By Dean Tan ’18, Staff Writer

On March 8th, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost contact with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff. It never arrived at its destination, with its 227 passengers and 14 crew members on board. As the news broke out and the ensuing panic followed, a global effort was made to locate the missing flight. With over a month of searching and nothing turned up, the flight has been presumed a crash landing in the Indian Ocean with no survivors. Several leads have led to dead ends, and there is still no evidence of what may have happened aboard the flight. This tragic loss of life remains an unsolved mystery, and continues to unease global confidence and conscience.

When asked about knowledge on the missing flight, the interviewees had overall accurate and up to date information about the flight. David You ’19 noted the search for the black box, which contains data and voice recordings, while Spencer Glassman ’19 noted the ping the black box was emitting. Ryan Gajarawala ’18 mentioned that debris found in the Indian Ocean, but was found to be unrelated to the plane crash. Will Hayward ’18 was unimpressed with the Malaysian government’s actions during this ordeal. Sid Tumu ’18 provided a logical solution to the problem, noting several facts including it was a plane that crashed somewhere on Earth’s surface, and possibilities including a flat tire or a drunk pilot.

In response to the Malaysian government’s statement that the plane had “beyond any reasonable doubt” done down in the Indian Ocean, the interviewees were disappointed and angered. All interviewees agreed that the plane had gone down, but the news did not have to be put out with such assurance that no passengers or crew survived.  David You ’19 was skeptical of the Malaysian government’s statement and was unsure if the statement was true. Will Hayward ’18 affirmed the information, but would have added that precautions and global search efforts would be improved for the future. Spencer Glassman ’19 would have spoken about the evidence and information, while limited, was pointing towards a crashed flight. Ryan Gajarawala ’18 would have been much more sympathetic in the statement and would not have spoken so definitely about the massive loss of life.

When asked about global cooperation in searching for the missing flight, all the interviewees were impressed by the collaboration from all participating nations. In an event as unique as this, as David pointed out, the nations worked quite well together. Will noted that the vastness of the Indian ocean was definitely a roadblock, but, as Spencer mentioned, different nations such as the US and Australia contributed their time, resources, and tools to assist Malaysia in this situation. Ryan was glad to see that the families who suffered losses were being helped.

The final question put the interviewees to consider what they thought happened to flight MH370. David supported the notion of a mechanical failure, as did Ryan. However, Will pointed out that all signs lead to a manual, intentional shutoff, which was agreed by Spencer in that the pilot or copilot chose to crash the plane. The possibilities of a hijacking, secret landing, or other ideas put forth in the news were ruled out of question.

As the search continues and hope diminishes, the mystery of flight MH370 remains. The responses of the interviewees confirmed current news, expressed disappointment in the Malaysian government’s statement, and pointed towards a definite human or mechanical error. While not a crisis that directly affects the NA community, it is one that has caused us all to wonder. We thank the interviewees for their time and well thought-out responses, and appreciate their sincerity and care for this issue.