The mystery begins. Shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and headed to the northeast, towards Beijing. For the first 40 minutes of the flight, everything was absolutely routine. But then, at 1.21am local time, the plane vanished from the radar screens of air traffic control. In today's episode, I discuss what it means for a civilian flight to disappear from radar screens, and why the timing of the disappearance might raise a red flag for investigators. I also talk about why it took so long for authorities to realize that something had gone wrong, and why the initial assumption was that the plane most likely had crashed close to its last known position.

This assumption, of course, was wrong. But it was to prove only the first of many times the case would defy expectations.

In the course of the episode, I mention a video about MH370 made by YouTuber MenTourPilot. If you’re curious, you can find it here.

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