Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: The unanswered questions
Many questions have been thrown up by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines jet MH370. As speculation continues over what really happened onboard, here we examine some of the issues.
The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has ignited several unanswered questions over the fate of the jet and its 239 passengers.
1. Could the plane have run out of fuel?
Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that MH370 was fuelled for at least eight hours of flight, and the aircraft’s Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route typically lasts only six hours. Furthermore, aircrafts generally carry about two hours’ worth of fuel on top of what is needed.
“If there was a fuel loss, the pilot would have enough time to call for distress signal, and to turn around and glide back to land,” said Ravi Madavaram, an aviation analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
2. Could a mechanical failure have occurred?
Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777-200 – an aircraft rated as one of the safest jets in the world. Experts have said that a total structural breakdown that might lead to an explosion or a loss of cabin pressure is extremely unlikely considering the plane’s reliability, particularly when there have only been four accidents involving the Boeing 777 since 1994.
Furthermore, based on the MH370’s maintenance records, the plane was structurally sound and had “nothing that would jump straight out of the page,” according to reviews by Indonesia-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman.
Despite this, the failure of the plane’s twin engines is technically possible.
In January 2008, a British Airways Boeing 777 crashed 300 metres short of a runway at London’s Heathrow Airport. Ice accumulation in the aircraft’s fuel system had caused the engines to lose thrust.