Normality of the flight
Apart from the anomaly of the expired battery, the detailed report devoted page after page to describe the complete normality of the flight, which disappeared an hour into its flight March 8, 2014, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off aviation’s biggest mystery.
Searchers believe it crashed in water depths up to 4,000 meters.
The 584-page report by a 19-member independent investigation group also went into minute details about the crew’s lives, including their medical and financial records and training. It also detailed the aircraft’s service record, as well as the weather, communications systems and other aspects of the flight.
Despite an estimated $200 million having been spent in a multinational search far off Australia’s western coast, no trace of the jetliner has been found.
Search ships have so far scoured 44 percent of a 60,000-square-kilometer area in the Indian Ocean where investigators estimate the plane went down.
Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement Sunday, “Malaysia remains committed to the search and hopeful that MH370 will be found.”
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott remains confident the aircraft will be found.
“I know that there will be a nagging doubt in the minds of billions of people until such time as we can find that plane. As long as there are reasonable leads the search will go on,” Abbott said.
“We have got 60,000 square kilometers that is the subject of this search. If that’s unsuccessful, there’s another 60,000 square kilometers that we intend to search, and, as I said we are reasonably confident of finding the plane,” he added.
The head of the investigation team, Kok Soo Chon, said, “In the months ahead, the investigation team will need to analyze to draw conclusions and safety recommendations based on the factual information that has been gathered.”