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94-810: RAAF Base Pearce ( ICAO : YPEA ) is the main Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base in Western Australia , located in Bullsbrook , north of Perth . It is used for training by the RAAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force . Pearce is the busiest RAAF base in Australia, with the highest air traffic including civil flights , including civil movements at the Joint User bases. Although its primary role

188-557: A Boeing 747 used for this counter-terrorism training. Built in the early 1990s the mockup is slightly smaller than the Boeing 747, includes two non-operational engines and has been painted in the livery of the fictional Emu Airlines. Since 1993, Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has operated its Flying Training Institute at Pearce. As part of the institute, No. 130 Squadron RSAF operates training aircraft at Pearce. The 2005 Defence Force Air Show, held at Pearce on 19–20 November, marked

282-692: A United States Navy P-8 Poseidon , P-3 Orions of the Royal New Zealand Air Force , Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and Republic of Korea Navy , and Ilyushin Il-76s of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force . Pearce has sometimes been proposed as the site for a second Perth international airport. The following units are located at RAAF Base Pearce: ICAO airport code The recommendations for ICAO airport codes were adopted on 24 March 1959, and came into force on 1 October

376-520: A towed pinger locator (TPL), joined China's Haixun 01 , equipped with a hand-held hydrophone, and the Royal Navy's HMS Echo , equipped with a hull-mounted hydrophone, in the search. Operators considered the effort to have little chance of success given the vast search area and the fact that a TPL can only search up to 130 km (50 sq mi) per day. Between 4 and 8 April, several acoustic detections were made that were close to

470-474: A 2007 agreement with Malaysia Airlines, Tzu Chi (an international Buddhist organisation) immediately sent specially trained teams to Beijing and Malaysia to give emotional assistance to passengers' families. The airline also sent its own team of caregivers and volunteers and agreed to bear the expense of bringing family members of the passengers to Kuala Lumpur and providing them with accommodation, medical care, and counselling. Altogether, 115 family members of

564-597: A 60 nmi (110 km; 69 mi) range made four detections of an unidentified aircraft between 01:30:37 and 01:52:35; the tracks of the unidentified aircraft are "consistent with those of the military data". At 01:52, Flight 370 was detected passing just south of the island of Penang. From there, the aircraft flew across the Strait of Malacca, passing close to the waypoint VAMPI, and Pulau Perak at 02:03, after which it flew along air route N571 to waypoints MEKAR, NILAM, and possibly IGOGU. The last known radar detection, from

658-404: A distress signal, indications of bad weather, or technical problems before the aircraft vanished. Two passengers travelling on stolen passports were investigated, but eliminated as suspects. Malaysian police identified the captain as the prime suspect if human intervention was the cause of the disappearance, after clearing all others on the flight of suspicion over possible motives. Power was lost to

752-401: A headquarters and for promotional courses, as well as serving as headquarters for No. 7 Wing and premises for No. 701 Squadron (AAFC). The base also serves as an anti-hijacking training aid for Special Air Service Regiment counter-terrorism squadron, also known as Tactical Assault Group (West). It is used to practise airliner entry and hostage rescue drills. The base is home to a mockup of

846-607: A minor incident while taxiing at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in August 2012 resulted in a broken wing tip . Its last maintenance "A check" was carried out on 23 February 2014. The aircraft was in compliance with all applicable Airworthiness Directives for the airframe and engines. A replenishment of the crew member oxygen system was performed on 7 March 2014, a routine maintenance task; an examination of this procedure found nothing unusual. Ten years after MH370's disappearance, however, leaked documents have shown that MH370

940-468: A move of the search 1,100 km (590 nmi; 680 mi) northeast of the previous area on 28 March, which was followed by another shift on 4 April. Between 2 and 17 April, an effort was made to detect the underwater locator beacons (ULBs, informally known as "pingers") attached to the aircraft's flight recorders , because the beacons' batteries were expected to expire around 7 April. Australian naval cutter ADV Ocean Shield , equipped with

1034-567: A point near the limits of Malaysian military radar, was at 02:22, 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) after passing waypoint MEKAR (which is 237 nmi (439 km; 273 mi) from Penang) and 247.3 nmi (458.0 km; 284.6 mi) northwest of Penang airport at an altitude of 29,500 ft (9,000 m). Countries were reluctant to release information collected from military radar because of sensitivity about revealing their capabilities. Indonesia has an early-warning radar system, but its ATC radar did not register any aircraft with

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1128-533: A repetition of the circumstances associated with the loss. These include increased battery life on underwater locator beacons , lengthening of recording times on flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders , and new standards for aircraft position reporting over open ocean. Malaysia had supported 58% of the total cost, Australia 32%, and China 10%. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER operated by Malaysia Airlines, last made voice contact with ATC at 01:19  MYT , 8 March (17:19  UTC , 7 March) when it

1222-523: A statement regarding Flight 370, during which he announced that he had been briefed by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch that it and Inmarsat (the satellite data provider) had concluded that the airliner's last position before it disappeared was in the southern Indian Ocean. As no places exist where it could have landed, the aircraft must therefore have crashed into the sea. Just before Najib spoke at 22:00 MYT, an emergency meeting

1316-591: A three-year search across 120,000 km (46,000 sq mi) of ocean failed to locate the aircraft, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre heading the operation suspended its activities in January 2017. A second search launched in January 2018 by private contractor Ocean Infinity also ended without success after six months. Relying mostly on the analysis of data from the Inmarsat satellite with which

1410-474: Is a pseudo-code, used in flight plans for aerodromes with no ICAO code assigned. ICAO codes are sometimes updated. Johannesburg Airport in Johannesburg , South Africa, for instance, was formerly known as Jan Smuts International Airport, with code FAJS. When the airport was renamed O. R. Tambo International Airport, its ICAO code was updated to FAOR. Some airports have two ICAO codes, usually when an airport

1504-422: Is not known at what time the last radar contact was made, and the signal did not include identifying data. Also, the flight was not detected by Australia's conventional system or its long-range JORN over-the-horizon radar system, which has an official range of 3,000 km (1,900 mi); the latter was not in operation on the night of the disappearance. Sometime after the final ACARS transmission at 01:06,

1598-463: Is pilot training, it remains the only permanent RAAF base on the west coast, and thus has a significant logistics role. Pearce also has operational responsibility for RAAF Gingin , a small military airfield used for flying training, located 34 km (21 mi) north of Pearce. When requested by the flying units, a rotation of air traffic controllers travel from Pearce to Gingin daily to provide services. Built between 1936 and 1939, RAAF Base Pearce

1692-408: Is renowned for its strong winds , inhospitable climate, hostile seas, and deep ocean floors. Satellite imagery of the region was analysed; several objects of interest and two possible debris fields were identified on images made between 16 and 26 March. None of these possible objects were found by aircraft or ships. Revised estimates of the radar track and the aircraft's remaining fuel led to

1786-726: Is shared by civilian and military users. Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt , Germany, for instance, has been assigned ICAO code EDDF while Rhein-Main Air Base was assigned ICAO code EDAF until its closure. Sion Airport in Switzerland has code LSGS while its military facilities have the ICAO code LSMS. Brussels Airport in Brussels , Belgium, has the ICAO code EBBR for its civilian facilities, and Melsbroek Air Base has been assigned ICAO code EBMB, even though

1880-438: Is that Flight 370 crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean sometime between 08:19 and 09:15 on 8 March due to fuel exhaustion, although the exact time and location of the crash remains uncertain. At 01:38 MYT, Ho Chi Minh Area Control Centre (ACC) contacted Kuala Lumpur Area Control Centre to query the whereabouts of Flight 370 and informed Kuala Lumpur that ACC had not established verbal communication with Flight 370, which

1974-599: The Jezero Crater on Mars is assigned the special ICAO code JZRO. Codes beginning with I (Ixx and Ixxx) are often used for navigational aids such as radio beacons, while the Q code is reserved for international radiocommunications and non-geographical special use. In Russia , Latin letter X, or its Morse / Baudot Cyrillic equivalent Ь , are used to designate government, military, and experimental aviation airfields in internal airfield codes similar in structure and purpose to ICAO codes but not used internationally. ZZZZ

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2068-614: The Kuda Huvadhoo atoll in the Maldives saw the missing airliner. A fisherman claimed to have seen an unusually low-flying aircraft off the coast of Kota Bharu , while an oil-rig worker 186 miles (299 km) southeast of Vung Tau claimed he saw a "burning object" in the sky that morning, a claim credible enough for the Vietnamese authorities to send a search-and-rescue mission, and Indonesian fishermen reported witnessing an aircraft crash near

2162-601: The Malacca Straits . Three months later, the Phuket Gazette reported that a British woman sailing in the Indian Ocean claimed to have seen an aircraft on fire. A search-and-rescue effort was launched in southeast Asia soon after the disappearance of Flight 370. Following the initial analysis of communications between the aircraft and a satellite, the surface search was moved to the southern Indian Ocean one week after

2256-534: The Malay Peninsula and Andaman Sea . It left radar range 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) northwest of Penang Island in northwestern Peninsular Malaysia . With all 227 passengers and 12 crew aboard presumed dead , the disappearance of Flight 370 was the deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 , the deadliest of 2014, and the deadliest in Malaysia Airlines' history until it

2350-642: The Strait of Malacca . On 12 March, the chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force announced that an unidentified aircraft—believed to be Flight 370—had travelled across the Malay peninsula and was last sighted on military radar 370 km (200 nmi; 230 mi) northwest of the island of Penang; search efforts were subsequently increased in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. Records of signals sent between

2444-465: The 227 passengers, 153 were Chinese citizens, including a group of 19 artists with six family members and four staff returning from a calligraphy exhibition of their work in Kuala Lumpur ; 38 passengers were Malaysian. The remaining passengers were from 12 different countries. Twenty passengers, 12 of whom were from Malaysia and eight from China, were employees of Freescale Semiconductor . Through

2538-848: The Chinese passengers flew to Kuala Lumpur. Some other family members chose to remain in China, fearing they would feel too isolated in Malaysia. Flight 370 was a scheduled flight in the early morning of Saturday, 8 March 2014, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. It was one of two daily flights operated by Malaysia Airlines from its hub at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Beijing Capital International Airport —scheduled to depart at 00:35 local time (MYT; UTC+08:00 ) and arrive at 06:30 local time (CST; UTC+08:00). On board were two pilots, 10 cabin crew, 227 passengers, and 14,296 kg (31,517 lb) of cargo. The planned flight duration

2632-535: The ICAO code indicate the country; the remaining letters identify the airport. ICAO codes are used partly for geographical context. For example, the ICAO code for Heathrow International Airport in London, is EGLL, with its first letters reflecting that it is based in the United Kingdom . On the other hand, IATA codes do not provide geographic reference. For example, LHR, representing Heathrow, does not enable one to deduce

2726-538: The Kuala Lumpur Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) at 05:30, more than four hours after communication was lost with Flight 370. The ARCC is a command post at an Area Control Centre that coordinates search-and-rescue activities when an aircraft is lost. Malaysia Airlines issued a media statement at 07:24 MYT on 8 March, one hour after the scheduled arrival time of the flight at Beijing, stating that communication with

2820-630: The Malaysian military's primary radar showed Flight 370 turning right, but then beginning a left turn to a southwesterly direction. From 01:30:35 until 01:35, military radar showed Flight 370 at 35,700 ft (10,900 m) on a 231° magnetic heading, with a ground speed of 496 knots (919 km/h; 571 mph). Flight 370 continued across the Malay Peninsula, fluctuating between 31,000 and 33,000 ft (9,400 and 10,100 m) in altitude. A civilian primary radar at Sultan Ismail Petra Airport with

2914-550: The Norwegian ship Seabed Constructor . The search area was significantly extended during the course of the search, and by the end of May 2018, the vessel had searched a total area of more than 112,000 km (43,000 sq mi) using eight autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The contract with the Malaysian government ended soon afterward, and the search was concluded without success on 9 June 2018. The Kuala Lumpur Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC)

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3008-470: The South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and Strait of Malacca in order to focus their efforts on the two corridors. The northern arc—from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan—was soon discounted, for the aircraft would have had to pass through heavily militarised airspace, and those countries claimed that their military radar would have detected an unidentified aircraft entering their airspace. The emphasis of

3102-433: The South China Sea, not the Indian Ocean where Flight 370 presumably crashed). The time when contact was lost was later corrected to 01:21. Neither the crew nor the aircraft's communication systems relayed a distress signal , indications of bad weather, or technical problems before the aircraft vanished from radar screens. On 24 March, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared before media at 22:00 local time to give

3196-525: The United Kingdom, but nearby civilian Port Stanley Airport is assigned SFAL, consistent with South America . Saint Pierre and Miquelon is controlled by France, and airports there are assigned LFxx as though they were in Europe. Kosovo is assigned the code BKxx grouping it with Greenland and Iceland rather than its geographical neighbors which have Lxxx (described below). Jerusalem International Airport

3290-484: The aircraft and a communications satellite over the Indian Ocean revealed that the plane had continued flying for almost six hours after its final sighting on Malaysian military radar. Initial analysis of these communications determined that Flight 370 was along one of two arcs—equidistant from the satellite—when its last signal was sent. On 15 March, the same day upon which the analysis was disclosed publicly, authorities announced that they would abandon search efforts in

3384-539: The aircraft last communicated, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) initially proposed that a hypoxia event was the most likely cause given the available evidence, although no consensus has been reached among investigators concerning this theory. At various stages of the investigation, possible hijacking scenarios were considered, including crew involvement, and suspicion of the airplane's cargo manifest; many disappearance theories regarding

3478-411: The aircraft other than some marine debris on the coast of Africa. The final ATSB report, published on 17 October 2017, stated that the underwater search for the aircraft, as of 30 June 2017 , had cost a total of US$ 155 million (~$ 190 million in 2023). The underwater search accounted for 86% of this amount, bathymetry 10%, and programme management 4%. Malaysia had supported 58% of

3572-419: The aircraft was flying at its assigned cruise altitude of flight level 350 and was travelling at 471 knots (872 km/h; 542 mph) true airspeed . There were few clouds around this point, and no rain or lightning nearby. Later analysis estimated that Flight 370 had 41,500 kg (91,500 lb) of fuel when it disappeared from secondary radar. At the time that the transponder stopped functioning,

3666-500: The aircraft's satellite data unit (SDU) at some point between 01:07 and 02:03; the SDU logged onto Inmarsat's satellite communication network at 02:25, which was three minutes after the aircraft had left the range of radar. Based on analysis of the satellite communications, the aircraft was postulated to have turned south after passing north of Sumatra and then to have flown for six hours with little deviation in its track, ending when its fuel

3760-603: The aircraft's satellite data unit . At 01:20:31 MYT, Flight 370 was observed on radar at the Kuala Lumpur ACC as it passed the navigational waypoint IGARI ( 6°56′12″N 103°35′6″E  /  6.93667°N 103.58500°E  / 6.93667; 103.58500  ( Waypoint IGARI ) ) in the Gulf of Thailand ; five seconds later, the Mode-S symbol disappeared from radar screens. At 01:21:13, Flight 370 disappeared from

3854-403: The aircraft's disappearance. Between 18 March and 28 April, 19 vessels and 345 sorties by military aircraft searched over 4,600,000 km (1,800,000 sq mi). The final phase of the search was a bathymetric survey and sonar search of the sea floor, about 1,800 kilometres (970 nmi; 1,100 mi) southwest of Perth, Western Australia. With effect from 30 March 2014,

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3948-411: The aircraft, which was to become the most expensive aviation search in history, began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the aircraft's signal was last detected on secondary surveillance radar , and was soon extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea. Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat's satellite communications network concluded that

4042-458: The airline was renationalised by the end of 2014. The Malaysian government received significant criticism, especially from China, for failing to disclose information promptly during the early weeks of the search. Flight 370's disappearance brought to public attention the limits of aircraft tracking and flight recorders, including the limited battery life of underwater locator beacons (an issue that had been raised about four years earlier following

4136-579: The base. The feature race was won on handicap by Syd Negus in a Plymouth Special, ahead of Syd Barker in a Ballot V8 and Arthur Collett in an MG TC . In 1964, Australia and the United States agreed to conduct a "Joint Research Program for Studying Aero-Space Disturbances and their Effect on Radio Communications" at the Pearce base. RAAF Base Pearce is used by the Australian Air Force Cadets as

4230-528: The coast of Africa and on Indian Ocean islands off the coast of Africa—the first of which was discovered on 29 July 2015 on Réunion —have been confirmed as pieces of Flight 370. The bulk of the aircraft has not been located, prompting many theories about its disappearance. In January 2018, a search by private US marine exploration company Ocean Infinity began in the search zone around 35°36′S 92°48′E  /  35.6°S 92.8°E  / -35.6; 92.8  ( CSIRO crash area ) ,

4324-507: The crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in 2013, in which three people died; Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 , which was shot down over Ukraine , killing all 298 people aboard in July 2014; Emirates Flight 521 , which crashed and burned out while landing at Dubai International Airport in August 2016; and in November 2017, the seventh Boeing 777 hull loss occurred when a Singapore Airlines 777-200ER

4418-532: The deadliest involving a Boeing 777, surpassing Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (three fatalities). In both of those categories, Flight 370 was surpassed 131 days later by Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 , another Boeing 777-200ER, which was shot down on 17 July 2014, killing all 298 people aboard. The news media reported several sightings of an aircraft fitting the description of the missing Boeing 777. For example, on 19 March 2014, CNN reported that witnesses including fishermen, an oil rig worker, and people on

4512-527: The first visit to Perth of the United States Air Force (USAF) B-1B Lancer bomber. The 2012 Defence Force Air Show, held at Pearce on 19–20 May, included visits by a USAF B-52 bomber, a USAF KC-135 tanker, an RAAF AEW&C Wedgetail and an RSAF C-130 Hercules . In 2014, the base was the hub for the international search of the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 . It hosted search aircraft from six other nations including

4606-426: The flight have also been reported by the media. The Malaysian Ministry of Transport 's final report from July 2018 was inconclusive. It highlighted Malaysian ATC's fruitless attempts to communicate with the aircraft shortly after its disappearance. In the absence of a definitive cause of disappearance, air transport industry safety recommendations and regulations citing Flight 370 have been implemented to prevent

4700-430: The flight continued until at least 08:19 (nearly an hour after Malaysia Airlines publicly announced the plane's loss) and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location cannot be determined. Australia assumed charge of the search on 17 March, when the search effort began to emphasise the southern Indian Ocean. On 24 March, the Malaysian government noted that the final location determined by

4794-425: The flight had been lost by Malaysian ATC at 02:40 and that the government had initiated search-and-rescue operations. Unbeknownst to investigators or Malaysia Airlines at the time, Flight 370 was still airborne at the time of this initial media statement, and search-and-rescue operations were commenced while the plane was still in flight over the Indian Ocean (albeit the search-and-rescue operations initially focused on

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4888-861: The flight was on the ground and that the Captain communicated with ATC after departure. Shortly after departure, the flight was transferred from the airport's ATC to "Lumpur Radar" air traffic control on frequency 132.6 MHz. ATC over peninsular Malaysia and adjacent waters is provided by the Kuala Lumpur Area Control Centre (ACC); Lumpur Radar is the name of the frequency used for en route air traffic . At 00:46, Lumpur Radar cleared Flight 370 to flight level 350 —approximately 35,000 ft (10,700 m). At 01:01, Flight 370's crew reported to Lumpur Radar that they had reached flight level 350, which they confirmed again at 01:08. The aircraft's final transmission before its disappearance from radar

4982-458: The flight was scheduled to arrive in Beijing. The aircraft sent a log-on request at 08:19:29, which was followed, after a response from the ground station, by a "log-on acknowledgement" message at 08:19:37. The log-on acknowledgement is the last piece of data received from Flight 370. The aircraft did not respond to a status request from Inmarsat at 09:15. The general consensus among investigators

5076-405: The frequency and rhythm of the sound emitted by the flight recorders' ULBs; analysis of the acoustic detections determined that, although unlikely, the detections could have come from a damaged ULB. A sonar search of the seafloor near the detections was carried out between 14 April and 28 May but yielded no sign of Flight 370. In a March 2015 report, it was revealed that the battery of

5170-513: The information they contain, before they sink into the water. Flight 370 was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER, serial number 28420, registration 9M-MRO. The aircraft was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 31 May 2002. The aircraft was powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines and configured to carry 282 passengers in total capacity. It had accumulated 53,471.6 hours and 7,526 cycles (takeoffs and landings) in service and had not previously been involved in any major incidents, though

5264-529: The location of the airport LHV with any greater certainty; it is William T. Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania in the United States . There are a few exceptions to the regional structure of the ICAO code that have been historically for political or administrative reasons. RAF Mount Pleasant air base in the Falkland Islands , for instance, is assigned the ICAO code EGYP as though it were in

5358-493: The loss of Air France Flight 447 , but had never been resolved). In response to Flight 370's disappearance, the International Civil Aviation Organization adopted new standards for aircraft position reporting over open ocean, extended recording time for cockpit voice recorders , and, starting from 2020, new aircraft designs have been required to have a means of recovering the flight recorders , or

5452-399: The most likely crash site according to the drift study published in 2017. In a previous search attempt, Malaysia had established a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the incident, working with foreign aviation authorities and experts. Malaysia released a final report concerning Flight 370 on 17 October, 2017. Neither the crew nor the aircraft's communication systems relayed

5546-441: The name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more aerodromes (in the broad sense) have ICAO codes than IATA codes, which are sometimes assigned to railway stations as well. The selection of ICAO codes is partly delegated to authorities in each country, while IATA codes, which have no geographic structure, must be decided centrally by IATA. The first one or two letters of

5640-476: The plane had travelled far southward over the southern Indian Ocean . The lack of official information in the days immediately after the disappearance prompted fierce criticism from the Chinese public, particularly from relatives of the passengers, as most people on board Flight 370 were of Chinese origin. Several pieces of debris washed ashore in the western Indian Ocean during 2015 and 2016; many of these were confirmed to have originated from Flight 370. After

5734-460: The radar screen at Kuala Lumpur ACC and was lost at about the same time on radar at Ho Chi Minh ACC, which reported that the aircraft was at the nearby waypoint BITOD. Air traffic control uses secondary radar, which relies on a signal emitted by a transponder on each aircraft; therefore, the ADS-B transponder was no longer functioning on Flight 370 after 01:21. The final transponder data indicated that

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5828-506: The same year. ICAO codes are separate and different from IATA codes , the latter of which have three letters and are generally used for airline timetables , reservations, and baggage tags. For example, the IATA code for London 's Heathrow Airport is LHR and its ICAO code is EGLL. IATA codes are commonly seen by passengers and the general public on flight-tracking services such as FlightAware . In general IATA codes are usually derived from

5922-451: The satellite communication system aboard the aircraft went offline (possibly due to a power interruption), and remained offline during the plane's initial deviation from its scheduled flight path. However, for an unknown reason, at 02:25 MYT, the aircraft's satellite communication system booted back up and sent a "log-on request" message—the first message since the ACARS transmission at 01:06—which

6016-424: The satellite communication was far from any possible landing sites, and concluded, "Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean." From October 2016 to January 2017, a comprehensive survey of 120,000 km (46,000 sq mi) of sea floor about 1,800 km (1,100 mi; 970 nmi) southwest of Perth , Western Australia, yielded no evidence of the aircraft. Several pieces of marine debris found on

6110-461: The search was coordinated by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), an Australian government agency that was established specifically to manage the effort to locate and recover Flight 370, and which primarily involved the Malaysian, Chinese, and Australian governments. On 17 January 2017, the official search for Flight 370—which had proven to be the most expensive search operation in aviation history —was suspended after yielding no evidence of

6204-613: The search was shifted to the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia and within Australia's aeronautical and maritime Search and Rescue regions that extend to 75°E longitude . Accordingly, on 17 March, Australia agreed to manage the search in the southern locus from Sumatra to the southern Indian Ocean. From 18 to 27 March 2014, the search effort focused on a 315,000 km (122,000 sq mi) area about 2,600 km (1,400 nmi; 1,600 mi) southwest of Perth. The search area, which Australian prime minister Tony Abbott called "as close to nowhere as it's possible to be",

6298-585: The single deadliest case of aircraft disappearance . The crew of the Boeing 777-200ER , registered as 9M-MRO, last communicated with air traffic control (ATC) around 38 minutes after takeoff when the flight was over the South China Sea . The aircraft was lost from ATC's secondary surveillance radar screens minutes later but was tracked by the Malaysian military's primary radar system for another hour, deviating westward from its planned flight path, crossing

6392-565: The status of Flight 370 would be changed to an "accident", in accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation , and that all passengers and crew are presumed to have lost their lives. If the official assumption is confirmed, Flight 370 was, at the time of its disappearance, the deadliest aviation incident in the history of Malaysian Airlines, surpassing the 1977 hijacking and crash of Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 that killed all 100 passengers and crew aboard, and

6486-578: The style LFddnn , where dd indicates the department while nn is a sequential counter. The French Federation of Ultralight Motorized Gliders was formally named the keeper of these codes. Aerodrome de Torreilles in France, for instance, has code LF6651. In Antarctica many aerodromes have pseudo ICAO-codes with AT and two digits, while others have proper codes from countries performing air control such as NZ for New Zealand . Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ( MH370/MAS370 )

6580-401: The total cost, Australia 32%, and China 10%. The report also concluded that the location where the aircraft went down had been narrowed to an area of 25,000 km (9,700 sq mi) by using satellite images and debris drift analysis. In January 2018, the private American marine-exploration company Ocean Infinity resumed the search for MH370 in the narrowed 25,000 km area, using

6674-412: The transponder code used by Flight 370, despite the aircraft possibly having flown near, or over, the northern tip of Sumatra. Indonesian military radar tracked Flight 370 earlier when en route to waypoint IGARI before the transponder is thought to have been turned off, but did not provide information on whether it was detected afterwards. Thailand and Vietnam also detected Flight 370 on radar before

6768-468: The transponder stopped working. The radar position symbols for the transponder code used by Flight 370 vanished after the transponder is thought to have been turned off. Vietnam's deputy minister of transport Pham Quy Tieu stated that Vietnam had noticed MH370 turning back toward the west and that its operators had twice informed Malaysian authorities the same day on 8 March. Thai military radar detected an aircraft that might have been Flight 370, but it

6862-515: The two airports share runways and ground and air control facilities. In small countries like Belgium or the Netherlands, almost all aerodromes have an ICAO code. For larger countries like the UK or Germany this is not feasible, given the limited number of letter codes. Some countries have addressed this issue by introducing a scheme of sub-ICAO aerodrome codes; France, for example, assigns pseudo ICAO codes in

6956-591: Was 5 hours and 34 minutes, which would consume an estimated 37,200 kg (82,000 lb) of jet fuel . The aircraft carried 49,100 kilograms (108,200 lb) of fuel, including reserves, allowing an endurance of 7 hours and 31 minutes. The extra fuel was enough to divert to alternate airports — Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport and Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport —which would require 4,800 kg (10,600 lb) or 10,700 kg (23,600 lb), respectively, to reach from Beijing. At 00:42 MYT, Flight 370 took off from runway 32R, and

7050-458: Was activated at 05:30 MYT—four hours after communication was lost with the aircraft—to coordinate search and rescue efforts. Search efforts began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. On the second day of the search, Malaysian officials said that radar recordings indicated that Flight 370 may have turned around before vanishing from radar screens; the search zone was expanded to include part of

7144-711: Was an automated position report, sent using the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) protocol at 01:06 MYT. Among the data provided in this message was the total fuel remaining: 43,800 kg (96,600 lb). The last verbal signal to air traffic control occurred at 01:19:30, when Captain Zaharie acknowledged a transition from Lumpur Radar to Ho Chi Minh ACC : Lumpur Radar: "Malaysian three seven zero, contact Ho Chi Minh one two zero decimal nine. Good night." Flight 370: "Good night. Malaysian three seven zero." The crew

7238-499: Was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China . The cause of its disappearance has not been determined. It is widely regarded as the greatest mystery in aviation history, and remains

7332-691: Was assigned both LLJR (its Israeli persona) as well as OJJR (its Jordanian persona), but the airport itself fell into disuse. In the contiguous United States and Canada, many airports have ICAO codes that are simply copies of their three-letter IATA codes, with the geographical prefix added on (e.g., YEG and CYEG both refer to Edmonton International Airport , while IAD and KIAD both refer to Washington Dulles International Airport ). This similarity does not extend to Alaska (PAxx), Hawaii (PHxx), or U.S. territories. Kahului Airport on Maui , for instance, has an IATA code of OGG and an ICAO code of PHOG. ICAO airport codes do not begin with I or J or X or Q, though

7426-618: Was called in Beijing for relatives of Flight 370 passengers. Malaysia Airlines announced that Flight 370 was assumed lost with no survivors. It notified most of the families in person or via telephone, and some received an SMS (in English and Chinese) informing them that the aircraft likely had crashed with no survivors. On 29 January 2015, the director general of the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia , Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, announced that

7520-402: Was cleared by air traffic control (ATC) to climb to flight level 180 —approximately 18,000 feet (5,500 m)—on a direct path to navigational waypoint IGARI (located at 6°56′12″N 103°35′6″E  /  6.93667°N 103.58500°E  / 6.93667; 103.58500  ( Waypoint IGARI ) ). Voice analysis has determined that the first officer communicated with ATC while

7614-421: Was exhausted . With the loss of all 239 lives on board, Flight 370 is the second-deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 and the second-deadliest incident of Malaysia Airlines' history, second to Flight 17 in both categories. Malaysia Airlines was struggling financially, a problem that was exacerbated by a decrease of ticket sales after the disappearance of Flight 370 and the downing of Flight 17;

7708-618: Was expected to signal ATC in Ho Chi Minh City as the aircraft passed into Vietnamese airspace, just north of the point where contact was lost. The captain of another aircraft attempted to contact the crew of Flight 370 shortly after 01:30, using the international air distress frequency , to relay Vietnamese air traffic control's request for the crew to contact them; the captain said he was able to establish communication, but heard only "mumbling" and static. Calls made to Flight 370's cockpit at 02:39 and 07:13 were unanswered, but acknowledged by

7802-538: Was formed at RAAF Pearce as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme and No. 85 Squadron RAAF was stationed. Recruits commenced their military service at the ITS, learning fundamentals such as mathematics, navigation and aerodynamics. On 10 September 1950 a one-off motor race meeting, called the "Air Force Handicap" was held as a part of an air show. The circuit was triangular in shape, and used all three runways of

7896-449: Was given supplemental fuel and crew member oxygen supplies just before takeoff. The Boeing 777 was introduced in 1994 and has an excellent safety record. Since its first commercial flight in June 1995, the type has suffered only seven other hull losses : the crash of British Airways Flight 38 in 2008; a cockpit fire in a parked EgyptAir Flight 667 at Cairo International Airport in 2011;

7990-456: Was in Cambodian airspace. At 02:15, the watch supervisor at Kuala Lumpur ACC queried Malaysia Airlines' operations centre, which said that it could exchange signals with Flight 370 and that Flight 370 was in Cambodian airspace. Kuala Lumpur ACC contacted Ho Chi Minh ACC to ask whether the planned flight path for Flight 370 passed through Cambodian airspace. Ho Chi Minh ACC responded that Flight 370

8084-423: Was last detected by radar at waypoint BITOD. The two centres exchanged four more calls during the next 20 minutes with no new information. At 02:03, Kuala Lumpur ACC relayed to Ho Chi Minh ACC information received from Malaysia Airlines' operations centre that Flight 370 was in Cambodian airspace. Ho Chi Minh ACC contacted Kuala Lumpur ACC twice in the following eight minutes asking for confirmation that Flight 370

8178-478: Was located at 14°54′N 109°15′E  /  14.900°N 109.250°E  / 14.900; 109.250 . Later, another Malaysia Airlines aircraft (Flight 386 bound for Shanghai) attempted, at the request of Ho Chi Minh ACC, to contact Flight 370 on the Lumpur Radar frequency – the frequency on which Flight 370 last made contact with Malaysian air traffic control – and on emergency frequencies. The attempt

8272-410: Was not supposed to enter Cambodian airspace and that they had already contacted Phnom Penh ACC (which controls Cambodian airspace), which had no communication with Flight 370. Kuala Lumpur ACC contacted Malaysia Airlines' operations centre at 02:34, inquiring about the communication status with Flight 370, and were informed that Flight 370 was in a normal condition based on a signal download and that it

8366-591: Was officially granted "station" status on 6 February 1939. It was named in honour of Sir George Pearce , a Senator from Western Australia. Pearce was elected to the inaugural Senate in 1901 and remained a Senator for Western Australia until 1938. He was Minister for Defence in four separate ministries including the period 1910 to 1913 when the Central Flying School was established. The base opened with two resident squadrons, Nos. 14 and 25 Squadrons . During World War II , No. 5 Initial Training School (ITS)

8460-513: Was over the South China Sea, less than an hour after takeoff. It disappeared from ATC radar screens at 01:22 MYT, but was still tracked on military radar as it turned sharply away from its original northeastern course to head west and cross the Malay Peninsula, continuing that course until leaving the range of the military radar at 02:22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) northwest of Penang Island, in northwestern Malaysia. The multinational search effort for

8554-465: Was relayed by satellite to a ground station, both operated by satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat . After logging on to the network, the satellite data unit aboard the aircraft responded to hourly status requests from Inmarsat for the next 6 hours and two ground-to-aircraft telephone calls, at 02:39 and 07:13, both unanswered by the cockpit. The final status request and aircraft acknowledgement occurred at 08:10, about 1 hour and 40 minutes after

8648-456: Was surpassed in all three regards by Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 , which was shot down by Russian-backed forces while flying over Ukraine four months later on 17 July 2014. The search for the missing aircraft became the most expensive search in the history of aviation. It focused initially on the South China Sea and Andaman Sea, before a novel analysis of the aircraft's automated communications with an Inmarsat satellite indicated that

8742-650: Was unsuccessful. At 03:30, Malaysia Airlines' operations centre informed Kuala Lumpur ACC that the locations it had provided earlier were "based on flight projection and not reliable for aircraft positioning." Over the next hour, Kuala Lumpur ACC contacted Ho Chi Minh ACC asking whether they had signaled Chinese air traffic control. At 05:09, Singapore ACC was queried for information about Flight 370. At 05:20, an undisclosed official contacted Kuala Lumpur ACC requesting information about Flight 370; he opined that, based on known information, "MH370 never left Malaysian airspace." The watch supervisor at Kuala Lumpur ACC activated

8836-545: Was written off after catching fire and burning out at Singapore Changi Airport . The aircraft was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 14 different nations. On the day of the disappearance, Malaysia Airlines released the names and nationalities of the passengers and crew, based on the flight manifest . The passenger list was later modified to include two Iranian passengers travelling on stolen Austrian and Italian passports . All 12 crew members—two pilots and 10 cabin crew—were Malaysian citizens. Of

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