Resources

Handshake 7 — aircraft-initiated log-on

00:19:29 UTC · probable fuel exhaustion

The SDU sends a log-on request, then a log-on acknowledge eight seconds later. The investigation treats this as power-up after dual engine flame-out.

The aircraft ended in the southern Indian Ocean

Supported by SATCOM southern BFO, 7th-arc geometry, and serial-confirmed debris on western Indian Ocean coasts. Main wreckage still unfound.

MH370 departs Kuala Lumpur

16:42 UTC · 00:42 MYT 8 March 2014

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777-2H6ER registered 9M-MRO, takes off from KLIA runway 32R bound for Beijing Capital International Airport with 227 passengers and 12 crew.

The 7th arc

00:19:29 UTC aircraft-initiated log-on

BTO range ring at the last transmission. Official and Ocean Infinity boxes are arguments about a segment of this arc plus a stand-off. It is not a crash pin.

Boeing–NAVAIR delivery order signed 4 March 2014

$955,853.54 · N0001914D0012 · engineering/technical support · St Louis

Confirmed public contracting record, four days before MH370. Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command, NAICS aircraft manufacturing, PSC R425 professional engineering/technical support. Subject of the order is not in the public header. Chronology is not a collection event.

Factual Information — MH370

Malaysian investigation team · interim releases 2014–2015

Early factual compilations: aircraft history, crew, cargo, ATC transcripts, radar, SATCOM. Released before debris and before the 2018 analysis chapters. The 8 March 2015 issue (updated 15 April 2015) is held here as a downloadable original.

First officer’s phone registers at Penang

17:52:27 UTC

A cell-site handshake from F/O Fariq Abdul Hamid’s mobile is recorded by a Penang tower as the aircraft passes nearby. No call is connected.

Flaperon confirmed as 9M-MRO

3 September 2015

French authorities confirm the Réunion flaperon belongs to MH370. The disappearance is no longer a missing-aircraft case without wreckage.

Fuel exhaustion, then uncontrolled descent at the 7th arc

Prevailing official end-of-flight model

After a long southern cruise the aircraft flames out near 00:19 UTC, the SDU logs on from APU/emergency power, and the aeroplane leaves controlled flight. Wreckage should lie on or near the 7th arc.

Gorgon Stare

BIG SAFARI wide-area surveillance · podded, not MQ-9-only

Developed through BIG SAFARI. Increment 2 is ARGUS-derived EO plus Exelis IR. Congress treated the podded/open architecture as integrable on more than one aircraft type. MQ-9 is the documented host; an Orion fit by 8 March 2014 is open. 2013 OSD figure: 2 fps, not 6.

Gulf of Thailand / South China Sea search

Wrong-ocean SAR · 8–14 March 2014

Where the aircraft was last seen on civil radar — and where it no longer was.

Handshake 6 — last successful hourly ping

00:10:58 UTC 8 March

The last completed ground-initiated handshake. Eight minutes later the aircraft sends a log-on associated with fuel exhaustion.

Level at FL350

17:01:17 UTC

The captain reports maintaining flight level 350. The aircraft is established on the filed route toward waypoint IGARI.

Malaysia Airlines declares the flight missing

23:24 UTC

The airline issues a public statement that MH370 is missing, hours after radio and radar contact were lost and while the aircraft is still exchanging satellite handshakes.

Surface search begins in the South China Sea

8 March 2014

Ships and aircraft search the Gulf of Thailand / South China Sea along the filed route — the wrong ocean for several days.

Unanswered ground-to-air telephone call

18:39:52 UTC

Malaysia Airlines operations places a sat-phone call to the aircraft. The SDU acknowledges the incoming call; nobody in the cockpit answers.

What can be documented at Diego Garcia on 7–8 March 2014?

HA08 North’s trunk failed in March 2014 about 189 km off Diego Garcia; UCT-2 was on the atoll doing near-shore HDAS anode work in 110 ft of water. Sensor, SIGINT, satellite-downlink and aircraft records for 7–8 March are still the question — not a finding.

Angel Fire

Wide-area airborne surveillance · lineage into Blue Devil Block 1

USAF/SOCOM WAAS system. Congressional documentation describes Blue Devil Block 1 as integrating Angel Fire-derived wide-area imagery with signals intelligence on manned aircraft. Confirmed as the WAAS ancestor in this family, not as an MH370 collector.

Aurora Flight Sciences

HALE/MALE autonomy house · Orion prime

Founded 1989. Chiron optionally piloted aircraft 1996. Global Hawk structures since 1995. Centaur optionally piloted DA42 from 2010. AACUS autonomous helicopter demo February 2014. ALIAS is later drop-in copilot work.

Blue Devil I / II

Operational Block 1 WAAS + SIGINT · Block 2 residuals to BIG SAFARI

Block 1 was operational: manned aircraft carrying Angel Fire-derived wide-area imagery integrated with SIGINT. Block 2, the airship, was terminated — but its equipment, including GFE, was packed and sent to a BIG SAFARI facility in Greenville, Texas, available for other programmes. The technology did not vanish with the airship.

Boeing US7142971B2 — uninterruptible automatic control

Remote engagement · disconnected onboard controls

Confirmed patent disclosure. Claims include remote initiation, dedicated comms distinct from other aircraft communications, disabled onboard override, and automatic landing at a predetermined (including military) site.

Cargo, including lithium-ion batteries

Manifest reviewed; fire hypothesis not supported

The aircraft carried cargo including lithium-ion batteries. The investigation found they were packed to regulation and did not support a cargo-fire cause.

Cubic Defense anti-hijack remote-pilot patent granted

US6641087B1 · filed 9 Oct 2001 · granted 4 Nov 2003

Commercial-aircraft retrofit module: deactivate cockpit controls, satellite-relayed remote guidance, optional comms disable, FDR/CVR uplink. Confirmed IP. No evidence of airline installation.

Failed handshake — terminal silent

01:15:56 UTC

The ground station interrogates 9M-MRO and receives no response. The aircraft is no longer a live terminal.

Gorgon Stare’s podded architecture was designed for more than MQ-9

HASC 113-102: open/podded architecture permitted integration on multiple aircraft types. Aviation Week 2010 named it as a potential MAGIC payload. An Orion installation by 8 March 2014 is not shown.

Handshake 2

19:41:00 UTC

Ground-initiated hourly handshake. The aircraft remains a live Inmarsat terminal, southbound on the Indian Ocean corridor in later reconstructions.

ICAO GADSS tracking standards

Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System · post-MH370

The regulatory aftershock: aircraft must report position at least every 15 minutes in normal flight, and more often in distress, so a 777 cannot again fly dark for six hours unnoticed.

Investigation networks spear-phished the day after MH370 vanished

CyberSecurity Malaysia · ~30 PCs · disclosed 20 August 2014

Confirmed as CSM’s public account. On 9 March, officials at the Department of Civil Aviation, the National Security Council and Malaysia Airlines were sent malware disguised as a news article that the aircraft had been found. About thirty computers were infected. Outbound mail carrying confidential files, including meeting minutes and classified documents, some related to MH370, was traced to an IP in China. CSM shut the machines down and asked Chinese providers to block the traffic. Police and Interpol were involved. What exactly was stolen is still unpublished.

Is Flight 370 still sending signals?

CNN · 13 March 2014 · 2:09

Week-one report, before the 15 March Inmarsat southern-arc briefing. Captures the live confusion over whether the aircraft was still electrically alive.

Last ACARS transmission

17:07:29 UTC

The final Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System message leaves 9M-MRO. Expected reports at 17:37 and 18:07 never arrive.

MH370: The Untold Story / The Cover-Up

Peter Stefanovic · Sky News 2020 · later Amazon two-part

Interviews with Tony Abbott, Warren Truss and Sir Angus Houston on the first hours, plus Capt. Byron Bailey’s claim that the aircraft was hidden on purpose. Radar-sharing delay is documented; “hidden” is Bailey’s inference.

Penang

Westbound primary-radar track · FO phone register

Aircraft crossed the peninsula in this area. F/O handset registered at 17:52:27 UTC.

Raytheon MTS award for HC/MC-130J — one day before MH370

$10.072556m · 10 systems · 7 March 2014

Chronology fact only. No evidence these turrets or aircraft observed MH370. HD-capable MTS-B was entering USAF inventory through 2013–14.

Satellite data unit logs back on

18:25:27 UTC · Handshake 1

Three minutes after the last radar paint, the aircraft SDU sends a log-on request to Inmarsat. Investigators treat this as a power restoration to the SATCOM avionics.

The 00:19 log-on is probable fuel exhaustion

Official finding: aircraft-initiated log-on most likely a power restore after dual flame-out and APU/bus bring-up.

The 18:25 log-on follows a SATCOM power interruption

Official: aircraft-initiated log-on three minutes after last radar is most likely SDU power restore. Why power was lost is unknown.

West-track disclosure lag — ministerial 10:30, ARCC 22:30, Thai 9–10 days

8 March and 18–19 March 2014

Hishammuddin 1 May 2014: military radar playback ~08:30 MYT 8 March, Air Force ops ~09:00, minister informed ~10:30 of a possible turn-back; a military aircraft west at 10:54. KL ARCC was not informed by RMAF of the western last-known until 22:30 MYT — a roughly 12-hour operational gap. Thai Surat Thani radar disclosed 18–19 March.

What sensors were actually on Orion by March 2014?

Orion was selected as MAGIC’s multi-day, multi-sensor ISR aircraft. First flight had no mission system; flight 18 (Dec 2014) carried ballast. Those two points do not empty the aircraft. Sorties 2–17, including March 2014, are the hole. Gorgon Stare / MTS-B / VADER remain live leads, not closed fits.

Where was the Blue Devil I government-owned sensor package in January–March 2014?

Aircraft gone; sensors remaining as government property, being assessed for reassignment. Destination on 8 March is open — including Orion, MQ-9, MC-12, or another host. Not shown, and not ruled out.

A BIG SAFARI collection architecture around MH370

The family is documented. A specific 8 March operation is open.

Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are one overlapping ISR family under 645 AESG / BIG SAFARI: same office, overlapping WAMI/SIGINT sensors, reusable GFE through Greenville, and a podded architecture meant to move between airframes. That family is confirmed. Whether any of it collected MH370 is not established and is not ruled out.

A NEW Trace! The FULL MH370 Story, so Far

Mentour Pilot · Petter Hörnfeldt · 16 March 2024 · 56:06

Type-rated 737 captain’s reconstruction from the 2018 report, Inmarsat BTO/BFO, and the Blelly–Marchand end-of-flight paper. Argues the transponder was selected off in two steps, not failed as a unit. Closes with a WSPR lead and a request to restart the search.

A specific MH370 collection event is not yet on the record — and is not ruled out

MAGIC/Orion, Gorgon Stare and Blue Devil form a documented overlapping family under BIG SAFARI. That family is not, by itself, a platform, sensor or sortie on 8 March 2014. The same material does not rule such a deployment out.

Aurora Orion RPA

Twin-diesel MALE UAS · China Lake first flight 24 Aug 2013

Selected air vehicle for MAGIC: a multi-day, medium-altitude remotely piloted ISR platform designed to carry multiple sensors. First flight (24 Aug 2013) had no mission system; the December 2014 endurance record carried ballast. Those two flights do not decide what was fitted on sorties 2–17, including March 2014.

BTO range rings and BFO Doppler residuals

Inmarsat / Ashton et al. · Journal of Navigation

Burst Timing Offset describes distance from the satellite (an arc on the Earth). Burst Frequency Offset encodes relative motion and is why official analysis went south, not north.

Controlled descent / ditching

Someone still flying at the end

A pilot or system flies a glide after flame-out, so the wreck lies tens of kilometres from the 7th arc. Flaperon damage is read by some independent engineers as consistent with a ditching sequence.

Cubic remote-pilot patent was maintained through March 2014

US6641087B1: 4-year fee 4 May 2007, 8-year fee 4 May 2011, expired 4 Nov 2015 for later non-payment. Continuation US10/684,316 abandoned 18 Jan 2007. IP interest retained; prototype/certification still OPEN.

Cubic US6641087B1 — anti-hijack remote pilot

Commercial retrofit · satellite relay · cockpit exclusion

Confirmed patent. Activation onboard or by remote override; deactivate normal pilot control; uplink airspeed/altitude/fuel; optional disable of ordinary communications; CVR/FDR upload. USPTO: 4-year fee 4 May 2007, 8-year fee 4 May 2011, expired 4 Nov 2015 for later non-payment. In force on 8 March 2014. No installation evidence in this archive.

Deep Dive: MH370 Episode Three — The Turn Back

Deep Dive Podcast Network · 28 September 2023 · 31:12

Podcast reconstruction of the air turn-back after IGARI: military primary radar, heading 273°, altitude and speed blips the 2018 report itself flags as noisy.

Diego Garcia

British Indian Ocean Territory · collection-geography question

US/UK atoll. CTBTO HA08 North hydrophones went dark in March 2014 after a deep-ocean cable break. UCT-2 was on the island that month on near-shore HDAS cables. Neither fact is a finding that MH370 was collected or hidden here.

DSTG Bayesian flight-path analysis

Defence Science and Technology Group, Australia

A probabilistic reconstruction of MH370’s path from SATCOM metadata. Output is a distribution along the 7th arc, not a pin in the map.

Florence de Changy

Journalist · The Disappearing Act

French correspondent. Netflix episode 3: US/AWACS intercept in the South China Sea over cargo. Location conflicts with African debris if those identifications stand.

Gorgon Stare, Blue Devil and MAGIC/Orion are one overlapping ISR family under BIG SAFARI

Confirmed by Congressional and USAF budget records. Same office, overlapping sensors (WAMI, SIGINT, airborne processing), shared GFE path through Greenville, and a podded architecture meant to move between airframes. Not isolated programmes that happen to share a decade.

Handshake 3

20:41:02 UTC

Third SATCOM handshake. Hourly keep-alive continues.

Handshake 5

22:41:19 UTC

Fifth SATCOM handshake.

HASC Report 113-102 — Gorgon Stare to recapitalise Blue Devil

House Armed Services Committee · 7 June 2013 · USD(I)/USAF report due 14 Feb 2014

Primary Congressional source: Gorgon Stare is the USAF’s only operational persistent day/night WAMI capability and the logical programme to recapitalise Blue Devil technologies, capabilities and lessons learned. Directed evolution into WAMI + near-vertical direction-finding SIGINT, leveraging Blue Devil PED. Report due 14 February 2014 — 22 days before MH370.

Inmarsat signalling-unit log for 9M-MRO

Perth Ground Earth Station · 7–8 March 2014

The table of channel, BTO, BFO and message type that underpins every arc on every search map. Released by Malaysia with Inmarsat notes.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre

Australia · southern Indian Ocean search coordination

Stood up to run the multinational southern search after the SATCOM pivot.

Kadena P-3C tasked to the MH370 search

Announced 8 March 2014 · on station 9 March

Confirmed search tasking. Seventh Fleet said a P-3C would leave Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, shortly on 8 March. Naval Today: the P-3 arrived on station the afternoon of 9 March. VP-16 P-8A Poseidon had been in theatre from December 2013 — basing, not a 7–9 March sortie card.

MAGIC JCTD initiated

FY2010 Q3 · OSD/DDR&E

Competition among five defence-industry partners. $5m initial to AFRL. CENTCOM persistent-ISR sponsorship in Aurora’s 2010 release.

MAGIC, Aurora and Boeing/NRL patents drop from the paper trail in 2014

Follow-up briefing: Aurora’s remote-operation work for the US military from about 2010; MAGIC and several Boeing and NRL patents then become hard to find in open documents in 2014. Redacted Blue Devil letters are shown with matching date cut-offs.