The quiet after such an event is unsettling. 239 people are missing and still there are no signs of anything being done to remedy this. The facts seem to make the loss of this aircraft almost impossible and unlikely. Lets’ start at the beginning and see what we can ascertain. March 8, 2014 Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong vanished from sight. No distress calls were indicated by pilots or electrical systems. No wreckage of a crash site has been discovered.  The question still remains: what happened to flight MH370? Before we look as far as the flight, we have to look before the announcements were made! 2 stolen passports were recorded and queried after the flight had left the ground and not before. One Italian (Luigi Maraldi, 37) and one Austrian. (Christian Kozel).

The strange thing about this is, I heard from the Walter Maraldi before I heard about the missing plane! This what he said over the missing passport, “Last summer he was in Thailand and handed over the passport so he could hire a scooter but when he brought it back, they said they had already given it back to someone else, so he reported it stolen. The whole thing is a mix up – we have no idea who the person was that used my son’s passport. The first I knew something had happened was when my son rang from Thailand on Saturday morning to say he was alive.” “He said he had seen his name on the news reports as being on the missing airplane and he wanted to let us know he was alive and well. To be honest, I had no idea what he was talking about as I hadn’t seen the news by then.” “Once everything was cleared up, we said goodbye and I went and watched the news – a few minutes later the Italian Foreign Ministry rang to ask if I was the father of Luigi Maraldi and to say that he was on the passenger list.” “They were amazed when I said they were mistaken as I had just spoken to him and he was fine. They asked me for his number so they could call and check for themselves. They said his passport had been used by someone and they needed to check for certain he was OK. We are delighted that he is ok but he was never really involved in the disaster directly.” Mr Kozel discovered he had been listed when uniformed police officers turned up at his home in Salzburg at the weekend. He said: “I was pretty shocked when I saw them at my door, and was relieved to find out that although I was dead, at least it was only on paper. He said he had reported the passport as stolen while he was in the same part of Thailand two years ago.

So given these situations, should Interpol have been more vigilant? Should Malaysia have been more aware and have those passport details on their database? If not then why have a passport with so much information? They were reported missing, but not subject to scrutiny getting on the same flight. Ok, so having thrown that into the first aspect of scrutiny, how about we extend it slightly with irregularities of air traffic control (ATC)… Carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members – took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.21am (4.21pm GMT) Saturday bound for Beijing, where it was expected to land at 6.30am (10.30pm GMT). However, after reaching 35,000ft and 120 nautical miles off the coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu the plane vanished.

Malaysian newspapers that an ‘anonymous’ pilot had heard a ‘mumbled’ last transmission from the aircraft – although this is contradicted by air traffic controllers who say there was no distress call. It is alleged that the transponder was either switched off, or failed, which should have alerted the ATC, as that means other aircraft cannot see them either until they have a visual, which may not be enough time to avoid a collision. It is also alleged that if the aircraft had dropped below 30,000ft the ATC would not have them on their screen, but would still be able to maintain radio contact, so this brings the question of why this was not a red flag! At 1:21AM the plane’s transponder stopped transmitting. The other system that is not mentioned is the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS). The ACARS is a service that runs health checks and diagnostics on an aircraft and reports this information to computers on the ground. It allows planes to receive a transmit information and messages from the ground by radio or digital signals via satellites.

According to Malaysian officials the ACARS sent its last update at 1:07AM. It was scheduled to send further updates every 30 minutes, but failed to transmit data at 1:37AM. Inmarsat network had continued to pick up “routine, automated signals” from MH370 hours after it had gone missing. Automated attempts to open channels and allow communication between the aircraft’s systems and the satellites (a process some refer to as a “digital handshake”) were unsuccessful due to Malaysia Airlines no allegedly being subscribed to this service. Satellites ping communication system approximately every hour. In the case of MH370, with the last one taking place around 8:11 AM. This means that the engines and systems were running for at least another 6-7 hours. However, Inmarsat analysts found that satellite contact with the missing plane couldn’t pin point its location. Maybe there is a reason behind Malaysian Airlines not subscribing and the inability of Inmarsat seems to justify it slightly, but not totally. So, between ATC AR3D radars and Inmarsat satellite systems… MH470 disappeared without even a pause for concern. This doesn’t instill confidence for the passengers of any airline flying in the Asian countries in and around that area. Whilst this could all be one huge coincidence, we have yet to include the pilots and their behaviour toward this flight and even before hand. Zaharie Ahmad Shah who is distantly related to the daughter-in-law of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Shah is known to be a supporter of human rights groups and causes, including campaigns for increased media freedom in Malaysia. He is also a close friend of Sivarasa Rasiah, vice-president of the People’s Justice Party, of which Shah is also a member. Authorities believe that the transponder and ACARS were switched of deliberately, some have suspected whether one or both of the pilots have been involved or coerced into rerouting the plane. There has been some scrutiny into the co-pilot’s alleged breaking Malaysia Airlines’ policy of inviting passengers into the cockpit.

In 2011 he allegedly invited several young female tourists to join him and his co-pilot in the cockpit, where they reportedly paid little attention to flight controls and instead chat, smoked, took photos and entertained the women. Investigators expressed a theory that involved the missing plane evading radar by dropping to altitudes as low as 1524 metres (5000 feet). A technique known as “Terrain Masking” Also called, “Nav Of The Earth” flying. Highly skilled and used by stealth and helicopter pilots. Managing this for several hours is akin to military style flying, so how much training did the pilot have and to do this confidently for hours is nothing to sniff at. Does this mean they did this deliberately, or was this done to avert systems failure? Even if the theory of flying in another aircraft’s shadow is to be believed, it still requires amazing skill and concentration.

Given that most of this points toward a pilot and co-pilot cooperation, it is unlikely to be something that resembles a pilot suicide, but it has not been ruled out. It is also highly possible that it could have been landed in a remote location. Given the satellite and ATC could not have located the aircraft, the knowledge of the pilot cannot be taken for granted, as the coincidences seem to be piling up. Not saying that they can’t, it just seems that more than the complete information is not being presented, as most of this begins to look and sound like a Hollywood epic. OK, so all information doesn’t look good and the fact that 239 people’s lives have not been accounted for, it has been a calamity and would be comical, if it wasn’t such a disaster. By that I mean that it is unbelievable that something of this nature even exists. And given that the treatment of the grieving parents, family and loved ones was totally unbelievable, I am sure that it must be a cultural contrast to somewhere like the UK, or US. (Delayed Flight message board for Flight MH370) None of the missing passengers were named, or honoured, in any way by the Airline and even the treatment by the Prime Minister is strange by any standard. And as for the way they conveyed their message, well, I am sure that anyone finding out in this manner would be beside themselves with anger and overflowing with emotion. To remind you, this is what the SMS said, “Malaysian Airlines deeply regrets to inform you that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived”. Having put the insensitivity aside, the removal of the distressed woman that are trying to understand that 12 days in they have no information to where their children are, was badly handled and made the authorities look really bad.

I understand that the authorities want to be in control, but the families should always be the first to be told ahead of the media and the lack of this empathy alone has meant the world watched the country implode on itself whilst trying to explain what they don’t know and what they haven’t done. So, what could have happened to MH370? Well, there are known theories and also outrageous one. I will leave you to decide which ones are which, but I will indulge in a few to see if any of them are relative to your thoughts. Disintegration is highly unlikely, but not impossible. Factors to destroy everything on that aircraft, including the aircraft, means a vast amount of heat, explosion, or corrosion. To the best of my knowledge, there were no active volcanoes around the area, or in Asia, so that can be ruled out. Given the size of the 777, I would wager that some time would pass before all were disintegrated and an explosion of such magnitude would be noticed! If on board bombs were the cause, they would have to have precision and sophistication, as there would be debris, were it not. Nose dive and sunk… Now this too is unlikely, but also not impossible! Forget about the “oil-slick” trails, as that is not a likely theory. You would see fuel trails before you see oil and that would be a huge amount given the capacity of the fuel tanks and the pilot would have dumped as much as he could before impact. The zero debris is the thing that doesn’t support that theory and the fact that absolutely nothing managed to see, spot, or notice it considering the ship and aircraft traffic along the suspected routes.

However, all this can be also done in a gap in traffic and timed perfectly, or unlucky to not have someone come and see it at the right time. “Lost”! I am hoping that the whole area is known to the military as well as the users of the flight path and the sea vessels that use the area too! I have never been to Malaysia and not sure it’ on my “To Do” list, as I have other places I need to visit first! All sarcasm aside, I can assume that no mysticism has cloaked the aircraft and an island has them trapped in plain sight… OK, so I had a little sarcasm left, but just making sure that all avenues are considered… Hijacking… erm… there has been nothing to suggest this and we have heard no demands. No claims of a sectarian group claiming it in the name of whomever. And this would be the strangest hijacking in the history of hijacks! I still have to put the options on the table and make sure that I don’t have my totally clouded opinion on the table, as it were. Bad weather… no, I am not clutching at straws, as it was reported that the weather was not idyllic for search aircraft, left alone a 777, which is a better glider given the wingspan (Just shy of 200ft) and relatively young at only 20 years of service as an aircraft. It’s safety records and capabilities should almost negate the weather of that day, but could it still be a factor? One serious enough to keep as a plausible possibility? My opinion says no, but it also doesn’t mean a freak weather We are approaching 4 month, as of the publishing of this article, when flight MH370 was first announced that it had gone missing and everything is quiet. No updates, no noise from the families and loved ones… Have the FAA/CAA learnt little to nothing since the Air France 477? 5 years is a long time and the fact it took 2 years to find that aircraft, you’d have hoped systems would have been upgraded, made more able to be found by constant activation codes and mapping. Many things that have been invented don’t have to be cumbersome and can easily be installed without interfering with current systems. Even though the 777 has one of the best jet liner safety records. I could give you stats about how impressive it is and the groundbreaking technology and capabilities it holds, but I don’t think the issue lies with the Aircraft, but the human! Malaysian Airlines could have done so much and yet they allowed profit before people. Their shares plummeted (excuse the connotations) after MH370 and confidence is not a word associated with the airline and its board, let alone the franchise as a whole. Whilst the problem lays at their feet, they have not been active enough to get things done and seemingly unwilling to be held accountable.

According to the airline, they have given contractors 300 days to find the aircraft. Malaysian Airlines have set plans for new aircraft, but they will be arriving in 2015 and likely to be the 737, which has more modifications than the 777, but will it raise their poor share price? Naturally tourism and flights have taken a major hit and is at an all time low. Kuala Lumpur is looking at ways to improve the ailing situation… Have you noticed that there is nothing to aid those still grieving and looking for answers? Well, After three months of failed search efforts, families have become convinced the authorities are concealing the truth about the disappearance of the Boeing 777 and will launch the crowd-funding campaign Indiegogo in a bid to get answers. The campaign comes as Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein condemned Boeing and Rolls Royce this week for their part in the search for the missing jet and has hit back that responsibility for the entire investigation should fall on Malaysia, Australia and China. “We are taking matters into our own hands,” Sarah Bajc told The USA Today, whose partner Philip Wood, 50, was on the flight. “There is no credible evidence that the plane is in the southern Indian Ocean, where planes, boats and a mini-sub have searched in vain for week. “I’m convinced that somebody is concealing something.” “Called ‘Reward MH370: The Search for the Truth,’ the campaign will launch Monday on Indiegogo, starting with minimum donations of $5. A $2 million fund for private investigators is also being raised to follow up leads, which Bajc acknowledges “won’t go very far”.

The grieving relatives of passengers on board missing flight MH370 is offering a $3 million (£1.8m) reward for a whistleblower to come forward and give key information into the flight’s investigation. This will add a new dimension to the outcome and many false stories, psychics, scryers and scam artists will try to be the hero of the mystery or just in it for the money. So, what have we learned as we look through the facts? It all looks like an epic story from the most unbelievable and incredible movie to come out of Hollywood. A seemingly strange events that when laid out seem suspicious and fictitious. It would seem almost mystical in its entirety. Until more information arises, the tale will always be clouded with conspiracies and twisted information. If as outrageous and mystical as this all seems, one can only hope that a miracle happens and brings them all safe home to their loved ones and a whole new chapter will arise as to what really happened?