Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - Missing Plane

What happened to Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 in March 1962 remains one of world’s most enduring aviation mysteries.

The US military flight was chartered to transport more than 90 military personnel from Guam to the Philippines but it never arrived at Clark Air Force Base.

More than 1300 people were involved in a US military search for the wreckage but nothing was found. There was no distress call and only a few believed to have witnessed its demise.

The crew of a Liberian tanker ship claim to have spotted an explosion in the sky at the approximate time and location where the flight would have passed over.

Crew members said they witnessed an “intensely luminous” light in the sky, with two flaming objects falling into the sea.

The plane, which was eventually meant to carry the troops to Vietnam, is understood to have gone down somewhere in the western Pacific Ocean.

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SATURDAY, MARCH 8

- Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Flight departs at 12:21 a.m. (1421 GMT Friday), and is due to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) the same day. On board the Boeing 777-200ER are 227 passengers and 12 crew.

- Airline loses contact with plane between 1-2 hours after take-off. No distress signal and weather is clear at the time.

- Missing plane last has contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.

- Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says plane failed to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT while flying over sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City.

- Flight tracking website flightaware.com shows plane flew northeast over Malaysia after takeoff and climbed to altitude of 35,000 feet. The flight vanished from website's tracking records a minute later while still climbing.

- Malaysia search ships see no sign of wreckage in area where flights last made contact. Vietnam says giant oil slick and column of smoke seen in its waters.

- Two men from Austria and Italy, listed among the passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, are not in fact on board. They say their passports were stolen.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

- Malaysia Airlines says fears worst and is working with U.S. company that specialises in disaster recovery.

- Radar indicates flight may have turned back from its scheduled route to Beijing before disappearing.

- Malaysian rescue teams expand their search to the country's western coast.

- Interpol says at least two passports recorded as lost or stolen in its database were used by passengers, and it is "examining additional suspect passports".

- Malaysia's state news agency quotes Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as saying the passengers using the stolen European passports were of Asian appearance.

- Investigators narrow focus of inquiries on possibility plane disintegrated in mid-flight, a source who is involved in the investigations in Malaysia tells Reuters.

MONDAY, MARCH 10

- The United States review of American spy satellite imagery shows no signs of mid-air explosion.

- As dozens of ships and aircraft from seven countries scour the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam, questions mounted over whether a bomb or hijacking could have brought down the Boeing airliner.

- Hijacking could not be ruled out, said the head of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority, Azharuddin Abdul Rahmanthe, adding the missing jet was an "unprecedented aviation mystery".

- The disappearance of the Malaysian airliner could dent the national carrier's plan to return to profit by end-2014, equity analysts said. Shares in MAS hit a record low on Monday.

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MONDAY, MARCH 10

- The United States review of American spy satellite imagery shows no signs of mid-air explosion.

- As dozens of ships and aircraft from seven countries scour the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam, questions mounted over whether a bomb or hijacking could have brought down the Boeing airliner.

- Hijacking could not be ruled out, said the head of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority, Azharuddin Abdul Rahmanthe, adding the missing jet was an "unprecedented aviation mystery".

- The disappearance of the Malaysian airliner could dent the national carrier's plan to return to profit by end-2014, equity analysts said. Shares in MAS hit a record low on Monday.

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Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Passengers' Mobile Phones Ring But Not Answered

The mystery surrounding the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has deepened with the Chinese media reporting that several of the passengers' mobile phones were connecting when called by relatives, but the calls were not picked up.

The sister of one of the Chinese passengers among the 239 people on board the vanished flight rang his phone live on TV, the Mirror reports.

"This morning, around 11:40 [am], I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone," said Bian Liangwei, sister of one of the passengers. At 2pm, Bian called again and heard it ringing once more.

"If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there's a chance he could still be alive." She has passed on the number to Malaysia Airlines and the Chinese police.

A man from Beijing also called his missing brother on the plane, and reported to the airlines that the phone connected three times and rang before appearing to hang up, according to Shanghai Daily. Media reports claim that the brother had called the number in the presence of reporters before informing the airline.

The Strait Times reported that many of the family members told MAS commercial director Hugh Dunleavy that the commuters' mobile phones were ringing but they were not picked up.

To this, Dunleavy replied that MAS was calling the mobile phones of the crew members as well, which were ringing, and that he had given the numbers to Chinese investigators.

Relatives of the passengers are urging the authorities to search for the location of phones that rang using the Global Positioning System.

However, at a press conference in Beijing, MAS spokesman Ignatius Ong said one of the numbers that had been passed on to the airline's command office in Kuala Lumpur failed to get through.

"I myself have called the number five times while the airline's command centre also called the number. We got no answering tone," said Ong.

A phone company in Singapore that was investigating this number said the number was out of credit.

Families seek information

According to China.org.cn, 19 families have signed a joint statement saying that their family members' cell phones connected, but the calls hung up. The relatives have asked Malaysia Airlines to reveal any information they might be hiding, seeking an explanation for the eerie phone connections. The relatives have complained that the Malaysina Airlines is not responding as actively as it should.

Angry family members also threw water bottles at an MAS spokesman and threatened to protest in front of the Malaysian embassy in China if the airlines did not "disclose" the "truth".

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Laura said:

Well, it's looking like it is either complete vaporization by a meteor explosion, secret government laser practice, or aliens took the whole plane!

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Laura said:

Well, it's looking like it is either complete vaporization by a meteor explosion, secret government laser practice, or aliens took the whole plane!

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Beijing - The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has thickened somewhat as family members of passengers have reported mobile phones ringing, but nobody answering.

International Business Times reports that 19 families have signed a joint statement saying that passengers' cell phones connected after the flight had been reported missing. In each case, the phone would ring, but the call would be hung up.

The sister of one of the Chinese passengers among the 239 people on board the missing flight rang his phone live on TV twice at 11:40 on Sunday morning and heard it ringing. She called again later that afternoon and heard it ring once more.

The Mirror reports that she expressed her hope that if the call went through, police could locate the position.

A man from Beijing also called his missing brother, and reported to the airline that the phone connected three times and rang before appearing to hang up.

Relatives who signed the joint statement have asked Malaysia Airlines to reveal any information they may have been hiding.

The airline has not released any further details regarding the aircraft, however Malaysian Minister of Transport Hishammuddin Hussein said they were doing everything in their power to locate the plane and that they hope people understand that they are being as transparent as they can.

In the mean time, it has also been reported that the large oil slick spotted in the South China Sea, was found to be bunker fuel and not that of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

These eerie happenings have, of course, given rise to a number of conspiracy theories, one of which purports that the aircraft may have been hijacked by terrorists bearing fake passports and is now secretly stationed at an abandoned Vietnamese airport at this very moment.

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