Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — passenger aircraft flight that went missing in 2014
The disappearance of MH370 became aviation's costliest and most extensive search, prompting global reforms to aircraft tracking and recorder standards.
Key Facts
- Date of disappearance
- 8 March 2014
- People aboard
- 239 (227 passengers, 12 crew)
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 777-200ER (reg. 9M-MRO)
- Search area covered
- 120,000 km²
- Search suspended
- January 2017 after three-year operation
- Debris confirmed
- Multiple pieces from western Indian Ocean, 2015–2016
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing on 8 March 2014. The cause of its disappearance has never been determined; investigators considered a hypoxia event, hijacking, crew involvement, and cargo-related scenarios, but reached no consensus. The aircraft last communicated with ATC approximately 38 minutes after takeoff over the South China Sea.
The Boeing 777-200ER deviated westward from its planned route, disappeared from secondary radar, and was tracked by Malaysian military primary radar for roughly one more hour before passing out of range west-northwest of Penang Island. Inmarsat satellite data analysis later indicated the aircraft had flown far south over the Indian Ocean. All 239 people aboard are presumed dead.
The search became aviation's most expensive, covering 120,000 km² of ocean before suspension in January 2017; a second private search in 2018 also failed. The Malaysian Transport Ministry's 2018 report was inconclusive. The disaster prompted new international aviation safety regulations, including extended recorder battery life, longer flight data and cockpit voice recorder durations, and improved oceanic position-reporting standards.