MH370: The Plane That Disappeared

Last updated

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
MH370 TV Poster.png
Release poster
Genre
Directed byLouise Malkinson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes3
Production
Executive producers
  • Fiona Stourton
  • Sam Maynard
ProducerHarry Hewland
Running time91 minutes
Production company Raw TV
Original release
Network Netflix
Release8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)

MH370: The Plane That Disappeared is a British docuseries released on Netflix and directed by Louise Malkinson about the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. [1]

Contents

Many reviewers took exception to the series' presentation of the theories surrounding the loss of the aircraft, concluding that Netflix provided a platform for conspiracy theory proponents. [2] [3]

Premise

On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and all 239 passengers onboard disappeared without a trace. After ten years, family members, scientists, investigators, and journalists are still actively seeking explanations. [1] The series proposes three mutually contradictory conspiracy theories in an attempt to explain the plane's disappearance. [4]

Episodes

No.TitleDirected by  [5] Original release date  [5]
1"The Pilot"Louise Malkinson8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)
2"The Hijack"Louise Malkinson8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)
3"The Intercept"Louise Malkinson8 March 2023 (2023-03-08)

Release

Netflix began streaming all three episodes of the docuseries on the ninth anniversary of the disappearance, 8 March 2023. [1] [6] [7]

Episode removal in Vietnam

The deputy spokeswoman of the Vietnamese foreign ministry Pham Thu Hằng stated that the first episode of the series inaccurately claimed that Vietnam did not cooperate in international efforts to search for the missing plane. [8] She said,

"...the documentary MH370: The Plane That Disappeared ... does not accurately reflect the efforts of the Vietnamese authorities, causing discontent in the Vietnamese public opinion. We ask that the producers and filmmakers accurately portray Vietnam's contributions in the search and rescue for the plane and to remove or amend inaccurate information." [9]

Hằng stressed that in the immediate aftermath of the disappearance of the airliner, in March 2014 the Vietnamese authorities prepared a response plan, shared information, coordinated with Malaysia and other countries to conduct a wide-scale search and rescue. Vietnam sent ships and planes along with personnel to join the search with international forces in its waters. These efforts were acknowledged by the international community and reported on by the press in Vietnam and abroad. [10]

On 13 April 2023, Netflix removed the first episode of the docuseries from its service in Vietnam. [11]

Reception

Rohan Naahar of The Indian Express called the series "Ludicrous", saying that it "deliberately peddles conspiracy theories". [12]

Nick Schager of The Daily Beast said the series details 3 "dubious" explanations for the plane's disappearance, and "wallows in murky and absurd waters" but provides "illuminating context for why some chose to believe the unbelievable". [13]

Meera Suresh of The Week said the series was "A lame attempt that pushes conspiracy theories", reporting that "the biggest of all the mysteries would be why Netflix offered these theorists a platform to peddle their illogical, unscientific and outlandish ideas. This three-part docuseries is nothing but a podium for baseless theories offering cheap thrill at the cost of the poor souls who went missing and their relatives." The review also pointed out problems with the conspiracy theories highlighted in each episode, as follows:

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called the series compelling, concluding its review with "So many of the theories we see explored in MH370: The Plane That Disappeared are outlandish, not fully formed, difficult to believe. And yet... we know something bizarre and tragic occurred." [14]

Philip Sledge of CinemaBlend reported that "while you shouldn’t go in expecting a great deal of answers, the questions posed throughout add a level of intrigue to the mysterious story." It also said that the series rating of TV-14 differs from most true crime documentaries on Netflix due to mature themes and language. [15]

Joel Keller of Decider said the conspiracy theories presented "are well-presented, with [investigative reporter Jeff Wise] being the 'expert' that anchors all of those theories into some aspect of reality." It concluded "your enjoyment of this docuseries is really going to hinge on whether you bought into the theories posited by [investigative reporter] Wise, his fellow journalists and aviation experts. That’s really the only way that the viewing experience doesn’t become a frustrating rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and little else." [16]

In a Skeptical Inquirer online review, JD Sword details the flaws in the series, and describes some of the people highlighted in the episodes as "storytellers shamelessly profiting off tragedy and pushing baseless conspiracy theories." Sword concludes that the series is not solving a mystery, but just "telling a never-ending story". [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flying Tiger Line Flight 739</span> 1962 aircraft disappearance

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 (FT739/FTL739) was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner that disappeared on March 16, 1962, over the western Pacific Ocean. The aircraft, which had been chartered by the United States Army, was transporting ninety-six military passengers from Travis Air Force Base in California to Tan Son Nhut International Airport in Saigon, South Vietnam. After refueling at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the Super Constellation disappeared while en route to Clark Air Base in the Philippines. All 107 aboard were declared missing and presumed dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kudahuvadhoo</span> Inhabited island in Indian Ocean, Maldives

Kudahuvadhoo is one of the inhabited islands of Dhaalu Atoll in the Maldives. It is also the capital of Dhaalu Atoll.

Nigel Cawthorne is a British freelance writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor.

Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company, operating as VietJet Air or Vietjet, is a Vietnamese low-cost airline based in Hanoi. It was the first privately owned airline to be established in Vietnam, being granted its initial approval to operate by the Vietnamese Minister of Finance in November 2007. As of its launch in December 2011, it became the second private airline to offer domestic service in Vietnam, as well as the fifth airline overall to offer civil domestic flights. VietJet Air is owned by Sovico Holdings, HDBank, other organisational investors, and individual stakeholders.

Perak Island is a small rocky island which constitutes the westernmost extremity of Malaysian territory. Its diameter is around 200 meters. The island is a sandstone rock that rises from the Strait of Malacca. It has a steep cliff with a height of more than 100m.

WSPR is an acronym for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter. It is a protocol, implemented in a computer program, used for weak-signal radio communication between amateur radio operators. The protocol was designed, and a program written initially, by Joe Taylor, K1JT. The software code is now open source and is developed by a small team. The program is designed for sending and receiving low-power transmissions to test propagation paths on the MF and HF bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 in Malaysia</span> List of events

The following lists events from 2014 in Malaysia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysia Airlines Flight 370</span> Passenger aircraft flight that went missing in 2014

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China. It has not been determined what caused its disappearance.

Tomnod was a project owned by Colorado-based satellite company DigitalGlobe that used crowdsourcing to identify objects and places in satellite images. It was announced Tomnod was no longer using crowdsourcing of images as of 1 August 2019.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on 8 March 2014, after departing from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board. Malaysia's then Prime Minister, Najib Razak, stated that the aircraft's flight ended somewhere in the Indian Ocean, but no further explanation was given at the time. Despite searches finding debris considered with strong certainty to originate from the crash, official announcements were questioned by many critics, and several theories about the disappearance were proposed. Some of these were described as conspiracy theories.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) is an Australian government agency which was established on 30 March 2014 to coordinate search and recovery operations for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on 8 March 2014 and was soon thereafter determined to have ended in the Southern Indian Ocean, within Australia's concurrent aeronautical and maritime search and rescue regions. The JACC is an agency within Australia's Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, headed by Judith Zielke. It does not perform any search, recovery, or investigation activities, but coordinates the search effort and serves as a primary point of contact for information about the search for media and families of Flight 370 passengers.

The Vanishing Act: The Untold Story of the Missing Malaysian Plane is an unreleased English-language feature film from India inspired by the events surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to be directed by Rupesh Paul.

The Boeing Uninterruptible Autopilot is a system designed to take control of a commercial aircraft away from the pilot or flight crew in the event of a hijacking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370</span> Search for a missing Boeing 777 in the southern Indian Ocean

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a scheduled international passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport on 8 March 2014, prompted a large, multinational search in Asia and the southern Indian Ocean that became the most expensive search in aviation history. Analysis of communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat by multiple agencies has concluded that the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 satellite communications</span> Overview of MH370s satellite-transmitted messages

The analysis of communications between Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and Inmarsat's satellite telecommunication network provide the primary source of information about Flight 370's location and possible in-flight events after it disappeared from military radar coverage at 02:22 Malaysia Standard Time (MYT) on 8 March 2014, one hour after communication with air traffic control ended and the aircraft departed from its planned flight path while over the South China Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370</span>

The timeline of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lists events associated with the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370—a scheduled, commercial flight operated by Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport on 8 March 2014 with 227 passengers and 12 crew. Air traffic control lost contact with Flight 370 less than an hour into the flight, after which it was tracked by military radar crossing the Malay Peninsula and was last located over the Andaman Sea. Analysis of automated communications between the aircraft and a satellite communications network has determined that the aircraft flew into the southern Indian Ocean, before communication ended shortly after 08:19 (UTC+8:00). The disappearance initiated a multi-national search effort that became the most expensive search in aviation history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide by pilot</span> Aviation disaster in which a pilot intentionally crashes the aircraft

Suicide by pilot is an aviation event in which a pilot deliberately crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft as a suicide act, with or without the intention of causing harm to passengers on board or people on the ground. If others are killed, it may be considered a type of murder–suicide. It is suspected to have been a possible cause in several commercial flight crashes and has been confirmed as the cause in other instances. Determining the motives of pilots can be challenging for crash investigators, as pilots may intentionally disable recording devices or engage in other actions to impede future investigations. Consequently, definitively proving pilot suicide can be difficult.

<i>Flight MH370: The Mystery</i>

Flight MH370: The Mystery is a 2014 book by the American-born-British author Nigel Cawthorne concerning the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Houssenaly Zahid Raza was an Honorary Malaysian Consul in Madagascar, who was murdered on 24 August 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Faucett Perú Boeing 727 disappearance</span> Airliner disappearance

On 11 September 1990, a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 airliner, registered OB-1303, disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 180 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada. The aircraft was being ferried back from Malta to Peru after having been leased to Air Malta, and had six crewmembers on board as well as ten passengers consisting of airline employees and their families. The last contact with the crew was a distress message stating that the aircraft had run out of fuel and that they were preparing to ditch. The aircraft was hundreds of miles off course at the time. Nothing more was ever heard from the flight, and no trace of the aircraft or any of the occupants has since been found.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Explored in New Film 9 Years After Plane Vanished: Watch the Trailer". Yahoo! . 15 February 2023. Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  2. ↑ Zhou, Naaman (6 March 2019). "MH370: five years of theories about one of aviation's greatest mysteries". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Jensen, Erin. "Netflix's Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 doc: Theories, a timeline of plane's vanishing". USA TODAY. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 Suresh, Meera (10 March 2023). "'MH 370: The Plane That Disappeared' review: A lame attempt that pushes conspiracy theories". The Week . Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Shows A-Z – MH370: The Plane That Disappeared on Netflix". The Futon Critic . Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  6. ↑ Hackney, Jake (14 February 2023). "Netflix MH370: The Plane That Disappeared – everything you need to know". Manchester Evening News . Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  7. ↑ "Netflix's new documentary about the disappearance of flight MH370 to premiere in March". Lifestyle Asia . 17 February 2023. Archived from the original on 21 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  8. ↑ VnExpress. "Vietnam wants misinformation removed from MH370 doc - VnExpress International". VnExpress International – Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "Việt Nam criticises inaccurate information in Netflix's MH370 documentary". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Netflix removes 1st episode of docuseries about missing MH370 plane following Vietnam government's requirement". Tuoi Tre News. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "Inaccurate content about Vietnam in MH370 documentary removed from Netflix". VOV.VN. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  12. ↑ Naahar, Rohan (11 March 2023). "MH370 The Plane That Disappeared review: Ludicrous Netflix documentary deliberately peddles conspiracy theories". indianexpress.com. The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  13. ↑ Schager, Nick (8 March 2023). "Netflix Docuseries Charts 3 Dubious Paths to MH370's Disappearance: Off Course". thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Roeper, Richard (7 March 2023). "'MH370: The Plane That Disappeared' weighs the theories on Malaysian jet's fate". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun Times. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Sledge, Philip (8 March 2023). "MH370: The Plane That Disappeared: 5 Things To Know Before You Watch The Netflix Docuseries". CinemaBlend . Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  16. ↑ Keller, Joel (8 March 2023). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'MH370: The Plane That Disappeared' On Netflix, A Docuseries That Posits Theories On The Malaysia Airlines Flight That Vanished In 2014". Decider.com. Decider. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  17. ↑ Sword, JD (19 April 2023). "MH370: Solving a Mystery vs. Telling a Story". Skepticalinquirer.org. Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.