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Key moments emerge in tracking of missing Malaysia Airlines plane
By Michael Martinez, CNN updated 1:52 PM EDT, Thu March 20, 2014
12:41 a.m.: Takeoff - All tracking systems are working
Before 1:07 a.m.: Route change believed programmed into computer Investigators believe a change in flight plan was programmed into the plane's guidance system -- though not yet executed -- by this time, a senior U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation told CNN. This belief is based on data that was transmitted 12 minutes before the pilots' last voice communication, the official said.
The final voice contact, as you'll see below, was 1:19 a.m. Twelve minutes before that was 1:07 a.m.
1:07 a.m.: ACARS sends communication
1:19 a.m.: Voice check-in Someone in the cockpit makes a voice check-in with air traffic controllers as the plane is apparently leaving Malaysian airspace and entering Vietnamese airspace. Initial investigations indicate it was the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, according to Malaysia Airlines officials. "All right, good night" were the final words from the cockpit
1:21 a.m.: Transponder off The plane's transponder stops communicating at 1:21 a.m., said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation.
1:22 a.m.: Plane disappears from Thai military radar Thai military radar is tracking the plane's signal, but it disappears at 1:22 a.m., a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman told CNN.
1:28 a.m.: Thai radar picks up unknown aircraft The Thai radar station in southern Surathani province picks up an unknown aircraft flying in a direction opposite to what Flight 370 had been traveling, a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman told CNN.
About 1:30 a.m.: Civilian radar loses contact with plane Malaysian air traffic controllers in Subang, outside Kuala Lumpur, lose contact with the plane over the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and Vietnam at coordinates 06 55 15 N and 103 34 43 E.
1:37 a.m.: Expected ACARS transmission doesn't happen
2:15 a.m.: Military radar detection According to a Malaysian Air Force official, military radar tracked the plane as it passed over the small island of Pulau Perak in the Strait of Malacca. It was on the other side of the Malay Peninsula.
Military radar showed that it flew in a westerly direction back over the Malay Peninsula, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Raza said. It is then believed to have either turned northwest toward the Bay of Bengal or southwest elsewhere into the Indian Ocean.
This was the last time any civilian or military radar is known to have tracked the aircraft.
2:40 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines says it learns plane missing from radar Malaysian air traffic controllers told Malaysia Airlines at 2:40 a.m. that Flight 370 was missing from radar, according to the airline.
2:40-3:45 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines preliminary search During this time, the airline "sourced every communication possible to (Flight 370) to locate its whereabouts before declaring that it had lost contact with the aircraft," the company told CNN.
3:45 a.m.: Malaysia Airlines issues alert Malaysia Airlines said it issued a "code red" alert that the plane was missing from radar.
6:30 a.m.: Plane should have arrived in Beijing
7:24 a.m.: Public announcement of disappearance
Malaysia Airlines announces the plane's disappearance on Facebook.
8:11 a.m.: Satellite 'handshakes'
Pilot Spoke to Air Controllers After Shutoff of Data System
Timing of Report by Flights Pilot Focuses Inquiry
SEPANG, Malaysia A signaling system was disabled on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet before a pilot spoke to air traffic control without mentioning trouble, a senior Malaysian official said on Sunday, reinforcing theories that one of the pilots may have been involved in diverting the plane and adding urgency to the investigation of their pasts and possible motivations.
