![]() But in fact the interruption is not centered on the equator, as it would have had to be had it been due to a bisection from another geostationary satellite). ![]() (It had previously been mooted that the interruption in the arcs was because another Inmarsat satellite would have picked up MH370’s ping had the plane been that far east. So in practice, the entire orange ping arc inside the white range circle is a valid search location. This, however, assumes that MH370 would henceforth fly in a straight line, which it obviously had not been doing. UPDATE March 17, 17:45 UTC: As per this blog post on TMF associates, the interruption in the arc near the Gulf of Thailand is due to the Malaysian government’s own calculations that MH370 flying at its slowest possible speed in a straight line would not be in this region. Given the cruising speed of a Boeing 777-200 at 905km/h, that circle depicts the distance MH370 would have flown in just under 5 hours from there (assuming a straight line).Īs new information becomes available, I will try to update this post as well as the KML file. That circle’s radius turns out to be 4,400km. These six points together allow us to reconstruct the flight path for the first two hours or so, depicted as a path in Google Earth.įinally, I’ve added a second circle (in white on Google Earth): This circle has the IGREX waypoint as its center, and it bisect the two furthest points on the two Inmarsat arcs depicted in the diagram. To these coordinates, we can of course add the coordinates of KUL, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (N2.73° E101.71°) and also the last recorded position of MH370 on Flight Aware, a public flight tracking service, which placed the plane almost exactly half-way between KUL and IGARI. I then converted these to decimal degrees before adding them to Google Earth. The coordinates for these waypoints (and some amazing maps to go with them) can be found on SkyVector: ![]() On March 14, sources described to Reuters the details of Malaysian military radar data, which saw MH370 follow specific waypoints as it veered across the Malaysian peninsula and then set course for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, before going out of radar range. I also added the points demarcating the start and end of the two arc lengths, as depicted on the diagram. Using this KML circle generator, I then recreated the circle from the diagram (in orange in Google Earth), which turns out to have a radius of 4,750km. This is the exact view that satellite has of Earth: Looking up possible Inmarsat satellites on Wikipedia led to one exact match: Inmarsat-3 F1, which sits 35,700km above the equator at E64.5°. That’s why right below the satellite the angle is 90°.) ![]() ( According to the experts on the Professional Pilots’ Rumour Network, the degree lines shown in the diagram depict how high above the horizon the satellite is when viewed from that location. The information, released by the Malaysian government, did the rounds of Twitter (and the NYT) in this form: The most recent source of data was released on March 15, from an Inmarsat satellite in geostationary orbit above the Indian Ocean, which tracked a final ping from MH370 to an arc of possible locations on Earth. ![]() Here’s the resulting KMZ file for Google Earth. I felt I could contribute by adding these as accurately as possible to Google Earth, for others to use. Now over a week into the mystery, more specific data has begun to emerge regarding MH370’s apparent flight path and possible last locations, from two distinct sources. While RadarBox is primarily a flight tracking site, you can download its mobile app to keep your eyes on your upcoming flight while you're bored at the airport.Īnd if having Wi-Fi during your flight is also important, read our article about in-flight Wi-Fi and if it's worth it before you board the plane and take out your wallet.The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has had me glued to the Internet. What's unique about RadarBox is that it has a Playback feature that lets you replay past flights if you ever feel the need to. So, spotting an Airbus A380 on the map shouldn't be hard at all. Spotters can check details like the altitude a plane's flying at and its speed, along with other information like aircraft make and model. While it's free to use, you'll need to pay a small monthly fee ($2.45 per month) to unlock all its features.Īs you'd typically expect from a flight tracking site or app, you can filter flights by company, airport, and flight number. AirNav's RadarBox is next on the list, which is pretty accurate when it comes to tracking not just commercial flights but also military aircraft and helicopters. ![]()
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