Is Hishammuddin Hussein, voice of Malaysia on flight MH370, headed for the top?

When Malaysia Airlines flight 370 went missing, the country's defence minister and acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, may have recalled his own brush with death.

Just last year, a helicopter he and his family were travelling in toppled over onto its side after landing at a site in Kuala Lumpur.

Strong winds were blamed. No one was hurt, but the incident left the minister dazed.

The 52-year-old would surely have never imagined that almost a year later, he would be behind efforts to co-ordinate more than two dozen nations to crack the biggest mystery in modern aviation history.

Hishammuddin has also become the face of Malaysia to the international media.

When the Boeing 777 went missing on March 8, Prime Minister Najib Razak initially turned to civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, an unknown civil servant, to hold the fort.

But after a series of blunders, the former air traffic controller was promptly replaced by Hishammuddin as the man to handle the intense global scrutiny at the daily press conference.