard
Godfrey combined data from British Inmarsat Satellite," "figures from Boeing," "Australian oceanographers," "and new WSPRnet, amateur radio wave
technology.""" """I
have been tracking back," "through
the data," "and out of that
tracking MH370," "I'm sure
they will be able to find the aircraft.""" "To explain this technology would be too
detailed for this Blog," it is a complex technology. But it isn't a very new technology. "Basically, he used the reflections of
radio waves," to predict the path
of the airplane. It is a technology that
can catch the reflections of radio waves.
"Once a radio wave is emitted from a source," "it gets reflected by the
atmosphere,"
and weak radio waves reach some other place. "And if a plane is flying from the path
of the radio wave," you can say
that it can be noticed. He built a
computer program that can recognise the
flight paths of airplanes through the weak signals. "And according to his
calculations," "today, the
MH370," actually lies on top of the
7th Arc. "It is exactly on this
point of the 7th Arc, in his opinion."
And is 4 km underwater. "Under
the ocean, as I said, there are many cliffs and underwater volcanoes." You'd say that this area was already
searched. True. "In the most expensive search operation
conducted by Australia," this area
was already searched. But it is possible
that they missed it somehow. "Although
the second search operation that was conducted," "by the Ocean Infinity," they hadn't searched this point. Their instruments were more detailed. But Richard trusts his calculations so much that he has pinpointed the exact location
with an accuracy of 40 Nautical Miles. Of
the location of the plane under the sea.
He has proposed that a new search
operation should be conducted within a radius of 40 Nautical Miles and they would find it.
This would be a very small area compared to the previous
search operations. They would have to
thoroughly look here. This is good news
for the mystery of this flight. There
may actually be a solution here. "Although,
some people do criticise Richard's methodology," that the methods he used to determine the
location of the plane is not accurate
enough. That the plane wouldn't be found
here. But Richard believes that "if the operation is started now," "it would take only 1 year," "and by the end of 2022," we would be able to see whether the plane is
here or not.
"In Richard's opinion, the plane would be found here,
obviously." "A Drift Analysis
was also conducted," looking at the
ocean current. "So that if the
plane had indeed crashed in that area,"
"the location of the various pieces of the plane," that would've flowed with the ocean current
to reach various places. "And
according to this drift analysis," "some
pieces would have reached Madagascar and the islands around it," and those have indeed been recovered. "Till date, 27 pieces of the plane have
already been found." On several
islands across the world. This drift
analysis fits properly with Richard's analysis too. "So perhaps, in the near future," we may get to uncover the mystery about what
might have happened. But I hope that you
found this blog informative. "If
you liked the topic," comment below
to let me know Let's meet in the next
blog. Thank you very much!