The Australian government, in concert with Malaysia and China, announced on 4 June last that unless they find an identifiable artifact from the missing Boeing 777 aircraft, Malaysia Flight 370 now missing for fifteen-months, the search would terminate sometime mid-next year. An international team of scientists using available information calculated that Flight 777 crash landed in the Indian Ocean about 1,200 nautical miles off the west coast of Australia—their “best guess” location. To date, search teams have scoured approximately 50,000 square kilometers of ocean floor without finding any debris of the aircraft.
Where is Flight 370? Theories abound. Most are without substance. Here are a few.
- Pilot suicide theory. One of the two pilots had overwhelmed the other and crashed the airplane into the ocean, or somewhere else.
- Pilot meltdown theory. One of the two pilots went berserk and overwhelmed the other and crashed the airplane into the ocean, or somewhere else.
- Third person theory. For reason unknown, and for a serious breech of security, one of the pilots let another person into the cockpit and that person did the foul deed.
- Commandeering and hijacking theory. Someone, or a gang, took control of the aircraft and ordered the pilots to fly it someplace, or they took control and in a suicide plan crash it without apparent purpose.
- Mechanical/Electrical theory. Some key element of flight control malfunctioned for reasons we do not understand.
- Fire in the cockpit theory. A massive fire rendered the aircraft unstable.
All these theories have serious flaws. Too many to recount here. Malaysia Flight 370 is missing, and I reckon that it will remain as one of the twenty-first great aviation disaster. Or is it missing?