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Some mysteries refuse to be solved, and few have gripped the world quite like this one. Join us as we dive deep into one of aviation's most baffling tragedies — a Boeing 777 carrying 239 people that simply vanished into the night, leaving behind unanswered questions, devastated families, and a global search that continues to this day.
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00:00The thing that makes the most sense to me was some type of hijacking.
00:04The world of aviation is a world where impossibilities are constantly being made
00:08possible. Every flight seemingly defies the laws of gravity. In fact, some aircrafts,
00:13like the Bell X-1 or the Concorde, are even capable of breaking the sound barrier. Yet,
00:19not every flight is a smooth ride, and one trip aboard the skies in particular stands out above
00:24all others in aviation. It was a plane which vanished without a trace shortly after midnight
00:30on March 8, 2014. Good night, Malaysia 370, were the last words heard from anyone on that flight.
00:39And at the same time, the plane disappeared from radar screens. Imagine that, a 777 transporting
00:47239 people, suddenly gone in a moment's notice. A single baffling situation, which would stun the
00:53world at large, and devastate countless families in the process. No warning signs,
00:58no definitive explanations, and no closure. What was supposed to be a routine red-eye,
01:12instead became one of the 21st century's most bizarre anomalies ever. So what happened?
01:17This is WatchMojo. Today we unravel the 12-year-long mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines
01:23Flight 370. We will discuss details about the troubled trip, as well as the timeline of the
01:28plane's disappearance. Then we will see how the subsequent searches, investigations,
01:33and media frenzy landed this tragedy into the history books and capitulated Malaysia Airlines into
01:39infamy. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, also referred to as MH370, took place aboard a Boeing 777 airplane.
01:58More specifically, it was on a 777-200ER. That aircraft is actually the pinnacle of all
02:04aircraft that I have flown. And the automation is just fantastic. Each and every airplane is designated
02:10a special aircraft registration code. These are also known as tail numbers. And for MH370,
02:16its tail number was 9M-MRO. In terms of itinerary, the plane was scheduled to go from Kuala Lumpur,
02:23Malaysia to Beijing, China. The 777 had a crew of 12 professionals and 227 passengers on board.
02:30It was a routine for us to send each other a text message when the plane landed. We've been doing
02:39that throughout our flying career. Of the 227, 153 of them were Chinese.
02:47Though the majority of passengers were Chinese citizens, a multitude of other nationalities
02:52were represented amidst the total group. For example, there were also citizens from India,
02:56France, Ukraine, Indonesia, Russia, and Iran on the plane, not to mention New Zealand, Canada,
03:03the Netherlands, the United States, Taiwan, and Malaysia as well. The plane was flown by Captain
03:09Zahari Ahmad Shah, a seasoned pilot with about 18,000 hours of flight experience under his belt,
03:15and who had been working for Malaysia Airlines since 1981. A friend of his, Peter Chong, told me today the
03:21captain is considered a tech geek, who invited other friends to play with it.
03:25His passion and talent for aviation extended beyond his professional career,
03:30and well into his personal life too, with him even uploading flying-centric tutorials onto YouTube.
03:36The tutorials in question were performed on a special flight simulator program Captain Shah had.
03:49But beyond the realm of simulations, Shah was joined on MH370 by his co-pilot Farik Abdul Hamid.
03:56While Captain Shah was a veteran pilot, Mr. Hamid was more of a rookie. He was only 20 years old
04:02when he
04:02started working for Malaysia Airlines in the year 2007. While he had roughly 2,700 hours of flying experience
04:08under his belt, he actually didn't spend too much time with 777s.
04:12He's clocked 2,700 hours of flying, and Malaysian Airlines says they were shocked when pictures surfaced
04:18of the co-pilot posing with young ladies in the cockpit during a flight, which of course is a security
04:24violation.
04:25In fact, MH370 was only the sixth time Mr. Hamid had been at the helm of one. Plus, it was
04:30the first flight where he was officially considered a full-fledged pilot, with no more training required.
04:36Unfortunately for Mr. Hamid, this monumental flight wouldn't be remembered as his symbolic graduation of the class.
04:42It would instead become a nightmare. Not just for him either, but also for Captain Shah, as well as everybody
04:48else on the plane.
04:50239 people, many from different nationalities and walks of life, and many who were complete strangers,
04:55were all united by one tragic commonality. They never arrived at their destination.
05:00Either through a missile strike or a mid-air collision, MH370 met its fate.
05:11MH370 left Kuala Lumpur International Airport at approximately 12.41 a.m. Malaysian Standard Time on March 8, 2014.
05:19The plane was expected to land in Beijing Capital International Airport at approximately 6.30 a.m.
05:25The entire trip was meant to be a simple red-eye, which is a flight that operates during night and
05:30reaches its destination in the early stretches of the morning.
05:33Theoretically, MH370 should have been no different, and everything seemed normal at first.
05:43Roughly 47 minutes after taking off at 1.19, as MH370 was flying past the South China Sea,
05:50it received communication from Malaysian Air Traffic Control, or just ATC for short. Malaysia ATC told the
05:57plane that it should make contact with Vietnamese ATC. This was hardly anything out of the ordinary,
06:02since the 777 would soon be flying over Vietnam. Consistent communication between ATC and airplanes
06:08was crucial for any and all flights.
06:11When we found out what was said from the cockpit of Malaysian Flight 370, it was perfectly routine.
06:17Absolutely boilerplate. That's what airline pilots and flight controllers say to each other.
06:21After these instructions, a voice from the cockpit of the 777 responded back to ATC. The voice said the
06:27phrase, good night, Malaysia 370. This was a simple way for the plane to acknowledge that it would
06:32shift communication from Malaysia ATC to Vietnamese ATC. It was widely believed that Captain Shaw said
06:38the phrase. However, some initial speculation suggested it was Mr. Hamid who said the line.
06:43As the plane approaches the limits of Malaysian airspace,
06:47the captain of the flight, Zahari Ahmad Shah, gets on the radio and says,
06:53Regardless of which pilot was speaking, what remains true is that these were the last recorded words
06:58to ever come from Flight 370. At 1.21, just two minutes later, the plane went dark. To elaborate,
07:05the 777's transponder, a special device which sends messages to radar systems, became unresponsive.
07:11Ho Chi Minh's control center tries to reach the aircraft. They tried the radio, they tried to call
07:16and see if MH370 was out there, no response. Transponders are vital components of an aircraft
07:22that ATCs rely on for accurately identifying planes. With MH370's transponder turned off,
07:28the plane was quite literally flying under the radar. While it was now practically invisible to ATC,
07:34the country of Malaysia itself was still able to see the aircraft. This was made possible through
07:38their special military radar system. From the travel time of each signal, investigators also calculate
07:45the plane's distance from the satellite. These lines are called arcs. It continued tracking the plane
07:51as it eventually traveled across the Andaman Sea, now notably far off course. But just like with ATC,
07:57the Malaysian military's radar would soon lose their connection to the plane as well. It's the biggest
08:02breakthrough so far, instantly shifting the search 3,000 miles south of the last military radar contact.
08:1159 minutes later, at 2.22am, Flight 370 was no longer monitorable on the military radar at all. An initial
08:19search was then conducted using every form of communication with the plane possible to try and locate it.
08:24This included two phone calls from the ground station in Perth, Australia directly to MH370, which were both
08:30unanswered. In addition to this, satellite data was a factor as well. Boeing had included a maintenance reporting thing that
08:37goes by satellite. It was called an ACAR system,
08:40and Boeing had installed a system to report maintenance information about the engines and the airplane every hour.
08:47Many planes were equipped with a SATCOM, short for a satellite communications system. It basically allows the cockpit to send
08:54messages over to a satellite data unit, or SDU. This is another part of an airplane that takes the messages
09:00from the SATCOM and sends it to a satellite. In this specific instance, MH370 had contact with an Inmarsat 3
09:07F1 satellite. Its purpose was to relay the SDU
09:10data back down to the Perth ground station. Essentially, it's a middleman between the ground
09:14and the aircraft. The automated action where the plane sends signals to the satellite is called a handshake.
09:20Throughout the flight, multiple hourly handshakes were performed.
09:23Many of these times where these satellites were flying over, they only fly over every once a day, going up,
09:29once a day going down, there were clouds there. They can't see through the clouds to see the debris.
09:35Handshakes can be helpful for trying to pinpoint the location of a plane. And while several were made well after
09:40the transponder went down, they too eventually stopped.
09:436.30am was when Flight 370 was supposed to land in Beijing. But evidently, this didn't happen. Multiple ATC bases
09:51were in contact with one another. And at 6.32am, the Kuala Lumpur Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center became part of
09:59the search operation.
10:00With every minute that the plane's arrival was delayed, more confusion and panic about where it was spread.
10:06I was told that flight MH370 is missing from our system.
10:12Then, at 7.24am, Malaysia Airlines made their first public announcement about the incident, revealing on Facebook that MH370 had
10:21officially disappeared.
10:22We are working with authorities who have activated the search and rescue team to locate the aircraft. Our team is
10:29currently calling the next team of passengers and crew.
10:32After the very first rudimentary search to find the plane, it became clear that a much more extensive search would
10:38need to be underway in order to find the aircraft.
10:40On March 9th, one day after the 777's disappearance, the Royal Malaysian Air Force provided some further updates. By combing
10:47through records from the Malaysian military radar, they theorized that MH370 turned around at some point.
10:53Adding to that, the early conflicting reports on where authorities think the plane actually is, and whether it had turned
11:00or not.
11:02This would actually explain why the military radar spotted the 777 flying over the Andaman Sea, somewhere it wasn't planned
11:08to be, before it lost contact.
11:10The radius of the search was extended, which meant that the Strait of Malacca, a body of water which connects
11:15the Andaman Sea to the South China Sea, was now also being looked at.
11:19One last hope remained. Could they find the black boxes, before they stop emitting pings?
11:26You're not in an ivory tower. You haven't got the luxury of time. You've got pingers that may expire.
11:32On March 10th, it was now a certainty that the plane indeed turned back. Evidence for the detour was supported
11:39by the plane's last known successful handshake.
11:41The handshake suggested that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, likely killing all on board.
11:47The reason it crashed into the water was also believed to be because the aircraft eventually ran out of fuel.
11:53The search continued on for months, and only grew larger.
11:56At the height of the search, 26 countries were involved, and the operation became the most expensive one the world
12:02of aviation ever saw.
12:04Even if you can detect the sound of a black box pinger, locating its origin is a huge challenge, especially
12:12an ocean four and a half kilometers deep.
12:14July 30th, 2015. Already more than a year after the disappearance, debris in the form of a suitcase was spotted
12:21on Reunion Island.
12:23The day prior, there was some litter found, which was also speculated to be debris.
12:27Hours after discovering the plane part, searchers stumbled upon what looks to be a tattered suitcase on the very same
12:34beach.
12:35Its connection to MH370 not confirmed.
12:38Numerous forms of debris, in fact, including part of a wing fragment called a flapperon, were spotted around this timeframe.
12:44It wasn't immediately clear that the debris was from Flight 370, but it was a breadcrumb nevertheless.
12:51After inspection, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak definitively confirmed on August 5th that the debris was from MH370.
12:59It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively
13:12confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370.
13:22Despite being a moment of progress, the search for the plane was far from over.
13:26On January 22, 2018, a salvage company known as Ocean Infinity began a deep-sea search for the plane.
13:33This underwater journey to find the aircraft lasted a few months and had no significant results.
13:39By June 9, 2018, Ocean Infinity's search ended, and with the end of that search, there was still no sign
13:46of Flight 370.
13:47The AUVs are deployed around the clock, and two shifts of engineers and surveyors are constantly monitoring the missions and
13:54analyzing the captured data.
13:56For the families of those on board MH370, their worst fears were confirmed by the Facebook post announcing that the
14:03plane had gone missing.
14:04Mothers lost their sons, husbands lost their wives, children lost their parents, and multiple nations lost their citizens.
14:11Never in the history of human existence have 239 people been declared dead on the basis of mathematics alone.
14:21None of this, however, went unnoticed.
14:23Through the years while the search was going on, coverage of the flight arguably took on a complete life of
14:28its own.
14:29Ever since the birth of the 24-hour news cycle, anomalies such as Flight 370 seemed arguably tailor-made for
14:36primetime coverage.
14:37There was a deer-in-the-headlights component to those early news conferences, and you could almost see them struggling
14:43through it, not knowing what they were doing.
14:46Major outlets like CNN, ABC, and other well-known news entities devoted lengthy amounts of time reporting about the plane.
14:53News broadcasts weren't necessary in order to keep the world up-to-date on the latest happenings.
14:58However, there was some criticism about how certain reports were handled.
15:02For example, arguments could be made that some news outlets leaned too much into sensationalism.
15:08The way the plane spiraled into the ocean, it was not under human control.
15:14There's no way that you could make a plane do that?
15:16No, you would not. There is no way a pilot could make a plane do that.
15:22CNN in particular gained a good deal of backlash around this time with their reports.
15:27Many criticized them and suggested their goal was to boost ratings rather than provide factual updates.
15:32At times when there was little to no information or breakthroughs, many theories about what happened on Flight 370 were
15:38talked about at length instead.
15:40Granted, there are some prominent theories that are understandably worth talking about, including some we'll also discuss.
15:46However, platforming the more out-there conspiracies can be incredibly dangerous, and even disrespectful in the long run.
15:53Beyond the news circle, MH370's story also seemed to pull the world of entertainment into its orbit as well.
16:00Trade publications like Variety also discussed the plane.
16:03However, many of their articles focused on who was creating the latest documentary or miniseries about the aircraft.
16:09As an aviation journalist, you know, this is like the bat signal shined on the clouds.
16:16It has its hooks in me. And I had to investigate.
16:21People also couldn't help but compare Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with another plane, albeit a fictional one, Oceanic Airlines Flight
16:29815, otherwise famously known as the plane from Lost.
16:33The critically acclaimed series about survivors of a plane crash who end up on a bizarre island concluded well before
16:39MH370 went missing.
16:52That being said, some fans of Lost became enamored by the Malaysia plane, and occasionally discussions were made in online
17:00fan circles.
17:01For some of them, it seemed like the mysterious nature of the 777 disappearing was a case of life imitating
17:07art.
17:07Besides comparisons to old shows, MH370 also had a direct impact on creating new ones.
17:14Manifest, a show about people on board Montego Air Flight 828, which mysteriously reappears five years after going missing, had
17:22trouble getting made at first.
17:23However, when the news about MH370 broke, it gave network executives the incentive to go forward with developing the show.
17:31The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is your plane departed Montego Bay, Jamaica on April 7th, 2013.
17:40Today is November 4th, 2018.
17:43With all that said, whether it be from the news or the entertainment industry, what's clear is that MH370 wasn't
17:51just some small side story.
17:52It was the talk of the town, and still would be, for years.
17:56You run so many scenarios through your brain, there's been so many theories, you know, but they are somewhere.
18:03Running parallel to the search for the plane was an extensive investigation into why things went wrong.
18:09For this, locating the black boxes was, and still remains, a massive priority to this day.
18:14Black boxes are recording devices that can provide crucial information in regards to what caused everything on MH370 to go
18:22wrong.
18:22However, they still have not been found. Multiple nations were involved in the search operations, and multiple also worked together
18:29on the investigations.
18:30The aircraft bounced around 350 feet above the water, and the crew did their best, trying to pick out objects
18:38on the surface.
18:39But they didn't see much. A few fishing buoys and a pod of whales.
18:44But once again, there was no sign of MH370.
18:48A joint investment team was put together by Malaysia, which included France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
18:55It was a large team, whose main goal consisted of investigating the plane's records, technology systems, recordings, and other noteworthy
19:02items.
19:03Since Australia was helping with search operations, their Maritime Safety Authority also worked in tandem with the joint investigation team,
19:11sharing important findings with them.
19:12The search stretched on for a very long time. We'd been searching for over two years.
19:21But the longer we searched, the more certain we became that we would find it.
19:28Malaysia's Royal Police also collaborated with international law enforcement, like Interpol and the FBI.
19:34Like we mentioned earlier, there are some theories that are worth touching upon, for the sake of at least trying
19:40to attempt to figure out how something as bizarre as this could have happened.
19:43Among the most prominent theories is speculation that some form of sabotage was involved.
19:49Hijacking was discussed as one theory.
19:51Possible evidence for this came from two of the passengers who were on board the flight.
19:55They were 19-year-old Pura Noor Mohamed and 29-year-old Saeed Mohamed Rezar del War, and it was
20:02discovered that both had fake passports.
20:04These passports made it look like they were citizens of Austria and Italy, respectively.
20:09Investigators focusing on this Thai travel agency that booked tickets for the two passengers.
20:14However, they were actually both Iranian citizens.
20:17This led to suspicion and the theory that they boarded the aircraft with ill intent.
20:21That being said, this theory has been disproven.
20:24Interpol, the organization which was investigating the two, learned that they were fleeing Iran and seeking asylum.
20:30One other prominent theory relates to the pilot, Captain Zahari Ahmad Shah.
20:34When we first mentioned him, we discussed how he enjoyed using a flight simulator.
20:39After the disappearance, that simulator was carefully looked over.
20:42While analyzing past flights performed on the program, the FBI noted that one had a path incredibly similar to how
20:49MH370
20:50flew over the Indian Ocean.
20:52This, coupled with the idea that someone within the cockpit could have tampered with the flight,
20:57placed Captain Shah as a major suspect in the investigation.
21:00Is it possible that he hijacked the plane and killed those people?
21:06I absolutely don't agree with that.
21:10Why?
21:11I don't see him as a person who could do that.
21:15There was soon chatter that he purposely took his own life and subsequently killed everyone else on board in the
21:21process.
21:22That being said, in regards to the simulation, the FBI ended their analysis of it by claiming that they ultimately
21:29found nothing criminally suspicious of it or with Captain Shah.
21:32Somebody made this happen and that somebody had to have sophisticated flying skills, probably for the 777.
21:38In other words, the suspicion falls on the two pilots.
21:41However, the theory that he was responsible for the crash is still largely discussed and debated on to this day.
21:47With the family of Captain Shah denying the claims against him and no official confirmation that it was him ever
21:53being announced,
21:54we ultimately have to stress that this still remains just a theory.
21:57If there's no proof, then you shouldn't assume someone did that.
22:02Especially maybe because I'm a criminal lawyer and being innocent until proven guilty is something that's very important to me.
22:07Earlier, we mentioned how the media reacted and reported on MH370, as well as the criticism their coverage received by
22:14viewers.
22:15However, criticism wasn't just aimed at the media.
22:18Numerous governments, though mainly Malaysia, were scrutinized for how they handled the investigation.
22:23Initially, contradictory statements were made, and there was confusion about where exactly to conduct the searches.
22:29Several of the nations involved also had difficulties with sharing important information,
22:34and collaborating as efficiently as they needed to for the case.
22:37It really makes us feel, if it's no fault, then it's angry.
22:42Besides government scrutiny and possible multinational incompetence, the court of public opinion proved damning for the airline itself.
22:50In December of 2025, eleven years after the disaster, a court in Beijing ordered Malaysia Airlines to pay $410,000
22:59to the families of eight of MH370's passengers.
23:02Many other cases against the airline have gone on through the years as well, and many were eventually settled.
23:07Not only did they have to pay compensation to the victims' families, they also had to deal with brand damage.
23:13This information is quite technical in nature, so although I will give you as much information as I can, I
23:21will not be in a position to answer questions about the data analysis today.
23:25Their reputation was arguably forever tarnished by the MH370 tragedy.
23:30Not long after the disappearance, the MH370 flight number was retired.
23:35In its wake was its replacement, the new flight number MH318.
23:39Financial problems also found their way toward Malaysia Airlines, though they weren't all entirely because of the tragedy.
23:45Regardless, the flight was still a notable factor, and in January 2015, the company was considered technically bankrupt.
23:53Now Malaysia Airlines faces a further drop in business and pressure on its fares as a result of the flight's
23:59disappearance.
24:00We have a lot of work to do.
24:02What followed next was a period of attempting to repair the airline and its business operations.
24:07The idea of rebranding was discussed, and this would later become a reality.
24:11By September 1, 2015, Malaysia Airlines was now officially restructured into Malaysia Airlines Berhad.
24:18Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest
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24:35Despite the last major search for MS370 by Ocean Infinity ending in June of 2018, that end actually seems to
24:42be more of a pause.
24:44In December of 2025, Ocean Infinity restarted their search.
24:48As far as the Malaysian government is concerned, we are committed to that search, and the search must go on.
24:54Within their arsenal are a plethora of drones and high-tech contraptions capable of travelling underwater, which are being used
25:01to search the Indian Ocean once again.
25:03The company has a contract with Malaysia valued at $70 million.
25:06That being said, Ocean Infinity theoretically doesn't get a cent of that money unless it actually does what it's hoping
25:13to and locates the plane.
25:15In short, no find, no fee.
25:17But there's reasons to be hopeful.
25:19The robotic specialists have the latest technology.
25:23Autonomous underwater vehicles that create 3D maps of the seabed up to six kilometres below the surface.
25:30This renewed investigation has once again brought Flight 370 to the forefront of the conversation.
25:35Locating the 777 is a tall task, and the ambitious journey is another reminder that no corner can be left
25:42unturned.
25:43All of this in mind, it begs a few questions.
25:46Can this case really still be solved, or will it continue to remain aviation's largest mystery ever?
25:52Why would a search be any different this time? Why would we turn something up this time?
25:56With this very difficult terrain, it is possible to miss wreckage.
26:05Unfortunately, uncertainty is the name of the game for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
26:10However, what we can be certain of is that the story's not over.
26:13Even in the face of depressing headlines and unsatisfying searches,
26:17the quest for closure and the hope for truth about the tragedy remains.
26:21The plane vanished mysteriously in the night sky.
26:23But the hope families have that one day they'll get the answers they need has yet to vanish all these
26:29years later.
26:30There are so many conspiracy theories which are going around.
26:33Whether you accept them or you don't, but nevertheless it hits your brains.
26:39It hits your heart.
26:40There are one.
26:43You can have start to finish, find it easierart.
26:47If it also lets youね your vertical conversations then you can still breathe.
26:47There will be what the daddy has to ritzed as the fuel.
26:48If it WT isn't easy, it is tough.
26:48We will pay you to generate a return.
26:50If theidorah has broken off course being destroyed,
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