The most comprehensive investigation to date on the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released on Sunday. However, it produced nothing in the way of conclusive evidence as to the actual cause, let alone the proverbial smoking gun. Neither mechanical failure, fire, hijacking, sabotage nor weather was cited as a primary or secondary factor. The aircraft was carrying 221kg of lithium ion batteries, which the US Federal Aviation Administration has found can overheat and cause major fires, but this was dismissed as a contributing factor. The plane's captain and first officer had valid licences and certificates enabling them to operate the flight, and nothing in their backgrounds – financial or psychological – indicated they were candidates who might fit the "rogue pilot theory". Examination of the profiles of the cabin crew told a similar story. A battery on one of the plane's emergency locator beacons had expired more than a year previously and not been replaced, but this oversight was neither here nor there in the plane's actual loss.
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For the relatives of the 239 people aboard the Boeing 777, and countless others in the civil aviation industry who have puzzled over or fretted about the aircraft's unlikely disappearance, the report was something of an anti-climax. In late January, Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation declared the jet's disappearance to be an accident, and though this was done so relatives of the victims could claim compensation from the airline, an accident remains the only credible explanation in the absence of any wreckage.
Yet, many aspects MH 370's disappearance on March 8 last year remain a mystery. These include the fact that no distress signal or message was sent, and that the plane's aircraft communications address and reporting system – a digital data-link system that transmits and receives flight plan and maintenance data to ground service providers via VHF radio or satellite during flight – was silenced. A few minutes after ACARS was shut down, the aircraft's transponder (which allows air traffic controllers to identify the aircraft and to track its altitude, heading, speed and which is required to operated continuously) was switched off. According to the investigators, the "transponder on the occurrence flight was operating satisfactorily up to the time it was lost on the ATC radar screen at [1.21am Malaysian time on March 8]. There was no message received from the aircraft to report a system failure".
A loss of cabin pressure and the subsequent incapacitation of the crew and passengers as a result of hypoxia might be a possible explanation for MH 370's loss. In 1999, the crew and passengers of a Learjet flying from Florida to Texas were similarly afflicted; the plane flew a further four hours before running out of fuel and crashing in South Dakota. The deliberate disablement of MH 370's transponder and ACARS put the Boeing's disappearance in a rather more sinister light. Until the aircraft is found and recovered, however, these irregular and suspicious occurrences will remain a mystery.
In one area, however – the immediate search and rescue effort – the facts are clear and unequivocal, and not at all flattering of the actions of Malaysian authorities. Not only was their response slow and their co-ordination poor, they initially concentrated their search effort in the Gulf of Thailand – despite primary air search radars having tracked the flight as it crossed peninsular Malaysia and headed out into the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean.
If the friends and families of those who perished last March had hoped this report would serve as some kind of closure they will be disappointed. However, as the authors pointed out, "the sole objective of the investigation is the prevention of future accidents or incidents, and not … to apportion blame or liability". Closure will only really be achieved when or if the aircraft is found and its black boxes recovered.
The search for MH 370 continues, and though there have been mutterings about the cost and the fact there appears to be only a faint glimmer the plane will be found, the quest must continue until all possible leads are exhausted. Only by pinpointing the cause of catastrophic crashes such as these, and by taking remedial measures, will airline travel be made safer.
