At least 19 aircraft have gone missing in the 21st century, excluding the newest potential case, involving a Bering Air Cessna 208 Caravan
, which disappeared on February 6.
Missing aircraft
Throughout the 21st century, there have been various cases of primarily small aircraft disappearing in various, often remote, locations worldwide. Other examples include a Boeing 727 disappearing from an Angolan airport in May 2023.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the Boeing 727
, registered as N844AA, suddenly taxied onto the runway and departed Quatro de Fevereiro Luanda International Airport (LAD). The aircraft, which had its transponder turned off, disappeared without a trace.
Ch-aviation data showed that American Airlines operated the 727 between May 1975 and August 2001. Several months later, IRS Airlines, a now-defunct Nigerian carrier, took brief ownership of the aircraft before it ended up in Angola.
Other cases include but are not exclusive to an Angolan Antonov An-26 disappearing in 2000, a Peruvian Cessna 208 Caravan that is still at large (its pilots were released by the hijackers) in 2010, and a British Aerospace 125 private jet, operated by Senegalair, going missing after a potential mid-air collision in 2015. As collated on Wikipedia, the list of aircraft reported missing in the 21st century includes:
|
Date |
Aircraft |
Presumed Location |
People Missing |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jan 3rd, 2000 |
Antonov An-26 |
Angola |
8 |
|
May 25th, 2003 |
Boeing 727 |
Unknown |
2+ |
|
October 16th, 2008 |
GippsAero GA8 Airvan |
Australia |
1 |
|
November 1st, 2008 |
Beechcraft King Air |
Guyana |
3 |
|
December 15th, 2008 |
Britten-Norman Trislander |
Atlantic Ocean |
12 |
|
May 21st, 2010 |
Beechcraft King Air |
Angola |
3 |
|
June 10th, 2010 |
Cessna Grand Caravan |
Unknown |
0 |
|
January 2nd, 2011 |
Robinson R44 |
Argentina |
1 |
|
June 8th, 2012 |
Piper PA-31 |
Unknown |
1 |
|
April 7th, 2013 |
Beechcraft 1900 |
Atlantic Ocean |
1 |
|
March 8th, 2014 |
Boeing 777-200ER |
Indian Ocean |
239 |
|
December 28th, 2014 |
Britten-Norman Trislander |
Guyana |
2 |
|
September 5th, 2015 |
British Aerospace 125 |
Atlantic Ocean |
7 |
|
June 8th, 2017 |
Piper PA-28 |
Canada |
2 |
|
December 2nd, 2018 |
Embraer EMB 720 |
Brazil |
8 |
|
February 1st, 2019 |
Piper PA-32 |
Atlantic Ocean |
1 |
|
April 9th, 2019 |
F-35 |
Pacific Ocean |
1 |
|
September 13th, 2019 |
MBB Bo 105 |
Russia |
3 |
|
April 2nd, 2022 |
Piper PA-28 |
English Channel |
2 |
However, the most high-profile disappearance involves a Malaysia Airlines
Boeing 777-200ER, registered as 9M-MRO, which was operating flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur International Airport
(KUL) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK).
Photo: ahmad.faizal | Shutterstock
In a report published by the Malaysian Ministry of Transport (MOT) in July 2018, the Ministry concluded that the 777-200ER
went missing after being handed over from Malaysian Air Traffic Control (ATC) to Vietnamese ATC.
“It should be recognised that there is a significant lack of evidence available to the Team to determine with any certainty the reasons that the aircraft diverted from its filed flight plan route. However, the change in flight path likely resulted from manual inputs.”
The MOT emphasized that still, without examining the aircraft wreckage and the flight data (FDR) and cockpit voice recorders (CVR), it was unable to identify any plausible aircraft or systems failure that could have led to the diversion from the flight path.
Related
10 Years On: 5 Key Parts Of The Malaysia Airlines MH370 Mystery
The final fate of the 239 occupants of MH370 remains shrouded in mystery.
Preventing disappearances
Following the MH370
disappearance, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) organized a special Multidisciplinary Meeting on Global Flight Tracking (MMGFT) to propose recommendations, including pursuing faster global aircraft tracking. As such, stakeholders initiated the Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS) concept of operations at the meeting.
Photo: Bjoern Wylezich | Shutterstock
The most recent development was the launch of Location of an Aircraft in Distress Recovery (LADSR). According to the ICAO, the system enables airlines to meet the organization’s requirements to share position information of a flight in distress that is available to the appropriate organizations, including the search and rescue (SAR) community.
Related
Malaysia Accepts Ocean Infinity “No Find, No Fee” Proposal To Launch New Search For MH370 Wreckage
The new search operation will likely launch in early 2025.
Disappearance in Alaska
On February 6, a Bering Air Cessna 208 Caravan, registered as N321BA, was operating flight 8E445 from Unalakleet Airport (UNK) to Nome Airport (OME) when it disappeared off the radar around 40 minutes after its departure from Unalakleet. Ten people were onboard the aircraft. According to the ICAO, an aircraft is only deemed missing “when the official search has been terminated and the wreckage has not been located”. As such, while this Cessna is currently unaccounted for, it is not yet missing in the same sense as the flights mentioned above.
Full story:
Bering Air Cessna Caravan With 10 People Onboard Vanishes In Alaska
The aircraft’s position went missing offshore, prompting the US Coast Guard to initiate a search.
