Flight MH370/Chronology/Phase 6

Malaysia Airlines MH370 — Event Timeline

8 March 2014  ·  Kuala Lumpur → Beijing  ·  Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO

Ground / ATC / Radar

Aircraft / Crew / Systems

Simultaneous

Ground & ATC

Aircraft / Flight

Pre-Departure

     
7 Mar · 16:27 UTC8 Mar · 00:27 MYT
Passenger boarding
227 passengers and 12 crew board at KLIA Terminal 1, Gate C32. 

     
7 Mar · 16:42 UTC8 Mar · 00:42 MYT
Pushback & engine start
Engines start. ACARS datalink active. Fuel load: 49,100 kg. 

     
7 Mar · 16:56 UTC8 Mar · 00:56 MYT
ATC clears taxi
KLIA ground control clears MH370 to runway 32R via taxiway Victor. 

Departure & Climb

     
7 Mar · 17:20 UTC8 Mar · 01:20 MYT
Takeoff — runway 32R
MH370 airborne. Squawk 2157. Planned FL350, direct IGARI waypoint. 

     
7 Mar · 17:21 UTC8 Mar · 01:21 MYT
KL radar contact established
Kuala Lumpur Approach Control tracking MH370 northbound. Transponder normal. 

     
7 Mar · 17:22 UTC8 Mar · 01:22 MYT
First ACARS transmission
Routine engine health and position data transmitted. All systems normal. 

     
7 Mar · 17:28 UTC8 Mar · 01:28 MYT
Handoff to KL ACC
KL Approach hands off to Kuala Lumpur Area Control Centre for cruise phase. 

Cruise — South China Sea

     
7 Mar · 17:46 UTC8 Mar · 01:46 MYT
Level at FL350
Cruising at 35,000 ft, Mach 0.84. Course 025° toward IGARI intersection. 

     
7 Mar · 17:52 UTC8 Mar · 01:52 MYT
Last routine ACARS report
Final scheduled ACARS transmission. Engines normal. Next report due 18:37 — never received. 

     
7 Mar · 18:01 UTC8 Mar · 02:01 MYT
KL ACC radar tracking
Secondary radar tracks MH370 approaching IGARI. Position and squawk normal. 

Diversion — Transponder Loss

     
7 Mar · 18:19 UTC8 Mar · 02:19 MYT
Last ATC voice contact
"Good night Malaysian three seven zero." KL ACC before transfer to Ho Chi Minh. 

     
7 Mar · 18:19 UTC8 Mar · 02:19 MYT
Final crew radio call
"Good night. Malaysian three seven zero." Last confirmed cockpit transmission. Read-back of new frequency omitted. 

     
7 Mar · 18:21 UTC8 Mar · 02:21 MYT
Radar return lost
KL ACC secondary radar loses MH370 near IGARI. Ho Chi Minh reports no contact. 

     
7 Mar · 18:21 UTC8 Mar · 02:21 MYT
Transponder ceases transmission
Mode S transponder (squawk 2157) and ADS-B stop. ACARS also ceases. Aircraft vanishes from secondary radar. 

     
7 Mar · 18:22 – 18:25 UTC8 Mar · 02:22 – 02:25 MYT
Heading change — turn westbound
Military primary radar later reveals a left turn, reversing course across the Malay Peninsula toward the Strait of Malacca. 

     
7 Mar · 18:25 UTC8 Mar · 02:25 MYT
Ho Chi Minh reports no contact
Ho Chi Minh ACC unable to raise MH370. Notifies KL ACC. No alert declared yet. 

Military Radar — Strait of Malacca

     
7 Mar · 18:40 UTC8 Mar · 02:40 MYT
Malaysian military radar contact
RMAF primary radar at Butterworth picks up unidentified track heading northwest over Peninsular Malaysia. 

     
7 Mar · 18:55 UTC8 Mar · 02:55 MYT
Crosses Strait of Malacca
Aircraft track enters the Strait, heading toward waypoints VAMPI and MEKAR on the N571 airway. 

     
7 Mar · 19:15 UTC8 Mar · 03:15 MYT
Altitude variations recorded
Military radar data (disputed) suggests possible altitude deviations FL250–FL450 northwest of Penang island. 

     
7 Mar · 19:22 UTC8 Mar · 03:22 MYT
Last Malaysian military radar return
RMAF loses track at approx. 6.6°N 96.3°E, northwest of Penang, heading toward Andaman Sea. No intercept ordered. 

SATCOM Handshakes — Inmarsat

     
7 Mar · 18:25 UTC8 Mar · 02:25 MYT
SATCOM log-on request
Aircraft SDU sends re-initialisation request to Inmarsat-3 F1 (IOR). Suggests power interruption and restart of the SDU or left AC bus. 

     
7 Mar · 19:41 – 22:41 UTC8 Mar · 03:41 – 06:41 MYT
Hourly handshakes — Arcs 2–5
Inmarsat ground station records five hourly pings. BTO and BFO analysis places aircraft on a series of arcs south of the equator. 

     
8 Mar · 00:11 UTC8 Mar · 08:11 MYT
7th arc — final handshake
Last complete handshake at 00:11 UTC. Partial unanswered log-on at 00:19 UTC, consistent with fuel exhaustion and engine flameout. Projects onto 7th arc, southern Indian Ocean. 

Emergency Response & Search

     
8 Mar · 02:40 UTC8 Mar · 10:40 MYT
Malaysia Airlines declares INCERFA
MAS Ops Centre declares uncertainty phase approximately 2 hrs 20 min after radar loss. 

     
8 Mar · 05:30 UTC8 Mar · 13:30 MYT
DETRESFA declared — SAR activated
Distress phase declared. Initial SAR operations directed to South China Sea — incorrect location. 

     
18 Mar 2014
ATSB assumes search coordination
Australian Transport Safety Bureau takes lead for southern Indian Ocean search based on Inmarsat BTO/BFO analysis. 

Debris & Investigation

     
29 Jul 2015
Flaperon recovered — Réunion Island
Boeing 777 flaperon washes ashore at Saint-André. Confirmed by DSNAC/BEA as from 9M-MRO. First physical evidence of MH370's fate. 

     
2015–2018
Further debris recovered
30+ debris items recovered across Réunion, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa. Multiple items confirmed or probable 9M-MRO. 

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Timeline - North Indian Ocean to Southern Indian Ocean

Pre-Flight

KLIA to South China Sea

South China Sea to Straits of Malacca

Straits of Malacca to Andaman Sea

Andaman Sea to North Indian Ocean

North Indian Ocean to Southern Indian Ocean

After MH370 turned south toward the southern Indian Ocean the aircraft continued flying until running out of fuel.
What we know is limited to data from some satellite communications as shown in this Section

North Indian Ocean to Southern Indian Ocean

Event Colour Code

3. Other Satellite Communications

After the successful log-on which commenced at 0225:27 MYT there were a series of automated communications, and two unsuccessful telephone calls from Malaysia Airlines.

Because the SATCOM was logged-on, the ground station periodically communicated with it to check that it was still logged on. These automated transmissions should occur approximately every hour.

However, the two telephone calls using the satellite system had the effect of resetting the timer at the ground station, so the 'handshakes' initiated by the ground station were not one hour apart.

The Table below shows the sequence of handshakes and phone calls. The metadata associated with the transmissions for each 'handshake' enabled Investigators to calculate the distance of the aircraft from the satellite at the time of each event. This is shown as a series of concentric rings in the diagram below right. The Time on each ring is UTC.

Table 1.9B - SATCOM ‘Handshakes’

SATCOM TRANSMISSIONS		TIME
		UTC	MYT*
1.	Aircraft departed KLIA	1642:04	0042:04
2.	Last ACARS transmission	1707:48	0107:48
3.	1st handshake - log-on initiated by the aircraft	1825:27	0225:27
4.	Unanswered ground-to-air telephone call	1839:52	0239:52
5.	2nd handshake initiated by ground station	1941:00	0341:00
6.	3rd handshake initiated by ground station	2041:02	0441:02
7.	4th handshake initiated by ground station	2141:24	0541:24
8.	5th handshake initiated by ground station	2241:19	0641:19
9.	Unanswered ground-to-air telephone call	2313:58	0713:58
10.	6th handshake initiated by ground station	0010:58*	0810:58
11.	7th handshake - log-on initiated by the aircraft	0019:29*	0819:29
12.	Aircraft did not respond to ‘handshake’ from Satellite Earth Ground Station	0115:56*	0915:56
*08 March 2014

Adapted from Safety Investigation Report SIR-2018 ‎ Table 1.9B - SATCOM ‘Handshakes’

Source: Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370, 02 July 2018, Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018

Note: Table 1.9B, when published, showed times rounded to the nearest minute. The above version has been updated to include seconds, so that each time can be linked to the correct event in the Timeline. No other data has been changed. The two versions can be seen together here.

       Content:Images/ATSB/UnderwaterSearch/Figure 18

Note: Each yellow arrow points to a 'ring', using the time as a label. The arrow does not indicate the position of MH370 at that time.

5. A Possible Flight Path

There are many variables to consider when defining the time when MH370 turned south. Investigators have worked hard to refine their mathematical models so that they can predict more accurately where the flight ended.

Obviously, we do not know the exact time that a turn commenced. There have been many attempts to reconstruct a flight path using an early turn; a late turn; or some time in-between. Each solution must still place the aircraft on one of the seven arcs at the time of the relevant satellite communication.

An aircraft can also make different types of turn - gentle and level is normal for passenger flights; or steeply banked; maybe with some acceleration through the turn; or a change of altitude. There are many possibilities, including whether the turn was manually controlled or executed by the autopilot.

One of the valid flight paths is shown in the diagram opposite. This one was created by engineers from Inmarsat who did the original calculations with the values of Burst Timing Offset and Burst Frequency Offset. Without this innovative analysis of the metadata we would have absolutely no idea where MH370 went after flying beyond Malaysia's military radar coverage.

The flight path shown here is 'indicative' - it represents a likely end-of-flight path in a southerly direction with its' heading changing from 186° to 180° by the end of the flight. See The Search for MH370 (Inmarsat).

Note: Although MH370 was close to the northern tip of Sumatra, it likely crossed, or was close to, Indonesian airspace. But there is no radar data from Indonesia.

       Content:Images/Inmarsat/Figure 17

Time:0240:56 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0240:56 MYT/Summary

Time:0341:00 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0341:00 MYT/Summary

Time:0441:02 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0441:02 MYT/Summary

Time:0541:24 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0541:24 MYT/Summary

Time:0630 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0630 MYT/Summary

Time:0641:19 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0641:19 MYT/Summary

Time:0700:42 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0700:42 MYT/Summary

Time:0713:58 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0713:58 MYT/Summary

Time:0715:02 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0715:02 MYT/Summary

Time:0810:58 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0810:58 MYT/Summary

Time:0819:29 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0819:29 MYT/Summary

Time:0819:37 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0819:37 MYT/Summary

Time:0915:56 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0915:56 MYT/Summary

Time:0916:06 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0916:06 MYT/Summary

Time:0916:15 MYT/EventTime

Event Details

Time:0916:15 MYT/Summary

---

Back to TOP
Disclaimer

This Timeline has been created by deconstructing official documents and linking these extracts in a way which simulates a chronological sequence and facilitates access to further detail and explanatory notes for time-related events in the narrative of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Boeing 777-200 Extended Range

Aircraft Registration Number for the Boeing 777 used for Flight MH370. More Info

Air Traffic Control

A device that emits an identifying signal in response to an interrogating received signal from a communications satellite or ground station. (Source: ATSB)

Satellite Communications

Malaysian Time (MYT) is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) + 8 hours

Coordinated Universal Time

Information about data or about a data transmission
For example Burst Timing Offset and Burst Frequency Offset

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Aircraft Communication and Reporting System

The Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018 was released by the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 in July 2018. More Info