As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 enters its 13th day today, investigators and the public alike are looking at the longest-running Search and Rescue (SAR) operation for a commercial aircraft in aviation history, and there is still no conclusive indication as to where the jetliner might be.
Flight MH370 took off at 12.41am on Saturday, March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, but dropped off from radar soon after takeoff. It carried 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers onboard.
Before Flight MH370’s disappearance, the longest search held for a commercial aircraft was that for Adam Air Flight 574, which lasted for 10 days before the jetliner was found.
On January 1 2007, Flight 574, a Boeing 737-400, flew out of Surabaya, Indonesia en route to Manado when it disappeared off the coast of Sulawesi.
It was discovered to have crashed into the Makassar Strait, near Polewali in Sulawesi. All 102 people on board died, the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a Boeing 737-400.
Flight MH370, unlike other instances of jetliner disappearances, deviated from its original flight path significantly after dropping off from radar, making its possible location more imprecise and search efforts even more difficult.
The search for MH370 is now along two corridors, with an area of 2.24 million square nautical miles – an area larger than Australia, which only makes search and rescue efforts even more difficult.
Story: The Star Online
