© Mak Remissa/EPAA man writes a message for passengers of Malaysian Airline flight MH370 on a banner at Kuala Lumpur International airport.
Since 1948, 100 aircraft have gone missing in flight and never been recovered.
Should the
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 never be found, its disappearance would be by far the biggest such unexplained disaster in aviation. Yet such disappearances are not that uncommon: according to records assembled by the Aviation Safety Network, 100 aircraft have gone missing in flight and never been recovered since 1948. Some of the most notable include:
Noorduyn Norseman, Bedford to Paris, 1944: On 15 December, the single-engined aircraft left Twinwood Farm air base in south-east England carrying one of the hottest big-band leaders of the era, Glenn Miller. Within two minutes, the plane vanished into fog. The most recent theories for its disappearance are that it was the victim of friendly fire - or, more accurately, friendly jettisoning - after a fleet of 139 Lancaster bombers returning from an aborted mission to Germany dumped their bombs over the English channel, right on to Miller's plane. He is still listed as missing in action.
© PAhe plane in which Glenn Miller disappeared in 1944
A Skyways passenger plane on its way from Stansted airport to Jamaica disappeared after an SOS call over the north Atlantic in February, with 39 people on board. The London inquest heard that "the outstanding feature of the inquiry is the lack of evidence". No conclusion was reached but investigators recommended tighter maintenance checks and measures to combat crew fatigue.
© PublicAn Avro York Skyways passenger plane
The Flying Tiger Line plane chartered by the US military to take soldiers to Vietnam disappeared mid-flight in March, after refuelling at an air force base. There were 107 people on board - the most in such an incident before Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. No wreckage was found in a large-scale, eight-day search of the Pacific. Investigators were unable to give any cause but said the plane was most likely destroyed in flight.
Boeing 707, Japan to Brazil, 1979: In January, a cargo flight operated by the Brazilian carrier Varig disappeared over the north Pacific soon after taking off from Tokyo for Brazil. Six Brazilian crew were on board. The cargo included paintings valued at more than $1m. The plane was never found, although investigators believed the cause of its disappearance to be cabin depressurisation.
A Varig Boeing 707 plane
This former American Airlines passenger jet was converted and leased to an Angolan airline before being grounded at Luanda airport for non-payment of bills. An American mechanic was the only person known to be on board in May 2003 when the plane started moving and took off. Without a transponder, it disappeared out over the Atlantic and was never found.
Other disappearances have initially baffled authorities, but the planes were eventually found:Fairchild FH-227D, Uruguay to Chile, 1972: One of the most remarkable stories in air history saw 16 people survive by eating the victims of the plane's crash in the Andes. The chartered military plane hit a peak in clouds and slid into the snow on 13 October. Searches were called off after 11 days but after two months a pair of survivors walked for 10 days through the mountains to find help and enable the others to be rescued.
© Bettmann/Corbis Survivors of the plane crash in the Andes wave to the rescue helicopter
The disappearance of billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett in his single-engine private plane sparked weeks of searches over the Nevada desert, including by thousands of members of the public scrutinising satellite imagery. Wreckage was eventually found just over a year later after a hiker discovered Fossett's papers in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Investigators said the probable cause of the crash was strong gusts of wind that overpowered the plane.
© EPAWreckage from Steve Fossett's plane on a California mountainside.
The immediate aftermath of the crash of Air France 447 has appeared the closest precedent to the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight, with no clue at first as to the whereabouts of the major airliner carrying 228 people. After it disappeared from radar screens in the middle of the Atlantic, it took more than 24 hours for any sighting of potential debris, and five days before the wreckage was located.
© Reuters Debris is recovered from Air France flight 447.
Even then, it was two years before the black box, or flight recorder, was found, allowing investigators to piece together what had happened: a catastrophic combination of instruments in the cockpit giving faulty readings and pilots responding in the worst possible way.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter