Resources

Flight-crew diversion

Manual inputs from the cockpit — who, and why, unproven

The 2018 report says the turn-back likely resulted from manual inputs. It does not identify a crew member as perpetrator and did not treat the home simulator as a plan.

The diversion likely resulted from manual inputs

Official 2018 consensus. Who made the inputs is not identified. Mechanical-only stories are a poor fit for a coherent reverse course plus comms dropout.

Malaysia releases the safety investigation report

30 July 2018

The ICAO Annex 13 team, led by Kok Soo Chon, publishes hundreds of pages and cannot determine the cause. Diversion is judged likely from manual inputs. Third-party intervention is not excluded.

Safety Investigation Report — MH370

Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Team · 30 July 2018

The official accident report. Cause undetermined. Diversion likely from manual inputs; third-party intervention not excluded; 00:19 log-on treated as fuel exhaustion. No wreckage, no recorders.

Turn back across the Malay Peninsula

17:21–17:52 UTC

Primary radar shows a left turn off the Beijing airway, a crossing of Malaysia, and a track toward the Andaman Sea. The official report calls this diversion likely the result of manual inputs.

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.

Mechanical / cargo-fire failure

Official report: no identified failure mode fits

A running systems failure that also produces a coherent reverse course and six more hours of SATCOM is a poor fit. Lithium-battery cargo was reviewed and not adopted as cause.

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.

US military presence in theatre, 7–9 March 2014

Public-source board · confirmed search assets vs records still needed

Working chart of publicly documented US assets around MH370: USS Pinckney already in the South China Sea and diverted to search on 8 March; a Kadena P-3C announced the same day; USS Kidd joined. Guam RQ-4, Diego Garcia sensors, EP-3E, RC-135 and exact 7–9 March sortie lists remain open. Presence is not the same as tracking 9M-MRO.

Kok Soo Chon

Chief inspector · Malaysian Annex 13 team

Presented the 2018 report: diversion likely from manual inputs; who made them unknown; cause undetermined.