One year after Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, experts and researchers still cannot say had happened to the ill-fate plane. Friends and loved ones of those aboard the plane are waiting for updates, as Australian and Malaysian leaders have promised to keep searching for it one year after it vanished.
According to the report released by investigators on March 8, both the pilot and co-pilot's behavior were normal before the plane took off and even during the flight. The report also detailed the crew's profile, plane's maintenance records, radio and radar trransmissions, and the cargo, sources say.
"There were no behavioural signs of social isolation, change in habits or interest, self-neglect, drug or alcohol abuse of the captain, first officer and the cabin crew," the international investigators had concluded.
The engines, according to the report, were also functioning normally during the flight before the plane had disappeared last year on March 8.
Flight MH370 failed to get in contact with Vietnamese Air Traffic Control after it left Malaysia's air space, which the pilot should have done according to protocol.
According to sources, Vietnamese ATC based in Ho Chi Minh should have notified Kuala Lumpur ATC within five minutes of the incident, based on protocol.
There was a lot of confusion after the incident was reported to Kuala Lumpur ATC. For one, Malaysian Airlines had mistakenly reported that it spotted the plane somewhere in Cambodia. After an hour and a half, Malaysian Airlines told Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Controllers that it was the projcted flight plan they were looking at.
Malaysia Airlines told the press that the Boeing 777-200ER's battery will not hinder the search for the plane. The plane is equipped with an underwater locator beacon in its black box. Lawyers representing the families of those onboard the plane had pointed out earlier that the batteries were not replaced, which could have made locating the plane impossible.
"This airline, which allowed its crew and plane to fly with expired batteries on critical equipment, continues to reject offering any kind of meaningful settlement to the families without them first proving the losses they suffered, without any actual evidence of a crash," Attorney Justin Green told Reuters in an email.
There were 239 passengers and crew aboard Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 when it vanished on March 8, 2014.
