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370InvestigationEFI / 370
EvidenceConfirmed8 Mar 2014 00:19 UTC

No 406 MHz ELT detection

Emergency locator transmitter never heard

Open in cross-ref

No satellite or ground station reported a 406 MHz distress burst from 9M-MRO. Compatible with a high-energy impact, a powered-off ELT, or a failure to trigger.

Boeing 777s carry automatic ELTs. None was received. That is consistent with a wreck that did not survive in a way that would fire the beacon, with the beacon being unpowered, or with a ditching that did not meet the g-switch. It is not by itself a cockpit finding. It is one reason surface searchers in April 2014 had so little to see.

Sources

  • Malaysian Safety Investigation Report 2018; COSPAS-SARSAT

Related

HypothesisOfficial finding

Fuel exhaustion, then uncontrolled descent at the 7th arc

Prevailing official end-of-flight model

HypothesisOpen

Controlled descent / ditching

Someone still flying at the end

TimelineOfficial finding8 Mar 2014 00:19 UTC

Handshake 7 — aircraft-initiated log-on

00:19:29 UTC · probable fuel exhaustion