About MH370wiki

MH370 DECODED
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Welcome to MH370Wiki

This page, and linked sub-pages, provides information about this website; relevant site policies; and some background details.

Introduction

This website was created to collate information about Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing on Saturday, 8 March 2014.

Initially, authoritative information was sourced from official press statements or media releases[1]. Later the investigating team working within the guidelines of ICAO Annex 13 began releasing Reports supplemented by Appendices. Throughout the period since the aircraft diverted from its' intended flight plan news media fueled speculation about the reasons for the diversion, possible sightings, and probable locations. Mixed with genuine fact-based reporting has also been an undercurrent of false and misleading information. There were many active online discussion forums; opinions stated by pilots, aviation commentators, scientists, researchers, investigators; and some of those also authored books on MH370. Whilst many authors have made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the flight and what may have happened, some are biased and misleading. The generation of such a vast amount of information related to an aviation incident is unprecedented. It is neither possible to collate it all nor would the outcome be meaningful. But a common need is how to understand what we can know. The world of aviation is full of technical jargon, acronyms, procedures and protocols. The official Reports contain technical data which is beyond the understanding of many people. So this website was given a sub-title Decoding MH370 and the presentation of content focussed on creating helpful tips to understand the text.

In June 2022 the sub-title was changed to MH370 Decoded which reflects the progress which has been made to simplify, explain or 'de-code' information related to flight MH370.

Site Purpose

This website has a very specific focus - it is for information relevant to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which went missing on March 8th, 2014. The purpose of this Site is to:-

  1. collect information from a wide range of sources and present it in a structured way which will be simple to navigate and eventually (perhaps) be translated into other languages (such as Mandarin)
  2. create a Portal which will assist readers to find the original sources of information, in particular the items which are hard to locate (or which have since been retracted)
  3. assist the reader to evaluate the information. When news media reports items only to change or retract the statements a few days later it is easy to think 'I don't know what to believe'. One purpose of this site is to make things clearer. Ultimately you, the reader, decide what you will believe but the content of this site and the way it is structured may help.

The Timeline

A significant portion of this website is devoted to a Timeline of events from the pre-flight stage to the apparent end of flight MH370 in the south Indian Ocean. The timeline has been created from references within official Reports, Media Statements, and reliable sources. Each event is referenced and explained. The Timeline was developed with a specific purpose:- to become a benchmark against which other information can be compared and tested. If a media article, documentary, book or personal opinion is based on information or beliefs which are not consistent with this Timeline then the validity of the reporting, research or statement is questionable.

As at October 2019 there are, admittedly, a few known events which are not yet published in the Timeline. These events are mostly telephone calls, and actions taken by Malaysia Airlines in response to the loss of communication with MH370. The Timeline articles can be improved and these events will be included.


Site Description

The website www.mh370wiki.net is a non-commercial, not-for-profit site, developed in Australia and hosted in the USA.

The site name is derived from the focus of the site:- flight MH370, and the software or platform used:- MediaWiki. Put together, the name MH370Wiki was created. However, domain names and URLs are usually in lower-case so the registered name became www.mh370wiki.net.




Notes
  1. Many of the original documents are no longer accessible. Malaysia Airlines was transformed from Malaysia Airline Systems (MAS) to Malaysian Airline System Berhad (MAB) and all references to MH370 (and MH17) including media statements were removed from the public website. Similarly, the websites for the Ministry of Transport (Malaysia), the Department of Civil Aviation (Malaysia) and the Prime Minister's Office have been changed and although some information related to MH370 may remain, much has been removed. Many news items have also been removed from public access on news media sites, particularly in Malaysia.
    Where possible, those documents have been obtained and may be re-published on this web site for reference purposes.