Some mysteries become even harder to understand as time goes by. We rely on technology to keep track of the world around us, so the idea that an entire passenger plane can simply disappear is difficult to comprehend. And when no clear answers emerge, the questions only grow.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished without leaving a trace. Before contact was lost, the captain exchanged a brief message with air traffic control, ending with five seemingly ordinary words: “Goodnight Malaysia three seven zero.”
More than a decade later, the plane's fate remains unknown. But what happened during its final moments, and why do some details of the case continue to raise questions? Let's take a closer look at the mystery behind MH370, and how it adds up to other similar stories we’ll never forget.
Missing aircrafts continue to capture people's attention as they leave so many questions unanswered
The mysterious and impossible tragedy of the MH370
On March 8, 2014, Flight MH370 disappeared while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The Boeing 777 lost contact with air traffic control less than 40 minutes after takeoff, shortly after Malaysian controllers handed communication over to their Vietnamese counterparts.
Military radar later showed the plane turned back across the Malay Peninsula and then flew northwest over the Strait of Malacca. Satellite data indicated that MH370 kept flying for about six more hours after it disappeared from civilian radar, with its last estimated position in the southern Indian Ocean.
Even after large search efforts across the ocean floor, investigators never found the main wreckage or the flight recorders. Some debris thought to be from MH370 washed up in the western Indian Ocean, but without the black boxes, investigators could not determine exactly what happened or why the plane changed course.
Which are the protocols when an aircraft disappears
Aviation has strict protocols for dealing with missing aircraft, from the first signs of trouble to full-scale search and rescue operations. That's why MH370's disappearance remains so puzzling: despite all these procedures, authorities still haven't found out exactly what happened to the plane.
If an aircraft stops responding to air traffic control, authorities do not immediately think it has crashed. They try to contact the plane using every communication method they have and check with other sources for any news about the flight. If the plane does not show up as expected, controllers begin to consider whether there might be an emergency.
International aviation rules break down aircraft emergencies into three phases: uncertainty, alert, and distress. The uncertainty phase happens when authorities lose contact or cannot confirm where an aircraft is. If they still cannot find it, the situation moves to an alert, and rescue teams get ready. The distress phase means search and rescue teams respond right away.
When authorities declare a distress phase, rescue coordination centers take charge of the response. Teams look at the aircraft's last known position, flight details, and any reports to guess where it might have gone. They decide which area to search and work with nearby rescue centers if the aircraft could have entered another region.
The infamous 1972 Andes plane crash
However, even with all this protocol and even when rescuers know where an aircraft crashed, reaching the survivors can become an enormous challenge. That’s what happened on October 13, 1972, when a Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild aircraft carrying 45 people crashed high in the Andes. The remote mountains, freezing cold, and rough terrain made the rescue especially hard.
The survivors had to deal with temperatures as low as -30°C, very little food, and almost no shelter. They used luggage and seat cushions to keep the wreckage insulated and tried to use whatever supplies they could find. When an avalanche buried part of the plane, eight more people lost their lives.
After 72 days, only 16 people were still alive. Two of them, Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, walked through the mountains for ten days until they met a Chilean muleteer named Sergio Catalán, who went to get help. Thanks to their journey, rescuers finally found the other survivors, showing how hard it is to find people in remote places.
Missing airplanes means we obviously have to speak about the Bermuda Triangle
Stories of missing ships and planes have captured people’s interest for generations, especially when they happen over large areas of ocean. The Bermuda Triangle is one of the best-known examples. This area in the Atlantic, bordered by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, became famous for mysterious disappearances that many thought could not be explained.
The area has many natural dangers that can cause problems for ships. Tropical storms and hurricanes often move through the Atlantic, and the Gulf Stream can quickly change the weather and create strong currents. There are also many shallow spots in the Caribbean, which make it hard to navigate, especially for ships without up-to-date equipment.
Even though the Bermuda Triangle is famous, it does not seem to have more unexplained disappearances than other busy parts of the ocean. The US Navy and Coast Guard have not found any evidence that accidents there are caused by anything supernatural. In most cases, weather, navigation mistakes, and human error are more likely explanations.
However, despite its reputation for mysterious disappearances, the Bermuda Triangle follows the same search and rescue procedures as any other part of the ocean. Ships and aircraft don't enter a special danger zone, and authorities rely on established emergency systems when someone goes missing
The Mary Celeste: the ship that sailed without its crew
The mystery of missing passengers and crews doesn't end with aircraft. On December 4, 1872, sailors on the British ship Dei Gratia saw another vessel drifting in the Atlantic about 400 miles east of the Azores. This ship was the Mary Celeste, an American merchant vessel that had sailed from New York to Genoa.
When the sailors boarded the Mary Celeste, they found no captain, passengers, or crew. The ship still had its cargo of 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol, as well as food and other supplies. Even though it had taken on some water and showed some damage, it was still able to sail. The lifeboat was missing.
Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, their young daughter, and the seven crew members were never found. Investigators looked into why the ship was abandoned, but they never found a clear answer. The missing lifeboat showed that everyone probably left on purpose, but no one could explain why they would leave a ship that still seemed able to sail.
What might have happened to MH370
Back to our topic, more than ten years after the disappearance, there are still several competing theories. One idea is that someone intentionally changed the plane's course, as investigators found that MH370 turned off its planned route through manual controls.
Some people suspect the captain, while others think someone else may have interfered, but investigators have not been able to determine who was in control or the reason behind it.
Another theory is that an emergency happened during the flight, like a technical problem or a loss of cabin pressure that might have left everyone on board unable to respond. The plane could have kept flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
But investigators have not been able to confirm this idea either, and without the main wreckage or flight recorders, the mystery is still unsolved.
Abandoned ships, aircrafts that vanish without a trace, these mysteries remind us how much remains beyond our understanding. And among them, MH370 remains one of the most haunting cases, and those 239 people are still waiting to be accounted for.
Here's the visualization of one of the most famous mysteries in the aviation history
The internet did what it always does and people come up with their own theories about the MH370
