NewsContent:2014/Day 008/MSM
Source: Compiled from several chronologies, listed here
News Chronology for Saturday, 15 March 2014
- March 15, 2014
- - The prime minister said he could not confirm reports of a hijacking and maintained all possible causes for the plane's disappearance were under investigation.
- Najib said the FAA, NTSB, AAIB and the Malaysian authorities were working separately on the same primary radar data that was obtained from the data service provider, and the last confirmed communication between the plane and the satellite was at 8.11am on Saturday, March 8.
He said Flight MH370's communication system and transponder were switched off when the plane reached the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia and between the Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control, respectively.
Najib announced that the plane was flown for hours in a manner "consistent with deliberate action" after dropping off the primary radar.
He said the plane's last communication with the satellite was in one of two possible corridors; a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand or southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
Najib said SAR mission enters a new phase, in the northern and southern corridors. Australia and Indonesia lead search in their own regions. A total of 26 countries are involved in the search.
Najib said SAR ended its operations in the South China Sea.
March 15 - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the plane's last satellite communication was detected in one of two possible corridors; a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, or a southern corridor approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
- 26 countries were involved in this phase covering 2.24 million square nautical miles.
March 15, 2014: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that Flight 370 was tracked by military radar doubling back across the Strait of Malacca and was sending satellite signals seven and a half hours after take-off. The aircraft then flew either northwest toward central Asia as far as Kazakhstan or southwest over the southern Indian Ocean. Signal analysis quickly ruled out the northern flight path.
ABC Analysis of electronic pulses picked up from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight shows it could have run out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean after it flew hundreds of miles off course, a source familiar with the US's official search data said.
The source said the other, less likely possibility was that it flew on toward India.
The data obtained from pulses the plane sent to satellites had been interpreted to provide two different analyses because it was ambiguous, the source who declined to be identified was quoted as saying.
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak later said someone on board the missing plane deliberately shut off its communications and tracking systems and flew it off course for nearly seven hours after it vanished.
Mr Najib confirmed the plane's systems were gradually switched off and the plane was flown far to the west of its flight path before disappearing.
At a dramatic news conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak says the plane appears to have been flown deliberately for hours, veering sharply off-route at roughly the same time that its communications system and transponder were manually switched off.
Satellite data suggests the jet’s last known location was somewhere along one of two huge arcs stretching north into Central Asia and south into the Indian Ocean. The South China Sea search is called off.
•The investigation into the disappearance shifted towards foul play, amid suggestions the plane was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course. •Malaysian authorities then gave a press conference where they confirmed that they believed "deliberate action" had caused the plane to veer off course, and that someone deliberately shut down its communication and tracking systems. •New satellite information suggests the plane was flown west into the Straits of Malacca, but could then have gone down either one of two huge north or south corridors, spanning large tracts of land and deep oceans. • Police searched the homes of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah</A>, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.