You are on page 1of 3

C CO OR RE E C CO ON NV VE EN NT TI IO ON NS S O OF F A AC CA AD DE EM MI IC C W WR RI IT TI IN NG G

9 9T TH H A AP PR RI IL L 2 20 01 14 4 3 3. .0 00 0 P PM M

M MI IS SS SI IN NG G M MA AL LA AY YS SI IA A A AI IR RL LI IN NE ES S F FL LI IG GH HT T 3 37 70 0 C CA AS SE E A AS SS SI IG GN NM ME EN NT T
S SN NY YD DI I - - D D


Fact summary:
The Malaysian plane - Boeing 777-200 ER, left from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing at
0040hrs on, March 8th. At 0130hrs, it the airplane lost contact with ATC over the sea
between Malaysia and Vietnam. No one knows what happened next there was no
distress signal from the aircraft or an indication from the pilot, of a problem. Soon after
the plane lost contact, it made a turn towards the Indian Ocean. The plane changed
course twice soon after the plane lost contact, an indication of the plane having
changed its course.
The biggest unknown surrounding the missing Malaysian jet is Why did the plane
change its course? Till date, theories and speculations have been rife about this
mystery. Since last month or so about twenty six countries have rallied together in
resolving this mystery and variety of theories and cause effect analyses have been put
forth. There have been various speculations about what went wrong but the most
plausible one seems to be a fire broke out on board and to quell the fire the pilots have
taken steps resulting in the mishap.
What went wrong proposed theories: propounded by media

The various tTheories published which have been doing the rounds in the media
regarding this aviation debacle can be clubbed as under:
1. Manual intervention Intervention with a malicious intent: - Various articles
have been written about how the pilots could can be responsible for deliberately
rating causing the mishap. Even theVarious theories about hijacking or terror
attack have also been proposed. Interpol and other security authorities have
categorically cleared all passengers from having any terror links. As of the pilots
scheming this plot, a collusion of both the pilots would be required for a sabotage
of this proportion and this seems highly unlikely. As involvement of both the pilots
Formatted: Font: Bold
in the sabotage is highly unlikely and the authorities have categorically stated
that none of the passengers have any terror links.
2. Pure Mechanical failures: - It is highly unlikely that the aircraft met with a
technical snag and both the communication devices (ACARS) were also
impacted. The aircraft has a remarkable safety record with only two serious
mishaps over 19 years. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude presume that the
technical snags are purely responsible for this mishap. is the only reasons for the
aviation mishap.


What went wrong: - Our Perspective
In our perspective, the following may beis the potential the sequence of events that
took place on that which have taken place on that fateful night:
1. Fire broke (potentially caused by a electrical malfunction) on board while the
plane was flying on cruise mode.
2. In emergency events like these, pilots follow the protocol of Aviate Navigate
Communicate. As per the protocol, In order to follow procedure (Aviate
Navigate Communicate) in events like this the pilots plugged out all the
electrical plugs and busses to diagnose and prevent proliferation of fire. This
turned off the plugs which eventually turned off the communication systems
(ACARS).
3. Further, to extinguish the fire, the pilot took the plane to an altitude of 45,000
feet. so as to extinguish the fire.
4. At this level sSince it is difficult to keep the aircraft stable at this altitude,
therefore as soon as the fire was extinguished quelled the pilot tried to descent to
a normal level. As a safety measure, the pilot also decided to change the course
of the airplane and changed course to land at Palau Langkawi, which in the
opinion of pilot was a much safer strip to land than Kuala Lumpur. However, due
to some technical reasons the descent was very rapid and precipitous (45000ft to
13000ft) resulting in knocking down the passengers as well as the pilots.
5. The plane was in auto pilot mode and therefore reached the desired altitude and
kept flying thereon.
6. As the pilots were unconscious, no communication was sent to the ATC.
7. The plane went on flying for six hours and finally crashed when it ran out of fuel.
the fuel ran out.

Formatted: Font: Bold
Formatted: Normal, Indent: Left: 0.5", No
bullets or numbering
7.

Conclusion:
In peroration, we may conclude that despite various theories running around the
mysterious disappearance of MH370, the most plausible which may come close to
reality is the technical failure one where despite best effort from the pilots the mishap
could not be averted.

Citations:
1. http://www.wired.com/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/
2. http://nypost.com/2014/03/19/top-10-theories-about-what-happened-to-flight-
mh370/
3. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-knowns-
unknowns/
4. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/-sp-mh370-missing-plane-
malaysia-theories

Formatted: Font: (Default) Arial, 14 pt
Formatted: Normal, No bullets or numbering

You might also like