Unknowns of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

The Disappearance of Flight MH370 departed early Saturday in Kuala Lumpur has become one of the biggest mysteries in recent aviation history . These are the main questions about the case:

What route covering flight MH370 ?

The flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur ( capital of Malaysia ) promptly at 00.41 local time on Saturday March 8 ( 16.41 GMT Friday , 17.41 to mainland Spain ) and its destination was Beijing ( capital of China) , where he was due to arrive about six hours later. This route is covered daily by Malaysia Airlines.

How is the plane?

The apparatus disappeared is a Boeing 777-200 in the series, which began manufacturing in the U.S. in the 90s. According to the Wall Street Journal, only two Boeing 777 suffered serious accidents , the last last year in San Francisco.

In particular, the Malaysia Airlines plane had nearly 12 years. According to the Network of Civil Aviation Security ( Aviation Safety Network) , a website that collects all information about plane crashes , the device - with registration 9M- MRO - had suffered a setback in 2012 when he played with other aircraft in the Shanghai - Pudong airport .

How is the airline ?

The company, Malaysia Airlines, owned by Malaysian state opearar began four decades ago and has a fleet of over a hundred aircraft. His latest injury accident dates back to 1995 .

Who boarded the plane?

According to the official list of the airline, embarked 227 passengers, two of whom were minors , and 12 crew , ie , a total of 239 people , of which nearly two-thirds were of Chinese origin. This computation by nationality :

153 Chinese

50 Malaysians (including 12 crew )

12 Indonesian

6 Australian

4 Americans

3 French

2 NZ

2 Ukrainians

2 Canadian

2 Iranians

1 Russian

1 Taiwan

1 Dutch

The two Iranians have been identified retrospectively because, according to authorities in Malaysia, embarked on false passports , but without any link to terrorism. Both had ticket to continue travel to Europe , where apparently wanted to enter clandestinely .

Also part of this list a delegation of 19 Chinese artists who had attended a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

The pilot is a Malaysian 53 years old and with 18,365 hours of flight experience , which joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 , according to the company.

Where the device is lost ?

The craft took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia crossed the peninsula and was admitted as planned in the Gulf of Thailand, which had to cross toward the Indochina peninsula ( southeastern Asia ) to stay on the South China Sea and cross eastern China from south to north . However, disappeared from radar civil aviation 01.30 local time on Saturday , 49 minutes after takeoff , when he was already in the cruise phase (about 35,000 feet altitude , just under 12,000 meters) above Gulf of Thailand.

On Tuesday, a source of the Malaysian Armed Forces has told Reuters that a military radar detected a change trajectory that had not been reported until now . Specifically , this source has said turned west when plunged into the Gulf of Thailand , returning to the peninsula of Malaysia and going into the Straits of Malacca . Officially no one has confirmed this information. The local newspaper Berita Harian also quotes the head of the Malaysian Air Force Rodzali Daud , in which a military radar detected the plane at 2.40 near the island of Pulau Perak , northern Strait said , at an altitude of about 29,500 feet (9,000 meters). This is an hour and ten minutes after radar signal faded civil aviation

Where and how are you looking?

At first he was looking in the Gulf of Thailand, but with the passage of time has spread tracking to the Strait of Malacca to the west , and even Hong Kong , on the northeast. An international fleet of at least 40 ships and 24 aircraft covering an area of ​​500,000 square nautical miles (1.71 million square kilometers, about three times the Iberian Peninsula) , according to Efe . The operation involves teams from Australia , China, USA, Philippines , Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam. The Chinese Defense Ministry reported that ten relocated its satellites to help in the search.

Not picked up some of the electronics that are supposed to issue tickets in case of danger or accident signal. They have been sighted several times debris floating in the Gulf of Thailand from the air resembled aircraft parts , but closer inspection have proved false leads.

Can you lose track of a plane?

The planes are constantly monitored through different redundant methods when they have a problem and transmit emergency signals automatically. There are remote areas where it is not possible to have direct contact via radar, but the aircraft itself sends its position at regular intervals via satellite , as explained to TVE dean of the College of Pilots of Civil Aviation, Luis Lacasa , who summarizes what happened as " a very strange case." "It seems clear that there has been a catastrophic failure that has wasted all aircraft systems suddenly ," he adds . The expert explained that in recent years have always found the missing aircraft or its wreckage and have to go back to the 40s of last century , " the legend of the Bermuda Triangle " , to discuss outstanding.

What clues have been followed ?

Malaysian Police , working in conjunction with the intelligence agencies of other countries in this case , said that among the possible causes of the disappearance of Malaysia Airline tickets last Saturday with 239 people on board is kidnapping and sabotage, although it has not disclosed any evidence to strengthen this thesis. In fact , on Tuesday , Interpol said: " The more information we have , the more leads us to believe that it was not a terrorist attack ."

Nor is the possibility of psychological or personal problems between the passengers and the flight crew discarded. "It could be someone in the flight insurance was taken out by a large amount of money for his family to lightest . Or someone who owed ​​money . 're Investigating any possibility ," said the head of the Malaysian Police , Khalid Abu Bakar . " We have photographs and profiles of all passengers. We investigated the behavior in the videos of all the passengers ," he added.