MH370 Burst Frequency Offset Analysis and Implications on Descent Rate at End-of-Flight

摘要

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 veered off course unexpectedly during ascheduled trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on the 7th of March 2014. MH370 wastracked via military radar into the Malacca Straits and, after disappearingfrom radar, was subsequently believed to have turned south towards the southernIndian Ocean before crashing approximately 6 hours later. This articlediscusses specifically the analysis of burst frequency offset (BFO) metadatafrom the SATCOM messages. It is shown that the BFOs corresponding to the lasttwo SATCOM messages from the plane at 00:19:29Z and 00:19:37Z 8th March 2014suggest that flight MH370 was rapidly descending and accelerating downwardswhen message exchange with the ground station ceased.