Tag: Air Traffic Control

Episode 3: The Turnback

Publication Date: September 28, 2023

With this episode, our podcast is now available on video as well as audio! Click through the link above to our YouTube channel. As always you can find the Apple Podcast here.

This week, the mystery deepens as, in the days after MH370’s disappearance, the Malaysian authorities first deny, then confirm that their military radar detected the missing 777 as it turned back from its planned route to Beijing just a few seconds after it passed the final waypoint in Malaysian airspace. The plane reversed course, flew back over the Malayan Peninsula, then flew up the middle of the Malacca Strait toward the northwest before disappearing again over the Andaman Sea. Jeff and Andy discuss the difference between primary and secondary radar, and Jeff explains why the timing of the turnback struck him as suspicious.

Here are some links and explanations relating to the topics discussed:

6:02: Video shown is of the press conference at which Malaysian authorities finally admitted that they had seen the plane on military radar as it reversed course and flew back over the Malayan peninsula. Link here. Admission comes around the 3:20 mark.

13:17: Footage of MH370’s route is from this video by Jean-Luc Marchand.

19:46: Here’s a link to the Guardian article shown on-screen. It describes a scenario in which an accidental depressurization caused the pilots to become incapacitated.

20:46: Jeff mentions a theory that the plane had snuck under another plane’s radar signature in order to elude detection. This was formulated by an aviation blogger named Keith Ledgerwood and is described in this BBC article as theory #7.

21:21: An article describing the theory that MH370 had wound up in Cambodia.

22:30: NewsNation doesn’t seem to have posted a video of Jeff’s segment discussing barnacles but if you’re interested in the topic he’s previously it extensively on his blog. We’ll be devoting a future episode of the podcast to it.

24:20: You can see a video of UFOs supposedly abducting MH370 here.

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Episode 2: The First Vanishing

PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

The mystery begins. Shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and headed to the northeast, towards Beijing. For the first 40 minutes of the flight, everything was absolutely routine. But then, at 1.21am local time, the plane vanished from the radar screens of air traffic control. In today’s episode, Jeff and Andy discuss what it means for a civilian flight to disappear from radar screens, and why the timing of the disappearance might raise a red flag for investigators. We’ll talk about why it took so long for authorities to realize that something had gone wrong, and why the initial assumption was that the plane most likely had crashed close to its last known position.

Find it on Apple Podcasts here and on YouTube here.