On 8 March 2014, a Boeing 777 aircraft, operated as Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370), was lost during a flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing in the People’s Republic of China, carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers.
Under Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation “Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation”, Malaysia, as the state of registry and operation of MH370, had investigative responsibility for the missing aircraft. At the request of the Malaysian Government, the Australian Government accepted responsibility for initial search and recovery operations in the southern part of the Indian Ocean on 17 March 2014.
In accordance with paragraphs 5.23 and 5.24 of Annex 13, on 1 April 2014, the ATSB appointed an accredited representative to the investigation, along with a number of advisors (ATSB investigators). These investigators’ work was undertaken as part of an External Investigation (AE-2014-054) under the provisions of the Australian Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. The ATSB accredited representative and advisors provided support to the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 (MIASIT).
On 31 March 2014, the Malaysian Government accepted the Government of Australia’s offer to lead the search and recovery operation in the southern Indian Ocean in support of the Malaysian accident investigation. On 28 April 2014, the surface search for MH370 coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was concluded and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) assumed responsibility for conducting the underwater search for the aircraft.
ATSB assistance and expertise was provided through the accredited representative mechanism of Annex 13, under AE-2014-054.On 2 July 2018, the MIASIT submitted its investigation report to the Malaysian Ministry of Transport (MOT). It was released on 30 July 2018, at which point the ATSB’s work in support of Malaysia’s Annex 13 investigation was finalised.
The ATSB AE-2014-054 investigation produced the following ATSB reports:
The Operational Search for MH370
On 8 March 2014, a Boeing 777 aircraft operated as Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370) was lost during a flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing in the People’s Republic of China carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers. The search for the missing aircraft commenced on 8 March 2014 and continued for 1,046 days until 17 January 2017 when it was suspended in accordance with a decision made by a tripartite of Governments, being Malaysia, Australia and the People’s Republic of China. [ Download PDF 
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CSIRO: The search for MH370 and ocean surface drift – Part IV
This short report re-examines the question of how effective the March-April surface search was for ‘ruling out’ segments of the 7th arc as being the location of MH370. [ Download PDF ]
CSIRO: The search for MH370 and ocean surface drift – Part III
This is the CSIRO's third report describing oceanographic drift modelling work done in aid of the search for 9M-MRO (the Boeing 777 aircraft flying Malaysia Airlines service MH370 on 8 March 2014). [ Download PDF ]
CSIRO: The search for MH370 and ocean surface drift – Part II
This report explores the possibility that an improved ability to simulate the path taken by the flaperon across the Indian Ocean might yield an improved estimate of the location of the remains of the aircraft on the sea floor. [ Download PDF ]
CSIRO: The search for MH370 and ocean surface drift – Part I
This report details the results of a comprehensive attempt to use drift modelling to inform efforts to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 (registered 9M-MRO). It differs from earlier attempts to do this in several important ways, which, along with other developments, have enabled it to come up with a location of the aircraft that is much more precise than we thought was possible. [ Download PDF ]
Geoscience: Summary of imagery analyses for non-natural objects in support of the search for Flight MH370
Geoscience Australia (GA) was asked to assist the Australian Transport Safety Authority (ATSB) in the analysis of a set of four Airbus PLEIADES 1A images. GA received these images for analysis on the 23rd March 2017. [ Download PDF ]
First Principles Review
This report documents the proceedings and outcomes of the First Principles Review meeting on the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 held in Canberra from 2 to 4 November 2016. Participants consisted of experts in data processing, satellite communications, accident investigation, aircraft performance, flight operations, sonar data, acoustic data and oceanography. The purpose of the meeting was to reassess and validate existing evidence and to identify any new analysis that may assist in identifying the location of the missing aircraft. [ Download PDF ]
Search and debris examination update
The MH370 Search and debris examination update provides an update to the MH370 search area definition described in previous ATSB reports. It comprises further analysis of satellite data, additional end of flight simulations, a summary of the analysis of the right outboard wing flap, and preliminary results from the enhanced debris drift modelling. [ Download PDF ]
The DSTG analysis of Inmarsat data was published in the paper, The Use of Burst Frequency Offsets in the Search for MH370.
Debris examination reports
Debris examination reports including the identification of items recovered from beaches in South Africa, Mauritius and the Tanzanian coast can be found in the 'Debris reports' tab within the scrolling ribbon navigation towards the top of this page.
Definition of Underwater Search Areas
The MH370 Search Strategy Working Group conducted ongoing analysis of data to glean any information that might assist in locating the aircraft. To this end, the ATSB engaged the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) to provide expert analysis of available data relating to MH370. The analysis used models of the Inmarsat satellite communications data, aircraft dynamics and meteorological data to determine likely flight paths which were in turn subject to validation experiments to ensure they aligned with actual flight data. [ Download PDF ]
The DSTG analysis has been published in the book, Bayesian Methods in the Search for MH370
An updated version of the ATSB report was released on 10 December 2015 to clarify that the ‘power loss’ mentioned on page 9 occurring between 17:07:48 and 18:03:41 was referring to the Satellite Data Unit (SDU) only. The SDU did not respond to an automatic interrogation from the Ground Earth System (GES) at 18:03:41 UTC, although it resumed working at 18:25:27.
Definition of Underwater Search Areas
The location of the search areas was guided by continuing and innovative analysis by a Joint Investigation Team of the flight and satellite-communications data. This analysis was supplemented by other information provided to ATSB during this period. This included possible underwater locator beacon and hydrophone acoustic detections. [ Download PDF ]
Flight Path Analysis Update
Refinements to the analysis of the flight and satellite-communications data gave greater certainty about when the aircraft turned south into the Indian Ocean. This analysis was published to supplement the previously released report MH370 – Definition of Underwater Search Areas. [ Download PDF ]