After a week and some clues, the knowns and unknowns of MH370
The Malaysian Insider – Sat, Mar 15, 2014
Lifted whole from Yahoo Malaysia. Mar 16, 2014
What we know:
* It isn't in the South China Sea. The search has been called off there despite various discoveries from debris, oil slick to seismic events.
* Its systems were deliberately switched off separately just before it vanished
* It did not enter Vietnam air space
* It had 7.5 hours of fuel left when it vanished
* It didn't crash when it disappeared
* It changed flight path and altitude
* The plane crossed the Malay peninsula at the border with Thailand and was considered as friendly, and therefore not challenged.
* Its last contact from the plane's systems was at 8.11am on Saturday, nearly seven hours after it vanished from radar screens
* There were two Iranians travelling on Italian and Austrian passports stolen from Thailand over the past two years.
* One man had a Chinese passport with the same number as a Chinese man who never left his Fujian province in China.
* Interpol says there are a few passengers with suspect passports
* There were Chinese calligraphers, government servants, holidaying couples, two infants and 20 Freescale electronics plant officials and workers on board the plane.
* It was a code-share fight with China Southern Airlines. The two men travelling on stolen passports had tickets bought together from a travel agent in Pattaya, Thailand, a day before the flight.
* The plane's disappearance has brought attention to rings specialising in stealing and selling stolen passports out of Thailand.
* The pilot is 53-years-old with more than 18,000 hours flying time and has built a B777 flight simulator at home. His house was raided today.
* The co-pilot is 27-years-old with 2,700 hours flying time and who has apparently taken female passengers to the cockpit while flying.
What we don't know:
* The current location of Flight MH370. It disappeared somewhere north of the Strait of Malacca after its last ping at 8.11am, March 8, 2014.
* The condition of all its 227 passengers and 12 crew members.
* The person or persons flying MH370 after it vanished from radar screens.
* The person who switched off the plane's communication links at 1.07am and transponders at 1.21am last Saturday.
* The motive for its disappearance. It still remains a matter for conjecture.
* Whether it is north or south of the Strait of Malacca. The search and rescue mission is now focused on a northern corridor extending from Thailand to Kazakhstan/Turkmenistan and the southern corridor extending from Indonesia to the south of the Indian Ocean.
