Malaysia Air Flight May Have Landed On Any Of 634 Runways, New Data Says

The Malaysia Air flight missing for more than a week and now believed by investigators to have been somehow stolen while in the air, could have landed on any one 634 runways in 26 different countries across Asia and in the Oceania region, according to data gathered by WNYC Radio’s data team in New York.

Of course, the data does not take into account the possibility that the plane did not land on an existing runway at all. Pilots with knowledge of how to fly a Boeing 777-200 say that a highly skilled flyer could land the plane on a highway or even a large open field.

For that matter, experts also say that the scenario now favored by investigators, that the Malaysia Air flight was deliberately flown off of its planned route and is now hidden in some unknown location, would be extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to pull off.

Investigators believe the Malaysia Air 777’s communications systems, including its transponder which allows a plane’s flight to be tracked by radar, were shut off deliberately by an unknown human hand.

United States intelligence officials said late Saturday that they are leaning toward the theory that “those in the cockpit,” in other words the pilot and/or the co-pilot of the Malaysia Air plane are themselves responsible for stealing the aircraft — and by doing so, abducting all of the 237 other passengers and crew on board.

But according to one expert interviewed by National Public Radio, even experienced 777 pilots have no idea how to shut down those communication systems which are “hardwired” into the airplane.

“You would have to go through big checklists. You would have to possibly pull the circuit breakers if you want to deactivate them,” said NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel, who said he consulted four experienced airline pilots including two 777 pilots to figure out how such a scenario could occur. “To make this happen would really require some degree of premeditation and a lot of knowledge of the aircraft.”

Be that as it may, the communication systems were indeed disabled. The plane also included a system that was not shut down that sent a signal to a privately owned satellite on a periodic basis. The satellite continued receiving signals from Malaysia Air Flight 370 for about four hours after the other two main communications systems were cut off.

The continued signal indicates that the plane was still operational and in the air during that period.

So if the plane did, in fact land — where could it have touched down?

Malaysian officials said the plane could have flown for 2,200 more miles after losing communication systems. And pilots believe that a Boeing 777-200 requires at least 5,000 feet of runway to land safely.

Going on those assumptions, WYNC used data from XPlane, which contains coordinates for thousands of runways around the world, to identify 634 runways within range of the Malaysia Air flight — any of which qualify to allow a safe landing for the plane.

Among them, such exotic locations as Gan Airport in Maldives, Dalanzadgad Airport in Mongolia and Yap Airport in Micronesia.

Earlier Saturday, however, a Malaysian investigator told the BBC that current thinking believes the Malaysia Air plane flew to somewhere along the border of China and Kyrgyzstan.