Michael Glynn

11 years ago today, Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappeared during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. My crew and I were deployed in Japan - and we took part in the search. This is the story of the first few days of one of the largest airborne searches in history. (1/17)

MH370 was a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur (WMKK) to Beijing Capital (ZBAA). She departed in   the early morning hours of 8 March, 2014 and was over the South China Sea when the flight crew was told to contact the next Vietnamese ATC sector - but never did. (2/17)

Our unit was aware of the disappearance by midday on March 9th, although initially it wasn't of the   highest interest. Most of us assumed that there had been some sort of catastrophic event, and that Malaysians or neighboring countries would locate the wreckage soon. (3/17)

Later in the day on March 9th, it became clear that this was a more complex situation, that communications had been lost, and that the aircraft had kept flying for some time after the crew was instructed to contact the next sector. This was a more complex SAR event. (4/17)

Initially, most of us were doubtful we'd be involved in the search. But on the 10th and 11th - two event happened that changed this. First, the Malaysians announced that MH370 had "turned back". Second, authorities announced the jet's satcom had continued to operate (5/17) 

Turning back meant that the flight crew had deviated from the flight plan. There could be many reasons for this - a malfunction pushing the crew to turn towards a nearby airfield, the crew willfully deviating from the flight plan, or a hijacking. All were unusual (6/17)

The satcom was even more interesting. Most airliners utilize satellites to communicate with air traffic control, with company ops centers, and to send aircraft engine and systems monitoring data to analysts on the ground. The most common system is called ACARS. (7/17) 

On March 11th, we began receiving reports that MH370's transponder signal had been lost but that the ACARS system onboard had sent multiple messages to satellites for several hours after contact had been lost. This meant the jet was still airborne and had electrical power. (8/17)

By the 11th, it was clear that this was a highly unusual situation, and that many naval and airborne units would join the search - including ours. Multiple crews,   including mine, began to be prepped to deploy to join the search and rescue (SAR) operations. (9/17)

Basically, the satcom data indicated that MH370 had been airborne for several hours after comms were lost. Calculating the time difference from initiation to reception of "handshakes" from the jet to the satellite allowed locations to plotted at set time points (10/17)

The satcom positions produced two curves - one heading north over the Andaman Sea and curving   northwest over south Asia. The other curve headed south, and then southwest, heading deep into the Indian Ocean west of Australia. The jet could have   taken either path. (11/17) 

As I recall, the first U.S. jet arrived in Malaysia - P-3C aircraft from U.S. Navy VP-46 on or about Mar. 12th. The initial search was disorganized. I recall a fellow pilot telling me they reported for the brief and were asked "where would you like to search today?" (12/17) 

We were surprised by the state of the search. So much so that there was speculation that the jet had been hijacked along the northern route and was on-deck somewhere in Pakistan or Kazakhstan. In this case, the SAR ops were for show while the situation was dealt with. (13/17)

By the 15th, there were statements from the White House and the Australian government suggesting the satellite data pointed to the southern route as being more likely. We began to prep to shift the search to the southern Indian Ocean - and my crew planned to fly off. (14/17)

We launched out of Kadena (RODN) and positioned three P-8A and multiple crews in Perth, Australia. I remember "coasting-in" over north Australia and our   maintenance crew was excited to land soon. I had to tell them we still had three hours to transit south to Perth. (15/17) 

The fleet that joined the search was very diverse. There were U.S. P-3C and P-8A, Australian AP-3C, E-7A, and C-130J, New Zealand P-3C, Malaysian C-130H, Chinese IL-76, Japanese P-1 and G550, and Korean P-3CK. The jets flew from RAAF Pearce (YPEA) and Perth Intl. (YPPH) (16/17) 

The search itself is worth writing about. The search area was extremely remote, the weather was frequently poor, and the problem of coordinating and deconflicting flight crews from many nations speaking different languages was tricky. I'll do a thread on this soon. (17/17) 