Flight MH370 At 01:38 hours Malaysian Time (MYT) on 8 March 2014 (Saturday), a Boeing 777-2H6ER, registration 9M-MRO, and call-sign MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, was reported missing while en-route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China.

History of the Flight 00:41 - MH370 left Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and was due to arrive in Beijing, China at 06:30 01:07 – The plane sent its last ACARS transmission (a service that allows computers abroad the plane to talk to computers on the ground). It was silenced by the cockpit sometime after and the 01:37 transmission was not sent 01:19 – The last communication between the plane and Malaysian air traffic took place. The last words heard by the plane were “Good night Malaysian three seven zero” as they were being passed over to the Vietnamese air traffic. The planes transponder was shut down (talks to ground radar). 01:21 – The Vietnamese air traffic reported that the MH370 failed to check in BBC News, 2014

History of the Flight 02:15 – Malaysian military radar spotted MH370 at a point south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca, west of its last known location. Thai military radar logs confirm that the plane turned west and then north over the Andaman Sea. 02:28 – After the loss of radar, a satellite above the Indian Ocean picked up data from the plane in the form of seven automatic “handshakes” between the aircraft and a ground station 08:11 – The last handshake. It suggested it was in 1 of 2 flight corridors. One stretching north between Thailand and Kazakhstan, the other between Indonesian and the Southern Indian Ocean. 08:19 – evidence of a partial handshake. Consistent of the plane’s satellite communication equipment powering up after an outage (such as after an interruption to its electrical supply) BBC News, 2014

What strategy would you get the Malaysian authorities to follow to find MH370?

Don’t forget any rescue vessels or aircraft need to refuel. What do you think happened? You need to find the most efficient route that covers the entire search area. Is there more than one solution?

How are you going to present your strategy to the Malaysian authorities?? Submit your strategy to the maths office or on the maths blog with your name and tutor group. How are you going to present your strategy to the Malaysian authorities?? Submit your strategy to the maths office or on the maths blog with your name and tutor group.