BY AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 8, 2014: MH370 disappears from the radar 40 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board
April 8, 2014: An Australian ship hears two signals consistent with MH370’s flight recorders in waters west of Australia. ‘I’m now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft, in the not-too-distant future,’ search coordinator Angus Houston says
April 28, 2014: The air search ends after failing to see a single piece of debris in 4.6 million square km of ocean
Jan 29, 2015: Malaysia formally declares MH370 an accident and says all 239 people on board are presumed dead
March 8, 2015: Australia’s then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott doubles the area of the underwater search to 120,000 square km
July 29, 2015: A wing part known as a flaperon found on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar, is the first piece of the plane to be recovered. Since then, 27 pieces have been found
July 28, 2016: Data from flight captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s home simulator shows it was used to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, bolstering speculation he ditched the plane in a premeditated plot
Dec 20, 2016: The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says MH370 is unlikely to be in the 120,000 sq km search area is more likely in an area immediately to the north
Jan 17, 2017: Search is called off
Jan 19, 2017: Malaysia offers cash rewards to private parties for ‘substantial information or evidence’ about the location of the wreckage
April 21, 2017: The CSIRO releases a report saying the most likely location of the jet is a new 25,000 sq km area, north of the original 120,000 sq km search area
January 3, 2018: The search resumes after Malaysia enters into a ‘no find, no fee’ arrangement with US company Ocean Infinity, with up to $70 million offered if the wreckage is found
March 3, 2018: Malaysia says the new search will likely end in June, as families of passengers mark four years since the plane disappeared
May 29, 2018: Second search is called off
July 30, 2018: Investigators release what was flagged as the final report into the aviation mystery, but say the search may resume and it cannot be the final report until wreckage is found. They said they did not believe the pilot was behind the change in direction and ‘unlawful interference by a third party’ could not be ruled out