Malaysian Flight 370 Suffered Electrical Failure and Lost Contact with Flight Dispatchers

The famous and mysterious Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 grabbed the attention of the media and public when the flight suddenly disappeared on March 8, 2014. Officials searched tirelessly for the flight, with no results and no explanation. The only answer was that the flight ended in the Southern Indian Ocean and this was the only bit of information available until December 8, 2015.

New data reveals that the flight’s pilots were suddenly confronted with a cascading loss of electrical power, causing many of the plane’s vital systems to shut down. Before the loss of power occurred, the crew had been making regular contact with flight dispatchers and air traffic controllers.

It is not precise when the plane suffered complete loss of electrical power, but the window can now be narrowed.  Whatever the extent of the power loss, the new report clarified that remarkably, at least one system was able to recover power and continue functioning.

Twenty one minutes after the aircraft dispatchers tried to contact the airplane, the flight was able to transmit a scheduled electronic “handshake” to a satellite. The tracking of this flight rests on one slender thread of data that was detected by the London-based satellite operator.

From those brief and impersonal pulses, coupled with many hours of calculations, the searchers were directed to a deep area in the Southern Indian Ocean, called the seventh arc. The purpose of the report was to reinforce confidence that the undersea search for the airline in the right part of the ocean is underway and has a high chance for success.