After Three Years and No Answers, Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is Suspended
After three long years, the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has ended, but not because the missing aircraft was found; rather, because it was not.
After searching the 46,000-square mile search area in the massive Indian Ocean and finding no trace of the plane, the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) in Australia has decided that it is time to suspend the search, according to a variety of news outlets, including USA Today.
In a statement, the Center said, ���The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness.���
���Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft.���
The search has been a joint effort of Australia, Malaysia, and China.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. The aircraft, a Boeing 777, made what turned out to be its final contact ��� a standard transmission - with air traffic control roughly 40 minutes after takeoff over the South China Sea. Shortly thereafter, the plane���s transponder stops communicating, and that was followed by spotty appearances of the plane on various radar systems, and, eventually, no sign of the aircraft at all. Flight 370 was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers.
While acknowledging the ���tremendous effort of the nations involved thus far,��� Voice370, a support group for the relatives of those on the flight, expressed disappointment over the decision to suspend the search, as well as at the refusal of the JACC to broaden the search zone as recommended by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau last month.
���In our view, extending the search to the new area defined by the experts is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety. Commercial Planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace," Voice370 said in a statement.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
