MH370’s 10th anniversary

0:11Hello and welcome to a special edition of the Monocle Weekly. It is Friday the 8th of March, which marks the 10-year anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. I'm Chris Chermak, and I'll be walking you through the impressions of impassioned journalists, aviation analysts, and private investigators who have dedicated the last 10 years of their lives to what is still one of the aviation world's greatest mysteries. We start the show with a special feature of Andrew Muller's regular installment called on this day, looking back at the moment that MH370 disappeared.

0:50At about 1.20am local time on March 8th, 2014, Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control made a routine call to a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which had taken off from Kuala Lumpur 37 minutes previously bound for Beijing.

1:13Kuala Lumpur was waving the plane, its 227 passengers and 12 crew on to Ho Chi Minh City, whose air traffic controllers would oversee the next leg of its trip. The reply from the 777's flight deck was no more and no less than might have been expected. Two minutes later, flight MH370 vanished from the radar screens. Aircraft, even largish aircraft, had disappeared before. In the post-World War II years especially, as commercial and military flights started taking their chances over oceans with greater frequency, accidents happened. In 1948, one of Air France's mighty Latiko Air 631 flying boats was lost over the Atlantic, along with 52 passengers and crew.

2:07In 1950, a Northwest Orient Airlines DC-4 with 58 souls aboard plunged into Lake Michigan and was never seen again. In 1962, a Lockheed Constellation chartered by the US Army vanished somewhere over the Pacific with the loss of 107 In 1965, an Argentine Air Force Douglas C-54G went missing between Panama and El Salvador, along with 68 occupants. As late as 1989, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker friendship took off from Gilgit, never arrived in Islamabad, and is presumed still to be somewhere in the Himalayas, but nobody knows exactly where. But in 2014, by when anybody with a smartphone could track whichever flights they pleased in real time, the idea that it was somehow possible to just lose an entire modern airliner seemed outrageous, even ridiculous.

3:08It is certainly the case that the hours and days immediately following the disappearance of MH370 were not a masterclass in corporate or governmental communications, but all concerned could be forgiven an amount of bewilderment. Early reports were understandably vague. All anybody knew was what they didn't know. Specifically, where was MH370? Whether the disappearance is due to mechanical problems, pilot error or even terrorism is yet to be determined. There seemed an obvious place to look. the waters of the South China Sea beneath MH370's intended flight path. Dozens of ships and aircraft joined the search and found nothing.

3:53Because, it emerged, there was nothing there to find. Within 48 hours, puzzled Malaysian authorities acknowledged that the aircraft had deviated sharply from its scheduled journey shortly after the final communication from the cockpit, turning to head in roughly the opposite direction, but without sending any kind of distress signal. The senior Malaysian government official tells CNN that Flight 370 may have been flown on purpose along a route designed to avoid radar detection. If there is one thing that people never want to hear from those in charge, and one thing those in charge never want to utter, it is any variation on the phrase, we have no idea.

4:36But in the days following the disappearance of MH370, there wasn't much else those in charge could say. As regards to the issue of information that's been revealed outside the press conference and speculation and diagrams in Google or in anything else in the internet, I cannot confirm or discount. Among those least impressed were the unimaginably anguished families of those aboard the plane. Our relatives were on that flight. This wasn't an accident. Instead, it was caused by the Malaysian government. They are covering up something. Inevitably, into the vacuum of fact rushed a deluge of theory, speculation and conspiracy.

5:25Some, including, weirdly, Rupert Murdoch, suggested that MH370 may have been hijacked and hidden, perhaps somewhere in Pakistan. Others insisted it had been flown to the US airfield on Diego Garcia. The possibility that MH370 had joined the unfortunate ranks of civilian aircraft accidentally shot down by misfiring militaries was also raised. In an outstanding demonstration of the difficulties of saying something when there isn't really much to say, CNN even contemplated the astrophysical and or supernatural. But what if it was something fully that we don't really understand? A lot of people have been asking about that, about black holes and on and on and on and all of these conspiracy theories.

6:11All of which escalated to a still more macabre pitch just four months later, when another Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, MH17, was shot down over eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists with the loss of 298 lives. It is not necessary to look too far to find the excitable burblings of those who believe that MH17 and MH370 were the same plane, and that MH370 was somehow seized and sequestered by forces unknown in order to be blown up over Ukraine for reasons unclear. Evidence strongly suggests, however, that MH370 was flown deliberately off course, and that this deviation was controlled from the cockpit.

6:57But nobody really knows by whom or why. A decade later, though a few fragments of MH370 have washed up on beaches in the western Indian Ocean, the plane's whereabouts remain unknown. The official search was abandoned in 2017. A privateer expedition the following year had no better luck. On this day 10 years ago, the greatest mystery in the history of aviation was inaugurated. It seems unlikely ever to be entirely resolved. For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller. Thanks very much, Andrew Muller, for reminding us of the history on this day. We head now to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the heart of the story.

7:46It's where the journalist Adam Hancock met with the families of those who were on that fateful plane journey. I began by asking Adam about a memorial to MH370 that was held one week before today's anniversary. Yes, that took place here in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, and it was a gathering of family and friends and other loved ones of people who were on board the plane. It's something that's pretty much happened most years around the time of March the 8th, which is the date when flight MH370 went missing. And it's an opportunity really for those family and friends to come together, reflect on what has happened, try and find some comfort in the presence of each other.

8:27But I was speaking this morning to a lady called Grace, who her mother was on the flight, and she is effectively the spokesperson for the families of the people on MH370. and she said it's all self-funded, it's all organized by the families, there's no input from the authorities here and really that will be about it in terms of tributes. We're not expecting anything tomorrow on March the 8th here in Kuala Lumpur. So that event on Sunday, the 10-year anniversary event, is probably about it really. Well, it's quite striking that you say this is all self-funded. I mean, what in your sense then do the families think of the role that the Malaysian government plays in this?

9:07Yeah, I think there is disappointment that more is not being done really to mark the occasion. And, you know, even there's no permanent memorial. I was asking this morning, is there anywhere where I could go and film where there would be tributes left to people on the plane or even at the international airport here? But no, it's all taken it down. And actually, Grace was telling me that a lot of the materials that you might see at these events that you may have seen photos on in the media, for example, that they all end up at a house. She said her house is effectively a museum to a lot of the events that have taken place to remember.

9:40I think there is frustration still at the authorities here for what is perceived as a lack of work done to continue to find this plane. We had a new line at the weekend from the transport minister that there was an indication that the government would be willing to reopen the investigation. But I spoke to an expert who's followed this story for the last 10 years. I spoke to him yesterday and he was telling me that this is something that regularly comes up around March. the 8th, almost as if it's to appease the families and make them feel that something is being done. So whether or not those words will be followed up on is something definitely to watch in the coming weeks.

10:15And what do the families think about then that in itself, the idea that the search might be reopened? I mean, would that kind of open an old wound for them? Have they been able to make any sort of peace with this situation, given also the way you're describing what the Malaysian government does here, kind of often suggesting that investigation might start again and then not following through? I think certainly from the family members that I have spoken to, there is a desire for the search to continue. I think that the majority would say they would prefer that rather than the potential pain it might cause.

10:49I think many of the family members have a feeling or a view that there is unfinished business when it comes to the search for this plane. Obviously, the wreckage has never been found, only a few small pieces of the plane that have washed up on remote beaches. So I think really there's a strong desire for the investigation to open, for new technology to be used. There's a marine robotics company in the US called Ocean Infinity. They have previously searched parts of the Indian Ocean for the plane, but once again, they have offered the Malaysian government effectively a no-find, no-fee deal to try and find the plane.

11:23So I think that the families, to get any sort of closure really, and whilst they may be dealing with the grief and coming to terms with the fact that they won't see their loved ones again, to get a complete closure, I think they really want to know what happened or they really want to know where the wreckage ended up. And that might start to be able to allow investigators to piece together what their loved ones, what their final hours look like. Well, Adam, we have been speaking to people who believe that they have narrowed the location of the plane, but I do wonder how much that is reaching Malaysia.

11:55Is there a perception there among the families, experts, the government for that matter, that there is enough new evidence to launch another search? Yeah, I think particularly amongst the families, they're obviously holding on to any sort of new evidence or any new theories that are taking place. Yesterday, I was speaking to an aviation expert who was saying that a British engineer has pinpointed an area around 1 ,500 kilometres off the coast of Perth, which hasn't been searched yet. And through amateur radio signals, he's pretty sure that he's picked up a flight path. So I think, you know, understandably for the families, anybody who's coming forward with a theory or a new location, they're very keen for those areas to be searched.

12:37It's interesting that the transport minister did flag the possibility that the investigation, that the official investigation in Malaysia could be reopened, because that may indicate that perhaps they think there are new leads that they could follow. So I must add, though, that the prime minister in Malaysia, he was speaking at the ASEAN summit taking place in Melbourne this week. He kind of reined things in a little bit compared to what the transport minister said, more taking the approach that if there is credible evidence and new emerging evidence, then Malaysia would be willing to reopen the case rather than the transport minister.

13:08He was a bit more forward in saying he was going to put a proposal to the cabinet about reopening the case and getting on board with Ocean Infinity again. And just finally, Adam, I mean, what would it mean, do you think, to these families if 10 years on the plane was actually found? I think ultimately it would provide closure. I think it would allow them to be able to almost move on from there. So obviously they're always going to have the pain, they're always going to have the grief, and they will always have the memories of their loved ones. But I think, like Grace was telling me this morning, it's still grief, you know, whether or not a relative of yours dies of natural causes at the age of 90.

13:43it's grief all the same and everyone is sharing that grief but for them just not knowing having so much mystery being angry and frustrated at some of the mistakes that were made early on being frustrated at the investigation for them I think if the wreckage was found was discovered and the trail of the plane could be kind of pieced together it would just allow them to to kind of almost draw a line onto this and just focus fully on remembering their loved one rather than having to constantly read about theories and speculation and investigations potentially reopening and the emotional rollercoaster that that brings.

14:18That was Adam Hancock in Kuala Lumpur. Now, the disappearance of MH370 prompted hundreds of journalists to descend on Kuala Lumpur and other locations to cover the search for the missing plane. One of them was Florence de Changi, who reported for Le Monde at the time. She's since written a book called the disappearing act, the impossible case of MH370, in which she presents an alternative theory to the official version of what happened. You can go back and listen to a special edition of The Curator on Monocle, published back in 2021, to hear all the details. For this special, though, I spoke to Floros earlier this week and asked her to reflect on the moment of MH370's disappearance and how it took over her life.

15:04The day it happened, I was actually in Italy where I was born. So I was on a holiday. But my stay in Malaysia, because I lived in Malaysia for four years at the beginning of between 2000 and late 2003. So Malaysia was still very present. And I was very familiar with Malaysia Airlines because we used to take it every time you would travel. So when I heard the accident, part of me was I mean obviously puzzled and worried and concerned for people involved but I was also feeling like I was missing a story that I could or should have covered because it was a region I knew well and it was a topic which fell quite close to me and then luckily in a way when I went back to Hong Kong which was just a few days later my newspaper Le Monde decided to send me to Kuala Lumpur.

15:58And then I got started with the story. And 10 years later, I'm still on it. And what made you decide that you kind of had to tackle this the way that you did? You obviously sent by Le Monde, as you describe it. But you, of course, went so much beyond simply being a reporter covering the story, you know, as a journalist, you went so much deeper, you played the investigator really trying to figure out what was going on. I mean, was there a point where you sensed kind of just how big and lasting a story this mystery would become? I think that it is when I decided to revisit the story for the first anniversary.

16:40Again, it was for a double page that we published in Le Monde. And at that time, I went back to KL and I tried to understand better who the captain was, because I thought he would be a key. I mean, Everyone knew he would be key in any plane accident, but also in his case, he had been smeared and there were all kinds of rumors about him. So I wanted to clear that, which I did in January 2015. And then we published this double page and I really understood then that that story was rotten, if I may say. And from then on, it became incremental. I then went to Maldives because some people said they had seen the plane landing there.

17:24And again, that did not work. So I think I became hooked a year after when I realized just by doing this investigative, but it was still for a newspaper. So it was not yet the level of investigation you can do when you write a book. But it was already quite good enough to make me understand that I was dealing with a big problem. What was your motivation, I wonder the way you describe it there, also as a journalist, kind of seeing what was happening with this story, all the different theories that were being thrown out there? I mean, even frankly, having conversations, you know, doing this series now, I've spoken to some people who very quickly say, oh, it was the pilot, wasn't it?

18:10Like these things have lasted for so long. Was that part of your motivation in a way, just to counteract all of this and really get to the bottom of what was happening? Yeah, absolutely. You know, at that time, I was in my early mid 40s. And I think I was still incredibly and ridiculously naive as to the way the world works. I was still kind of slightly brainwashed, as you know, most Western journalists are, in the sense that we have been told that, you know, if there are sources of power that you would not really question. So when you have, like you did for that story at the beginning, the official narrative being promoted by super serious companies at the top of their game in, you know, like I'm thinking of in Marsat, which is an excellent company by any standard.

19:07And they were promoting the concept of the plane crashing in the Indian Ocean. This was backed by the White House. When Prime Minister Najib Khadzak, the Malaysian Prime Minister, was talking, he was always quoting the British Bureau of Aviation Investigation, Aviation Accident. And he was always quoting, you know, people that you do not normally question. And it really took me a while. And I guess a lot of convincing from other people were equally qualified and actually more honest to accept that these very reliable sources might be lying. And of course, by now, I know that, you know, politics and lies are almost the same thing.

20:01But at the time, I was still a good, naive reporter, thinking that if the White House said so, it must be true. Since you wrote the book and sort of published your own conclusions, which do say or suggest the plane went missing in northern Vietnam and not in the Indian Ocean, as the official narrative suggests, what, if anything, has changed for you? Have there been any developments that confirmed or challenged your conclusions? How closely are you still following this? I'm still working on it because in the meantime, there have been a few documentaries and people continue to read my book. And I'm still contacted, I would say, almost every day by different people.

20:47I mean, most of them don't add much to the conversation, but some do. and as far as what I have better understood since the book was published three years ago number one I am more adamant than ever before than the plane never crashed in the southern Indian Ocean and you know I don't mind being wrong I wouldn't be happy to have been completely misled and made the wrong assessment etc but if I had been offered a serious evidence that I was I would obviously accept it. But on the contrary, every extra information I received confirmed this. Every information I received since, and I met new people who knew also very well Captain Zahari.

21:33And again, they confirmed to me that he was a super reliable, good man, excellent pilot, and that he would never have been the source of whatever nefarious and tragic fate the plane encountered. So these two things have been basically reinforced. And the other thing which I spent more time on as well was the technical report in the Flapron, the piece that was found in Reunion in France. And when you look at the technical report in the Flapron, it's actually not convincing at all. So I'm also less convinced than ever, and I would say basically sure that all the flotsam jetsam that get found miraculously on the east coast of Africa is also part of the diversion.

22:27But as far as my hypothetical scenario is concerned, I have, I think in my mind, I've made some adjustment. I still think that there was a plan A that did not work. And it turned into a plan B that became a disaster somehow. So this is like the big picture is still the same. I still believe that the plane got intercepted more or less around 2.40. Just to remind everyone, at 1.19 is more or less when the plane signs off and says good night. And at 1.20, it comes off in the morning, the radar screens. And so Malaysia Airlines said during its first six press statements that they lost contact at 2.40, which means one hour and 20 minutes later and not six or seven hours later by the time the plane would have been in Australia.

23:24The original, at the beginning, it was 2.40. And so I'm still convinced something happened around that time and there. But I almost have more doubts than before on what exactly happened as to the very end of the plane. In terms of the cause of what happened at that point, yeah. Well, finally, Florence, just looking now 10 years later, I wonder if you do feel that we are any closer to either than finding out what really happened, what the cause was at 240 or at any other point, or getting some sort of recognition from the authorities in Vietnam, China, Australia, all the countries that were involved, Malaysia, that perhaps things did not go the way they suspected.

24:14I think it very much depends who you ask. I feel much closer to the truth and I am confident that truth will prevail and will appear. But at the same time, I can't deny the fact that public opinion in general knows less and less what happened to MH370 because there has been a very efficient. I mean, I don't know if it's orchestrated, but it is so well done and so timely and so well paced that it looks as if it is orchestrated because some big media have repeatedly and almost three months, six months, you see a new breaking story about MH370. and any of this story, which each time is a little bit different, will promote either the crash in the Southern Indian Ocean or the guilty pilot or both.

25:18And with this very heavy load and relentless campaign of repeating this lie, I think that most of the public opinion by now, The people who are not interested, who have not read my book or did not follow closely, they have somewhere in their brain planted the idea that it was the pilot somehow or and it crashed in a sudden in an ocean. But that doesn't stop me from trying to find the truth and to being very hopeful that there will be some decent people who share, who have, who carry part of the secret, because it's not a mystery anymore. It's a secret. And we'll share it out of their conscience, basically.

26:07And eventually the truth will come out. someone asked me if we will find a plane. And my answer to that is, I don't think, honestly, I don't think we will find a plane anymore, but I think we'll find the truth. That was the author and journalist Florence de Changi. The disappearance of MH370 not only captured the attention of journalists, but the failed search also turned the world of aviation on its head, including, of course, that of Malaysian Airlines. Flight Global is a website an organization dedicated to reporting on flight safety and analyzing the aviation sector, so it was all hands on deck for them when MH370 vanished.

26:45Earlier this week, I spoke with Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor of Flight Global and currently based in Singapore. Greg began by reflecting on the day it all went wrong. It was a Saturday morning. I woke up and I got a message from a colleague saying that a 777 had disappeared on the way to Beijing, and I was, like, stunned, right? I didn't even have a cup of coffee, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. And, of course, then, you know, you're putting out reports to state that an aircraft has disappeared. But at the very initial stage, there was a really weird amount of, you know, information coming in, like, you know, just nobody could find the plane.

27:25And, of course, the search was happening in, you know, sort of the South China Sea or the Gulf of Siam. I mean, this is a very early stage of the search as well. And there was like a lot of like satellite image coming through, like apparently this is that. And it was just a lot of confusion around what had happened, especially in the first, you know, few days of that. And that Saturday was very confusing. It was bizarre. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it didn't get any less bizarre from there on out. How did you go about at the time, Flight Global as well, kind of trying to piece together what was happening, what was going on, the information that was coming out.

28:02It did, frankly, just get more bizarre, didn't it? Yeah, well, frankly, with that type of story, you know, you're really just kind of trying to stick with facts. You know, an aircraft has disappeared. This is the aircraft. This is the registration number and so forth. You know, this is what is known right now. It was on this route. The Malaysian Air Traffic Control lost it and it never signed up with Vietnamese Air Traffic Control. So we kind of knew, like, we had these facts. But then, of course, you can fill it in with other stories where you talk about the safety record of the airline, the plane and so forth.

28:34But I think the key thing was that there was just so much weird disinformation coming out on social media because social media was fully alive by this time. And there was all this stuff about wreckage has been found in the Gulf of Siam. Then there was a report that we kind of were looking at where Malaysia Airlines aircraft had been spotted somewhere in China. And of course, that turned out to be false. And there was all sorts of, you know, kind of leads like this early on. And, you know, of course, there was, you know, the search and rescue effort got underway. I think Malaysia was sending helicopters and aircraft out over the Gulf of Siam, I guess that is Gulf of Thailand.