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Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Leading theories and biggest questions

  • A girl stands next to a sign board made and...

    Daniel Chan/Ap Photo

    A girl stands next to a sign board made and written by the public at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia on March 10, 2014.

  • The China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) ship Haixun-31 leaves after...

    Ap Photo

    The China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) ship Haixun-31 leaves after a brief stop in Sanya in southern China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014. The ship is expected to join an ongoing search for the missing Malaysian airline passenger plane that vanished on March 8, 2014.

  • This image released by Interpol shows the two Iranian men...

    Ap Photo

    This image released by Interpol shows the two Iranian men who were traveling with stolen passports on a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner. The image was displayed on a screen during a presser at the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, central France on March 11, 2014.

  • Christian Kozel, whose stolen passport was mysteriously used by one...

    Splash News

    Christian Kozel, whose stolen passport was mysteriously used by one of the passengers on the missing Malaysian air flight, speaks about finding out his name was on the list of the jet. He is seen here with his current, valid passport. The 61-year-old Austrian told newspaper Osterreich how police knocked on his door on March 8, 2014, to tell him what had happened to the plane, but was happy to see it had not been him on the flight. His first thought was "I'm glad I'm alive," Mr. Kozel said. He said his passport was stolen two years prior in a taxi in Phuket.

  • A relative (c.) of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370...

    Goh Chai Hin/Ap Photo

    A relative (c.) of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries after hearing the news that the plane plunged into Indian Ocean at a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014.

  • Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced at a news conference...

    Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

    Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur that investigators concluded Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean on March 24, 2014, ruling out theories of a detour over Asia.

  • Grieving relatives of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave...

    Goh Chai Hin/Getty Images

    Grieving relatives of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave a hotel hall after being told the news that the plane plunged into the Indian Ocean in Beijing on March 24, 2014. The missing Malaysia Airlines jet came down in the Indian Ocean, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on March 24, as the airline reportedly told relatives it had been lost and that none on board survived.

  • A member of the Chinese navy stands next to Chinese...

    China Daily/Reuters

    A member of the Chinese navy stands next to Chinese navy warship "Jinggangshan" as it prepares to leave for the search and rescue operations of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at a port in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province early March 9, 2014.

  • A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370...

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    A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries at Lidu Hotel on March 8, 2014, in Beijing, China.

  • Chinese police stand beside the arrival board showing the flight...

    Mark Ralston/Getty Images

    Chinese police stand beside the arrival board showing the flight MH370 (top-red) at the Beijing Airport after news of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane disappeared on March 8, 2014. Malaysia Airlines said a flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing early on March 8, 2014.

  • A Chinese relative of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines...

    Andy Wong/Ap Photo

    A Chinese relative of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, center, cries as she is escorted by a woman while leaving a hotel room for relatives or friends of passengers aboard the missing airplane, in Beijing, China on March 9, 2014.

  • This screengrab from flightradar24.com shows the last reported position of...

    Flightradar24.Com/Ap Photo

    This screengrab from flightradar24.com shows the last reported position of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Friday night on March 7, 2014. The Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact over the South China Sea on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

  • Italian Luigi Maraldi, whose stolen passport was used by a...

    Krissada Muanhawong/Ap Photo

    Italian Luigi Maraldi, whose stolen passport was used by a passenger boarding a missing Malaysian airliner, shows his passport as he reports himself to Thai police at Phuket police station in Phuket province, southern Thailand on March 9, 2014. Maraldi spoke at a police news conference where he showed his current passport, which replaced the stolen one, and expressed surprise that anyone could use his old one.

  • Flight Lt. Jason Nichols, aboard a Royal Australian Air Force...

    POOL/REUTERS

    Flight Lt. Jason Nichols, aboard a Royal Australian Air Force P-3C Orion, writes notes as he helps search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet over the southern Indian Ocean on Saturday.

  • Grieving Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines...

    Mark Ralston/Getty Images

    Grieving Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave on a stretcher after being told of their deaths at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014.

  • People pay their respects by launching a "Kongming" lantern covered...

    Edgar Su/Reuters

    People pay their respects by launching a "Kongming" lantern covered in thoughtful messages at a candlelight vigil for the passengers of Malaysia Airlines MH370 near Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on March 10, 2014.

  • Two pieces of debris were discovered off the coast of...

    Yannick Pitou, Ahmet Burak Ozkan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

    Two pieces of debris were discovered off the coast of Mozambique and are "most likely" from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian and Malaysian officials said on March 24, 2016. After investigating, both parts were found to be consistent with the Boeing 777 aircraft and hope to provide more clues as to where the plane went down. Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew members aboard.

  • A vessel is seen from a flying Soviet-made AN-26 of...

    Na Son Nguyen/Ap Photo

    A vessel is seen from a flying Soviet-made AN-26 of the Vietnam Air Force during a search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 over the South China Sea on March 10, 2014.

  • Members of Fo Guang Shan rescue team offer a special...

    Lai Seng Sin/Ap Photo

    Members of Fo Guang Shan rescue team offer a special prayer for passengers aboard a missing plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia on March 9, 2014.

  • A distraught relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight...

    Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

    A distraught relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she talks on her mobile phone at the Beijing Capital International Airport on March 8, 2014. The passenger plane departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.21 a.m. (1621 GMT Friday) and had been expected to land in the Chinese capital at 6.30 a.m. (2230 GMT) the same day.

  • Grieving relatives of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave...

    Goh Chai Hin/Getty Images

    Grieving relatives of passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave a hotel hall at after being told the news that the plane plunged into Indian Ocean in Beijing on March 24, 2014.

  • Students from a school in Zhuji, China pray for the...

    Chinafotopress/Getty Images

    Students from a school in Zhuji, China pray for the passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by lighting candles on March 10, 2014.

  • A child reacts to the camera as others light candles...

    Manan Vatsyayana/Getty Images

    A child reacts to the camera as others light candles during a vigil for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger plane at the Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on March 10, 2014. Malaysia has expanded its search area for a missing jet after three days of scouring the sea failed to bring forth any confirmed sightings of the wreckage, an official said. He added that besides searching in waters between Malaysia and Vietnam, authorities were also searching on land in Malaysia and off western Malaysia.

  • Military personnel look out of a Republic of Singapore Air...

    Lianhe Zaobao/Singapore Press Ho

    Military personnel look out of a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) C130 transport plane as they search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane over the South China Sea on March 11, 2014.

  • A family member of a passenger from the missing Malaysia...

    Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

    A family member of a passenger from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 reacts at Lido Hotel on March 24, 2014, in Beijing, China. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.

  • A patrol vessel of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency searches for...

    Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Ap Photo

    A patrol vessel of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency searches for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane off Tok Bali Beach in Kelantan, Malaysia on March 9, 2014.

  • Relatives of victims from the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200...

    Mark Ralston/Getty Images

    Relatives of victims from the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane complete paperwork for their Chinese passports to be ready to travel to the crash site in Beijing on March 9, 2014.

  • Malaysian Maritime Enforcement personnel use a radar to scan for...

    Malaysian Maritime Enforcement/Afp Photo

    Malaysian Maritime Enforcement personnel use a radar to scan for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Boeing 777-200 as they fly over the waters off the northeastern coast of Malaysia on March 9, 2014.

  • An image released by the Malaysian police during a news...

    Ap Photo

    An image released by the Malaysian police during a news conference on March 11, 2014, shows two Iranian men that boarded the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports.

  • Relatives and friends are distraught while the search continues for...

    Facebook, Kharisma Tarigan/Getty Images, Mohd Rasfanmohd/Getty

    Relatives and friends are distraught while the search continues for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Father-of-two Paul Weeks (left) was on board the missing Malaysia flight as he flew out to Mongolia to start a dream job. A grieving Indonesian mother Suharni (top right) displays a portrait of her son Sugianto Lo and his wife Vinny Chynthya, who are both passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight from their residence in Medan in Sumatra Island. Family members look at a wedding album of Norliakmar Hamid and Razahan Zamani (bottom right), who were also passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in Kuala Lumpur.

  • Indian sand artist Sudersan Pattnaik makes some final touches to...

    Asit Kumar/Afp Photo

    Indian sand artist Sudersan Pattnaik makes some final touches to his sand sculpture with a message of prayer for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 -- which vanished from radar early on March 8, 2014 somewhere at sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

  • A relative of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 cries at...

    Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

    A relative of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 cries at the Lido hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014, after hearing an announcement on the missing flight by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Relatives of Chinese passengers on the missing flight screamed, cried and collapsed on the ground on Monday after Najib announced the jet ended its journey in the remote southern Indian Ocean.

  • Malaysia Airline passenger jets sat parked on the tarmac at the...

    How Foo Yeen/Getty Images

    Malaysia Airline passenger jets sat parked on the tarmac at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, following the news of the disappearance. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 onboard was reported missing after the crew failed to check in as scheduled while flying over the sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, according to published reports.

  • A member of the military personnel looks out of a...

    Lianhe Zaobao/Singapore Press Ho

    A member of the military personnel looks out of a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) C130 transport plane during the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane over the South China Sea on March 11, 2014.

  • Military personnel look out of a Republic of Singapore Air...

    Lianhe Zaobao/Singapore Press Ho

    Military personnel look out of a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) C130 transport plane as they search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane over the South China Sea on March 11, 2014.

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Investigators are combing a remote area of the Indian Ocean for possible debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, but the mystery around its abrupt disappearance grows with each passing day.

Stymied by a lack of physical evidence, experts are at a loss to explain what happened March 8, when the Boeing 777 departed Kuala Lumpur on a routine flight carrying 239 passengers to Beijing and apparently vanished into thin air.

Here are some of the leading theories and biggest questions about the fate of Flight 370:

HOW DOES A BOEING 777 VANISH?

It’s not easy, unless the plane suffered some sort of explosion that instantly decimated it.

Barring that, making a 209-foot long plane go dark takes real effort and planning.

After First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid communicated his “All right, good night” message, the plane was at a critical point in its journey, just leaving Malaysian airspace, meaning there was a handoff between air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City.

Photo of Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah on the Pray For MH370 Facebook page.
Photo of Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah on the Pray For MH370 Facebook page.

At some point as the plane moved from one airspace to another, two of its critical communications systems stopped functioning. It’s not clear if they were manually turned off or they malfunctioned.

The plane’s transponder, which sent radar “pings” to radar stations on the ground, stopped communicating around 1:22 p.m.

The Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) that sends half-hour updates on the plane’s mechanical functions made a report at 1:07 a.m., but failed to deliver the next-scheduled report at 1:37 a.m.

Either of those systems would have left the electronic equivalent of a breadcrumb trail for investigators to follow had they been working as expected, said Matt Robinson, an air safety expert and former military pilot who was a lead aircraft accident investigator for the U.S. Navy and Marines.

CAN IT MAKE AN EMERGENCY LANDING WITH NO RUNWAY?

Yes, of course, said Robinson.

“Planes can make emergency landings on water,” he said. “They can also make emergency landings on the ground, but there’s no evidence that this plane actually has.”

An emergency landing would have likely caused some damage, which would have activated the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, and that would have been picked up by a satellite, Robinson noted.

First Officer Fariq Abdul Hami, 27, had just started training to fly the 777.
First Officer Fariq Abdul Hami, 27, had just started training to fly the 777.

COULD IT HAVE BEEN MALICIOUS PILOT ACTION?

Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, has been flying for Malaysia Airlines since 1981. Hamid, 27, had just started training to fly the 777. Investigators are probing the backgrounds of both men.

WHAT ABOUT A MALFUNCTION?

Aviation experts initially suspected that something sudden and horrific happened. Perhaps a bomb on board, or some type of failure with the engines or airframe. But if that were the case, debris would have been found in the spot where the transponder went off.

COULD IT HAVE BEEN HIJACKED BY TERRORISTS?

This theory took hold after it was discovered that two Iranians on board — one 18, the other 28 — were traveling on stolen passports. Investigators haven’t found anything linking either to terror groups. No credible group has taken credit for the disappearance and intelligence agencies say they haven’t noticed any chatter in terrorist circles regarding the jet.

WHAT ABOUT A FIRE?

Many pilots speculated that the crew was incapacitated by a fast-moving fire that knocked out the plane’s electrical system and then overwhelmed everyone with smoke before an SOS could be sent.

It’s possible, but flight attendants and passengers would have had time to try to enter the cockpit and take control of the plane.

COULD IT HAVE BEEN STOLEN AND HIDDEN?

It’s possible that somebody landed the plane at some remote airport, although nobody has taken responsibility or demanded a ransom for passengers.

Flight Lt. Jason Nichols, aboard a Royal Australian Air Force P-3C Orion, writes notes as he helps search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet over the southern Indian Ocean on Saturday.
Flight Lt. Jason Nichols, aboard a Royal Australian Air Force P-3C Orion, writes notes as he helps search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet over the southern Indian Ocean on Saturday.