The Hunt for MH370
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witness marks: In air crash investigation, damage marks on aircraft wreckage like cracks, tears, smudges, burns and scratches that provide clues to what caused an accident.
9M-MRO: The registration of the Boeing 777 which flew MH370.
FURTHER READING
MH370: Mystery Solved. This concise book, by Canadian veteran pilot and air crash investigator Larry Vance, provides a forensic and highly engaging analysis of the factual evidence surrounding the disappearance of MH370, concluding the aircraft was flown to the end and ditched. It’s a must for anyone following the debate. For more information, see: hvsaviation.com
MH370 Safety Investigation Report. This study by the Malaysian government’s ICAO Annex 13 safety investigation team, while controversial in its conclusions, provides a wealth of information about the flight, the circumstances surrounding it and analysis of what’s known. It comes with a huge array of diagrams, maps and appendices. It can be downloaded at: mh370.mot.gov.my
Australian Transport Safety Bureau documents. The ATSB published several reports, maps, photographs, and many bulletins and other material over the three years it was involved in the hunt for MH370. They can be found at: atsb.gov.au/mh370/ In particular, the ATSB’s final report, designated on the web page under ‘reports’ as ‘The Operation Search for MH370’, and titled Final ATSB Search Report: The Operational Search for MH370, provides a comprehensive account of its failed effort.
The Australian and The Weekend Australian. The national daily has led media coverage worldwide on MH370, and will continue to do so through its network of investigative reporters, aviation writers, foreign correspondents and professional aviator commentators. We now have a page dedicated to MH370 including news stories, features and comment. It can be found at: theaustralian.com.au/topics/mh370
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The people who contributed to this book are all, in their own ways, hunters for MH370.
Angus Houston coordinated the surface search and gave me valuable insights into the swings of hope and heartbreak.
Others have used their extensive knowledge and experience to provide a reality check on the search, including pilots Mike Keane, Byron Bailey and Simon Hardy. They devoted considerable time to help deepen my understanding of the disappearance of the aircraft and aviation generally. So too did Larry Vance, a great air crash investigator who has an extraordinary ability to make the techniques of his profession understandable to a general audience.
The editors of The Australian, in particular Helen Trinca, Paul Whittaker, John Lehmann and Chris Dore, showed great journalistic professionalism and determination in resisting the repeated efforts by the ATSB and the JACC to shut me down in my pursuit of the truth.
The team at Pan Macmillan – Danielle Walker, Georgia Webb and Angus Fontaine – are a talented and enthusiastic trio who were a pleasure to work with.
I am also grateful to other individuals and organisations who granted permissions to make use of their material, including my colleague on The Australian Amanda Hodge, and British film group Knickerbockerglory.
One must recognise close ones who encouraged me in this pursuit and kept my spirits high, including Christina, Ben, and the delightful, coquettish Lisbon.
And of course, there are those for whom the need to find answers to the MH370 mystery is most acute: Danica Weeks, Jeanette Maguire and Teresa Liddle, who let me into their unique, stoic world.
About Ean Higgins
Ean Higgins grew up in Texas and Quebec, before moving to Australia. He has worked as a reporter, section editor, chief-of-staff and foreign correspondent for Australia’s three national newspapers over nearly four decades. He was the Australian Financial Review’s first New Zealand correspondent, then moved to the Fairfax group’s investigative newspaper Times on Sunday. Higgins joined The Australian in 1988 where among other roles he served as Foreign News Editor, Inquirer Editor, Europe correspondent and Sydney Bureau Chief. In recent years he has returned to reporting at The Australian, focusing on crime, corruption and politics. Having learned to fly as a young man, he also has a long interest in aviation, in recent years leading the world media’s coverage of the MH370 mystery. Higgins lives and works in Sydney.
First published 2019 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Ean Higgins 2019
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