Timeline
Night of, official search, debris, and the ISR/MAGIC lineage on one rail. Filter by phase.
Night of 7–8 March
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.
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.
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.
Last voice contact
17:19:30 UTC · “Good night Malaysian three seven zero”
Lumpur Radar transfers MH370 to Ho Chi Minh. The reply — attributed to the captain — is the last recorded voice transmission from the flight.
Waypoint IGARI
17:20:31 UTC
MH370 passes IGARI, the FIR boundary between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh, seconds before disappearing from secondary radar.
Secondary radar lost
17:21:13 UTC
Mode S transponder returns cease. Primary (military) radar continues to paint an unidentified westbound track consistent with MH370.
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.
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.
Last primary radar contact
18:22:12 UTC
The final military primary-radar return is recorded northwest of Malaysia, over the Andaman Sea approaches. After this, only the satellite terminal speaks.
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.
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.
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.
Handshake 3
20:41:02 UTC
Third SATCOM handshake. Hourly keep-alive continues.
Handshake 4
21:41:24 UTC
Fourth SATCOM handshake, still on the southern corridor in BFO reconstructions.
Handshake 5
22:41:19 UTC
Fifth SATCOM handshake.
Second unanswered sat-phone call
23:13:58 UTC
Another ground-to-air telephone call is acknowledged by the SDU and unanswered in the cockpit.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Search 2014–2017
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.
Malaysia announces the southern Indian Ocean track
15 March 2014
Prime Minister Najib Razak states that new satellite data show MH370 flew for hours into the southern Indian Ocean. The search pivots.
Australia leads the southern search
March 2014 onward
The Joint Agency Coordination Centre coordinates a vast surface search, then an underwater search, in the southern Indian Ocean.
Towed-pinger detections — not MH370
April 2014
Acoustic detections in the search area are investigated with an AUV. No wreckage is found. The detections are not attributed to 9M-MRO’s recorders.
Bathymetry and underwater search begin
October 2014
Fugro vessels and partners begin wide-area bathymetric mapping and towed-sonar search of a defined 7th-arc corridor.
Official underwater search suspended
17 January 2017
Australia, Malaysia and China suspend the ATSB-led search after 120,000 km² of seabed have been covered with no wreckage.
Debris 2015–2017
Right flaperon found on Réunion
29 July 2015
A Boeing 777 right flaperon washes ashore at Saint-Denis, Réunion. French authorities later confirm it is from 9M-MRO — the first physical evidence.
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.
Flap-track fairing found in Mozambique
27 December 2015 / identified 2016
A right-wing no. 7 flap support fairing is recovered at Daghatane Beach, Mozambique. Stencilling matches Malaysia Airlines practice; ATSB judges it almost certainly MH370.
Left outboard aft flap confirmed
10 May 2016 · Mauritius
A flap section found at Îlot Bernache, Mauritius, is identified by unique manufacturing numbers as belonging to 9M-MRO.
Right outboard flap confirmed in Tanzania
20 June 2016
A 4.6 m right outboard flap section is found on Pemba Island, Tanzania, and confirmed as 9M-MRO.
Private search 2018
Investigation
Al-Qaeda meeting, Kuala Lumpur, January 2000
Hijackers later on the 9/11 flights attended an al-Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000. CIA tracked the meeting. Fourteen years later MH370 left the same city’s airport.
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.
Renewed search 2024–2027
Ocean Infinity proposes a new search
May–December 2024
Ocean Infinity submits a fresh no-find-no-fee proposal. In December 2024 Malaysia approves in principle a 15,000 km² search worth up to US$70 million if wreckage is found.
2025–2026 Ocean Infinity phases
25–28 March 2025 and 31 Dec 2025 – 23 Jan 2026
Two operational phases survey about 7,571 km² of a 15,000 km² priority box. Malaysia’s 8 March 2026 family update: nothing found that confirms the wreckage.
Malaysia extends the search contract to June 2027
29 June 2026
Cabinet extends the Ocean Infinity agreement from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 to finish a remaining 7,428.54 km². No-find-no-fee terms continue.
ISR / remote-control lineage
Boeing files uninterruptible-autopilot priority
19 February 2003 · later US7142971B2
Patent architecture: remote or automatic engagement; onboard controls may be disconnected; dedicated communications; inaccessible power path. Precedent, not an MH370 installation.
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.
Lockheed awarded ISIS Phase 3
27 April 2009 · just under $400m
Lockheed integrator, Raytheon radar, one-third-scale autonomous airship. Same later PE as MAGIC.
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.
Orion 123-hour engine bench test
January 2012 · Manassas, Virginia
Propulsion endurance exceeded the 120-hour flight objective on the ground rig before the airframe flew.
Blue Devil II stopped; hardware to Greenville
Payload stop 4 Jan 2012 · pack-out May 2012 · storage Q4 FY2012
Airship programme killed. Equipment into BIG SAFARI-managed storage. Residual parts later absorbed into other Air Force programmes.
Orion first flight, China Lake
24 August 2013 · ~3.5 hours · 8,000 ft · no mission payload
Remote launch from GCS. Air vehicle and command link demonstrated. ISR stack not yet fitted.
Orion 80-hour remotely controlled flight
December 2014 · 1,000 lb ballast · fuel for ~37 more hours
Contractor-confirmed endurance after MH370. Shows the air vehicle matured; does not rewind payload status to March.