The First Vanishing [S1E2]
Forty minutes after takeoff, flight MH370 disappears from air traffic control screens.
The mystery begins. Shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and headed to the northeast, towards Beijing. For the first 40 minutes of the flight, everything was absolutely routine. But then, at 1.21am local time, the plane vanished from the radar screens of air traffic control. In today's episode, I discuss what it means for a civilian flight to disappear from radar screens, and why the timing of the disappearance might raise a red flag for investigators. I also talk about why it took so long for authorities to realize that something had gone wrong, and why the initial assumption was that the plane most likely had crashed close to its last known position.
This assumption, of course, was wrong. But it was to prove only the first of many times the case would defy expectations.
In the course of the episode, I mention a video about MH370 made by YouTuber MenTourPilot. If you’re curious, you can find it here.
This is a remake of an audio-only episode that I made with then-cohost Andy Tarnoff and which originally aired in September, 2023.
Hi Jeff. So much work you're putting in with these remastered episodes. Fantastic work! My husband didn't watch these episodes early on so he's really been enjoying them!
I don't know if you've seen this but Mayday Air Disasters recently did an episode on MH370. I know it's a respected show that provides a lot of technical information about aviation. At any rate, it's quite an interesting episode and very much in line with what you have been saying. The show comments on the fact that the acars electronic systems were turned off BUT skips over the important detail that it came back on. Mayday also clearly states that they didn't see any real red flags with the captains that would lead them to believe that one of them was on a suicide mission. At any rate, take a look if you get a chance! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAdLjOEQ1j8