MH370: THREE YEARS LATER

摘要

The Southern Indian Ocean is a lonely and remote place. Very little shipping plies its hostile waters these days; no longer do clippers sail its famous Roaring Forties. Only an occasional aircraft crosses its skies, leaving a trail of water droplets in its wake between South Africa and Western Australia (and even these routes are further to the south). It's the perfect place to disappear. Three years ago, this pristine oceanic wilderness was disturbed. As the sun rose in the east, an aircraft intruded on the morning's kaleidoscope of colors. It was a large plane, one suited to flying long distances over deep waters, a Boeing 777-200. But it didn't belong there. At first, everything seemed routine as the aircraft headed on a steady course at its cruising altitude. However, it was heading south, a route to nowhere. Inside the tanks of the aircraft, the fuel, intended to provide adequate reserves for its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was rapidly diminishing as the Boeing 777 neared its endurance limit of 7.5 hours flying time.