A year on from the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, what happened to the plane and its 239 passengers and crew still seems to be anyone’s guess
An information vacuum has nourished the most outlandish conspiracy theories about one of aviation’s biggest mysteries, as well as heated online debate. From sober, science-based arguments to the most eyebrow-raising hypotheses, here are a few of the most talked about ‘explanations’.
What they all agree on is that some key pieces of the puzzle are missing. It crashed into the southern Indian Ocean Official investigators used analysis from British firm Inmarsat of “pings” to its satellite from MH370, along with data direct from the plane before its transmissions stopped, to conclude that it flew south after dropping off Malaysian military radar and crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
That conclusion has been challenged by aviation bloggers and freelance investigators, who have questioned key radar plots and assumptions about the speed and fuel burn of the jet.
Lending credence to some of the sceptics, Tim Clark, Head of Emirates Airlines, said last November that he believed information was being withheld — something Malaysia’s Government has always denied.
The well-respected Independent Group (IG) has done its own analysis and believes the plane is probably near the current search zone, but not necessarily within it.
Just why MH370 ended up there is contested both within IG and others who support the official findings.
