BBC News - Missing Malaysia plane MH370: What we know
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French officials have confirmed that the section of wing found in July did come from Flight MH370
The missing Malaysian Airlines plane, flight MH370, had 239 people onboard and was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 when air traffic control staff lost contact with it.
Despite an extensive search of the southern Indian Ocean, no trace of the aircraft was found until the discovery of the barnacle-encrusted flaperon on Reunion Island, more than 3,700km (2,300 miles) away from the main search site, in July 2015.
French investigators confirmed the aircraft wing part came from the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, after one of three numbers found on the flaperon was formally identified by a technician from Airbus Defense and Space (ADS-SAU) in Spain, which made the part for Boeing.
Investigators are continuing to search for the rest of the plane.
The Australian-led search has been combing a 120,000 sq km area of seabed about 2,000km off the coast of Perth, using underwater drones and sonar equipment deployed from specialist ships.
In December 2015, Australian officials said they had refined the search area and were confident they were looking in the right area for the plane.
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said officials were &optimistic& the remains of the plane would be found.
The scope of the search has changed many times since the plane disappeared, because of confusion over its last movements, but it is expected to be concluded by the middle of 2016.
Watch the video below to find out about the jet's last known movements.
00:41, 8 March 2014 (16:41 GMT, 7 March):
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and was due to arrive in Beijing at 06:30 (22:30 GMT).
Malaysia Airlines says the plane lost contact less than an hour after takeoff. No distress signal or message was sent.
The plane sent its last ACARS transmission - a service that allows computers aboard the plane to &talk& to computers on the ground. Some time afterwards, it was silenced and the expected 01:37 transmission was not sent.
Final cockpit communications
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Audio recording reveals last conversation with ground
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01:19: The last communication between the plane and Malaysian air traffic control took place about 12 minutes later. At first, the airline said initial investigations revealed the co-pilot had said &All right, good night&.
However, , spoken either by the pilot or co-pilot, were in fact &Good night Malaysian three seven zero&.
A few minutes later, the plane's transponder, which communicates with ground radar, was shut down as the aircraft crossed from Malaysian air traffic control into Vietnamese airspace over the South China Sea.
01:21: The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said the plane failed to check in as scheduled with air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City.
02:15: Malaysian military radar plotted Flight MH370 at a point south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca, west of its last known location. Thai military radar logs also confirmed that the plane turned west and then north over the Andaman sea.
In maps accompanying its 1 May report, the Malaysian government revised the time to be 02:22 and .
02:28 (18:28 GMT, 7 March): After the loss of radar, a satellite above the Indian Ocean picked up data from the plane in the form of seven automatic &handshakes& between the aircraft and a ground station. The first was at 02:28 local time.
08:11: (00:11 GMT, 8 March) The last full handshake was at 08:11. This information, disclosed a week after the plane's disappearance, suggested the jet was in one of two flight corridors, one stretching north between Thailand and Kazakhstan, the other south between Indonesia and the southern Indian Ocean.
08:19: However, there is some evidence of a further &partial handshake& at this time between the plane and a ground station. This was a request from the aircraft to log on. Investigators say this is consistent with the plane's satellite communication equipment powering up after an outage -
09:15: This would have been the next scheduled automatic contact between the ground station and the plane, but there was no response from the aircraft.
The plane's planned route would have taken it north-eastwards, over Cambodia and Vietnam, and the initial search focused on the South China Sea, south of Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula.
But evidence from a military radar, revealed later, suggested the plane had suddenly changed from its northerly course to head west. So then switched to the sea west of Malaysia.
Further evidence revealed on 15 March 2014 by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak suggested the jet was
After MH370's last communication with a satellite was disclosed, a week after the plane's disappearance, the search was expanded dramatically to nearly three million square miles, from Kazakhstan in the north to vast areas of the remote southern Indian Ocean. This was the equivalent of 11% of the Indian Ocean and 1.5% of the surface of the Earth.
However, from 16 March, satellite images of possible debris and tracking data released by the Malaysian authorities appeared to confirm that the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, south west of Australia.
Australian search teams sent long-range surveillance plans and vessels to the area.
On 24 March the
that following further analysis of satellite data there was no doubt the plane had gone down in this part of the ocean.
This was based on
of the data relayed between the plane and ground station by satellite.
More potential debris was spotted by satellites but on 28 March
1,100km (684 miles) to the north-east and closer to Australia, following further analysis of the speed of the plane and its maximum range.
Malaysian officials said that the debris could still be consistent with the new search area as ocean currents may have moved floating objects.
On 5-8 April,
detected ultrasonic signals, which officials believed could be from the plane's &black box& flight recorders. The pings appeared to be the most promising lead so far, and were used to define the area of a sea-floor search, conducted by the Bluefin-21 submersible robot.
But Australian officials announced on 29 May that the search had found nothing and the area where the signals were heard could be
Searchers have been combing the Indian Ocean since last year
Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities, assisted by international aviation and satellite experts, continue their attempts to piece together the plane's final hours and explain what happened to its 239 passengers and crew.
Australian officials believe the plane was flying on autopilot when it crashed.
On 26 June, officials announced a
some 1,800 km west of Perth. This phase of the operation started in August with detailed mapping of the sea bed.
Teams searching for wreckage of the plane have used specialist equipment to survey the ocean floor, enabling a metre-by-metre underwater search relying on towed instruments and submersibles.
On 29 July 2015, a 2m-long (6ft) piece of plane debris was
cleaning a beach in St Andre, on the north-eastern coast of Reunion.
On 5 August, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that investigators had &conclusively confirmed& the debris was from the missing plane.
On 3 September,
that the flaperon did come from Flight MH370.
However, officials said this did not affect their search plans, as the debris had been carried to Reunion by ocean currents.
In December, Australia's Assistant Minister for Defence, Darren Chester, said a new analysis of data gave them &a high level of confidence that we are searching in the right area&.
On 27 February 2016 another piece of debris was found on a sandbank in Mozambique. Malaysia's transport minister
that the 1m-long fragment was from the missing plane.
Australia said its location was consistent with models of where ocean currents would carry debris, but investigators have yet to formally confirm the piece is from MH370.
Muhammad Razahan Zamani (bottom right), 24, and his wife Norli Akmar Hamid, 33, were on their honeymoon on the missing flight. The phone is being held by his stepsister, Arni Marlina
The 12 crew members were all Malaysian, led by pilots Captain Zaharie Ahmed Shah, 53, and 27-year-old co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.
Police have searched their homes and a flight simulator has been taken from the captain's home and reassembled for examination at police headquarters.
There were , including 153 Chinese and 38 Malaysians, according to . Seven were children.
Other passengers came from Iran, the US, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, India, France, New Zealand, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
Two Iranian men were found to be travelling on false passports. But further investigation revealed 19-year-old Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad and Delavar Seyed Mohammadreza, 29, were headed for Europe via Beijing, and had no apparent links to terrorist groups.
Among the Chinese nationals was a delegation of 19 prominent artists, who had attended an exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia Airlines said there were four passengers who checked in for the flight but did not show up at the airport.
The family members of those on board were informed in person, by phone and by text message on 24 March that the plane had been lost.
More on This Story
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Copyright & 2016 BBC.
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5, pmFiled under:
My friends and I were in the park after it closed so we were given a pink summons in violation of Sec1.03 (not clear) subA1. The officer told us to appear in court and since it was my first violation (dont have prior criminal record either) nothing serious would happen. We're to apear at 346 Broadway and was told that asking for ACD is a good idea.
What will happen once i appear in court? I have never been to court before and I'm a bit nervous. Will there be a long line? Will we all be sitting in a room until they call our name? or do they assign each person a number? I'd appreciate a step by step process of what ill have to go through that day, please.
Also the police officer got my DOB and part of my address wrong. Should i tell the judge once im inside? Or just let her notice it?Thanksthe pink summons says: Descriptionof Criminal Court Offense: Hours of Operation. Is that a criminal charge?Attorney answers 3Criminal Defense Attorney New York, NY
Best Answer Thanks! Posted March
6, amThe DOB being wrong is really a non issue. Here is your step by step process. You should get there early I mean very early. The summons says to be there by 9:30 Im suggesting that you be there by 8:30. The line to get into the building is very very long. Once you are inside you will go up a flight of stairs to the main floor. You will be directed to a large room on the left. There too you will encounter a long line (unless you get there early). You will come up to a window and give them a copy of your summons. They will then tell you which courtroom to go to. It will be down the hall. When you get to the courtroom the court officer will ask you for your name/paperwork. Cases usually get called on a first come first served basis (with an exception of private attorneys and officers who appeared for trial being given preference). When your case gets called things will move pretty quickly. There will be an attorney standing at the podium to represent you. S/he will ask you if you want to plead guilty to the charge and pay the reduced fine or f you want to come back for a trial date. Don’t feel intimidated or pressured and feel free to ask the attorney to request the ACD. You should recognize that 366 Broadway is a money making operation for NYC and ACD aren’t generally given (especially on a non criminal charge) because the city wants your money. If the judge gives it great, if not the decision will be yours if you want to plead for the reduced fine or if you want to fight it. If you want to fight it you would have to come back on another date. If you take the plea you will have to pay the fine. Keep in mind that being in the park after dark/closing is a non criminal charge and you will not have a criminal record if you plead to it or are found guilty. Note: because you didn’t say what the charge is I should caution you that if you are charged with Trespass that is a criminal charge and if you plead to it or are found guilty of it, it will cause you to have a permanent criminal record that will follow you for life (NY does not expunge criminal records). Make certain that your attorney tells you what you are being charged with (administrative code or penal code). Good Luck!More
2 Lawyers agree Criminal Defense Attorney New York, NY
Posted March
6, amYou are charged under Park Rules and Regulations § 1-03, which is an unclassified misdemeanor. Pleading or being found guilty to this charge would result in a permanent criminal record that could not be erased or expunged.
My guess is that you have to go to Queens Blvd and not 346 Broadway.
I have handled a number of these cases for clients there. They were either dismissed as being facially insufficient, received an ACD or one client had to pay a $20 fine.
I cant speak for what the results may be with a public defender but make sure whatever you do, you don't plead guilty to the charge - it is a crime!
Richard Southard
212-385-8600
I am a former prosecutor with over 15 years experience specializing in criminal law cases.All answers are for information purposes only. Answering this question or any future questions does not form any attorney-client relationship. Be mindful, that answers are limited by the limited facts presented by the questioner and are not meant to take the place of competent legal advice by an attorney fully informed of all the facts surrounding your case. However, be aware that nothing posted in a public forum such as this can be deemed confidential or privileged communication. For a privileged private consultation, contact me at 212-385-8600 or via my website More Criminal Defense Attorney New York, NY
Posted March
6, pmAll charges in a NYC park are misdemeanors per the Parks rules. 346 Broadway is a very slow moving place for people who do not hire their own lawyers. I appear there on a regular basis and if you hire an attorney, you don't need to appear. If you don't want to hire an attorney, bring a book. The date of birth being wrong is not a defense.I am a former federal and State prosecutor and now handle criminal defense and personal injury/civil rights cases. Feel free to check out my web site and contact me at (212) 385-8015 or via email at .
The above answer is for informational purposes only and not meant as legal advice.More
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