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Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 facts for kids

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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
The missing airplane in 2011
Missing airplane summary
Date 8 March 2014 (2014-03-08)
Summary Missing, flaperon found
Place Unknown (believed Southern Indian Ocean)
Passengers 227 (probably)
Crew 12 (probably)
Fatalities 239 (all, probably)
Survivors 0 (none, probably)
Aircraft type Boeing 777-200ER
Airline/user Malaysia Airlines
Registration 9M-MRO
Flew from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Flying to Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing, China

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370, also named under a codeshare agreement as China Southern Airlines Flight CZ748) is a missing Malaysia Airlines international passenger flight. The aircraft had 227 passengers and twelve crew members on board.

Flight 370 left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at 00:41 on 8 March 2014 (MST; UTC+8) for a scheduled six-hour flight to Beijing, China. Subang Air Traffic Control Centre lost contact with the plane at about 01:22, while over the Gulf of Thailand. It was reported missing at 02:40.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating to see if terrorism is involved. Two passengers, one from Austria and another one from Italy, were named on the manifest. However, they were later discovered not to have been on board, their passports having been stolen. Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities are also ruling the identity of two other passengers to be false.

On 24 March 2014, officials with both Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government stated that while the aircraft's whereabouts were still not known, "unparalleled" analyses by the United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and UK satellite company Inmarsat indicated that it had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. It was presumed by these officials that all 239 people aboard died.

On 29 July 2015, a flaperon was found on a beach in Saint-André, on Réunion island. On 5 August, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak announced that the found flaperon was confirmed to be from flight MH370's aircraft.

People on board by nationality
Nationality Number
 Australia 6
 Belgium 4
 Canada 2
 China 153
 France 4
 Germany 4
 Hong Kong 1
 India 5
 Indonesia 7
 Iran 2
 Malaysia 50
 Netherlands 1
 New Zealand 2
 Philippines 3
 Russia 1
 Taiwan 1
 Ukraine 2
 United Kingdom 10
 United States 4
Total (15 nations and regions) 239

Images for kids

  • refer to caption

    The cockpit of 9M-MRO, photographed in April 2004

  • Boeing 777-2H6-ER, Malaysia Airlines AN0561323

    Business Class Seats on 9M-MRO (2004)

  • Map of southeast Asia that shows the southern tip of Vietnam in the upper right (northeast), Malay Peninsula (southern part of Thailand, part of Malaysia, and Singapore), upper part of Sumatra island, most of the Gulf of Thailand, southwestern part of the South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, and part of the Andaman Sea. The flight path of Flight 370 is shown in red, going from KLIA (lower centre) on a straight path northeast, then (in the upper right side) turning to the right before making a sharp turn left and flies in a path that resembles a wide "V" shape (about a 120–130° angle) and ends in the upper left side. Labels note where the last ACARS message was sent just before Flight 370 crossed from Malaysia into the South China Sea, last detection was made by secondary radar before the aircraft turned right, and where final detection by military radar was made at the point where the path ends.

    Known flight path taken by Flight 370 (red), derived from primary (military) and secondary (ATC) radar data

  • Background is mostly water (blue), at the boundary of the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand with the extreme southern tip of Vietnam in the upper right and a part of the Malay Peninsula at the Malaysia-Thailand border in the bottom left corner. Numerous air routes and a few waypoints are displayed, with some labelled, and the flight path of Flight 370 is shown in bright red. The boundaries of flight information regions are shown. The flight path goes from the bottom, just left of centre going north near air route R208, crossing from FIR Kuala Lumpur into FIR Singapore, but there is a note that air traffic control along R208 through FIR Singapore is provided by Kuala Lumpur ACC. A label notes where Flight 370 disappeared from primary radar just before turning slightly to the right at waypoint IGARI, which is along the boundary between FIR Singapore and FIR Ho Chi Minh, and the aircraft begins to follow route M765 towards waypoint BITOD. About halfway between IGARI and BITOD, Flight 370 makes sharp turn about 100° to the left, now heading northwest, and travels a short distance before making another left turn and heads southwest, crossing back over land near the Malaysia-Thailand border and flies close to air route B219.

    Flight Information Regions in the vicinity of where Flight 370 disappeared from secondary radar. Kuala Lumpur ACC provides ATC services for two routes, located within FIR Singapore, between Malaysia and Vietnam. (Air routes are depicted as roughly 5 nmi / 8–10 km wide, but vary in width, with some as wide as 20 nmi / 35–40 km.)

  • Crane lowering the Bluefin 21 into the water

    ADV Ocean Shield deploys the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle, which conducted the seafloor sonar survey from 14 April to 28 May

  • US Navy P-8 Poseidon taking off at Perth Airport

    A P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft of the US Navy departs Perth Airport to search for Flight 370, 22 March 2014

  • A bathymetric map of the southeastern Indian Ocean and western Australia, with the locations of search zones, sonobouy drops, and calculated flight paths. An inset in the upper left shows the path of the ADV Ocean Shield which towed a Towed Pinger Locator and where it detected acoustic signals; the same inset also shows the seafloor sonar search performed in April–May 2014.

    The shifting search zones for Flight 370 in the Southern Indian Ocean. The inset shows the path taken by the vessel ADV Ocean Shield operating a towed pinger locator, acoustic detections, and the sonar search. The underwater phase (both the wide area search and priority area) is shown in pink.

  • Boeing 777 Wing Flaperon (Part No. 657 BB)

    Boeing 777 flaperon

  • Indian Ocean Gyre

    Currents within the Indian Ocean

  • A depiction of a satellite in space.

    A depiction of an Inmarsat-3 series satellite. Flight 370 was in contact with Inmarsat-3 F1 (also known as "IOR" for Indian Ocean Region).

  • Handwritten notes for the flight on display

    Messages for MH370 at a bookshop in Malaysia

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