A new Netflix docuseries, 'MH370: The Plane That Disappeared', revisits the baffling 2014 loss of Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 10 crew. The three-part programme pieces together the timeline of events based on evidence that emerged over nine years, aiming to separate fact from the myriad conspiracy theories that have clouded the greatest aviation mystery of all time.
The flight took off at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. Forty minutes later, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah radioed Malaysian air traffic control with a routine handover, saying 'Good night. Malaysian three-seven-zero.' That was the last communication. Military radar then showed the plane making an abrupt left turn, flying back over the Malay peninsula and up the Strait of Malacca before heading out over the Andaman Sea, where it dropped from primary radar coverage.
Official investigators and the Independent Group of experts argue that the aircraft continued flying south for hours, based on periodic satellite 'handshakes' with an Inmarsat satellite. They believe someone – likely the captain, who had the expertise – deliberately depressurised the cabin, rendering passengers unconscious, before guiding the plane into the southern Indian Ocean when fuel ran out. No motive has been established.
'It's the greatest aviation mystery of all time,' said director Louise Malkinson. 'To be nearly nine years down the line … and still have so little is extraordinary.' The series highlights the delayed response from Malaysian authorities and the anguish of families, while debunking claims of unusual behaviour by the captain as unsubstantiated.
