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The final minutes of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

 

New satellite technology has revealed the final minutes of MH370.

 

 

 

 

Malaysian authorities have revealed further information about the final minutes of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The authorities have revealed that the plane most likely crashed into the ocean between 8.11am and 9.15am on Saturday March 8.

The new details were discovered using new technology – from satellite provider Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Board – to trace the Boeing 777’s flight patterns.

The plane was captured by the satellite at 8.11am, swinging across the northern and southern corridors. At 8.19am, the plane was partially captured by a ground station.

And then nothing.

Authorities have concluded that by this time the plane would have been out of fuel and would have crashed into the Indian Ocean. The multinational effort to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight is treating this information as accurate and has called off the search efforts in the northern corridor.

Australia is now leading the search efforts in the southern corridor, with up to 12 aircraft continuing the search today.

The Malaysian Prime Minister tweeted:

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Previously, authorities were analysing the final 54 minutes of communications from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in order to decipher what might have happened to the plane.

Experts said that the communications between the cockpit of the plane – where pilot Captain Zaharie Shah and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul were sitting – and air traffic control were normal, except for two minor deviations.

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah

The 54 minutes’ worth of communication from MH370 followed those of a routine flight – up until the captain’s final message of “All right, good night.”

Nothing in the communications indicated that the plane had been hijacked, was about to end communications, or was in trouble in any way. But after that final message, the plane turned westward and flew for seven hours into what authorities now say was a descent into the Indian Ocean.

Adam Susz, a former Qantas pilot, told the UK’s Telegraph that the communications from the plane were “perfectly routine”.

Our thoughts are with the families of those on board MH370.

Mamamia will keep you updated as further details emerge.