Search Halted for Missing MH370

The underwater search for MH370 is now at an end, according to various media reports, without any luck finding the final resting place of the downed aircraft. I had hoped that this would wrap up another way. This is possibly the greatest Aviation mystery in the history of manned flight, and if not number one, then certainly among Amelia Earhart and Flight 19. Regardless of where you might place MH370 amongst the larger mysteries of Aviation history, leaving this mystery unsolved has implications on everyday flight operations that are conducted over open oceans with limited or no radar coverage.

A Boeing 777, one of the larger commercial aircraft, goes missing and with vague certainty investigators can surmise that it's somewhere on the bottom of the South Indian Ocean. The topography and depth make it hard to just "have a look". Yet without the Flight Data Recorder or Cockpit Voice Recorder, no motive or actual human actions can be definitively looked at; leaving only speculation to match up with the known flight path of the aircraft. Was it pilot error due to hypoxia after a catestrophic event that caused a pilot in limited mental capacity to steer a doomed aircraft away from a civilian populace and out to sea? Maybe it was pilot suicide? Is there a way for a ground station to override manual flight control and communication systems and steer a helpless crew to their deaths?

Nothing, not even the assurance of answers, can be guaranteed even if the aircraft is in fact found, but our greatest hope in establishing any clear answers just might lie with the wreckage. It is important for investigators to be able to tell the story of MH370 in it's entirety in order to understand it's actual course of events and assist the airline industry in ensuring that a flight like that won't ever happen again. Speculation, no matter how great a case one might make, can never replace actual fact based analysis in mitigating future events.

That's my two cents; a quote from a CNN report can be found below.

Hong Kong (CNN) The underwater search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been suspended nearly three years after the plane vanished without a trace over the Indian Ocean, according to a joint statement from Chinese, Australian and Malaysian officials.

The three countries had been leading the search for MH370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

"Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," the statement said.

For more information please see the entire CNN News Article.

"I will say that I cannot imagine any condition which could cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that." - Captain EJ Smith, RMS Titanic