Candace Chanbers
Staff Writer
For almost two weeks, Flight 370 has been missing from airline radars. The Malaysia Airlines Flight disappeared on March 8, 2014. Carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, the international passenger flight has been the topic of concern as 26 nations attempt to figure the whereabouts of the aircraft.
According to the news network, CNN, “All right, good night” was the last saying given by the plane’s co-pilot as he signed off to air traffic controllers at 1:19 a.m. The transponder was switched off at 1:21 a.m. and all contact was lost with the plane at 1:30 a.m. More than seven hours after takeoff, a satellite made connections with the plane at 8:11 a.m. The plane has been missing since then.
The disappearance has been called “a mystery” and “strange”. There have been many questions concerning the changing of the flight direction, the motives of the pilots, the absence of cell phone signals, and why the aircraft’s signals are unable to be transmitted onto radars.
Terrorism or hijacking has been a possibility for the sudden disappearance, but background checks have been performed on all passengers and crew members, except for those from Russia and Ukraine. The background checks included the Chinese passengers, since 153 out of the 227 passengers were from China or Hong Kong. No terrorist affiliations have been discovered.
Most recently, possible debris was spotted in the Indian Ocean, but there have been no further leads. The search for Flight 370 is a race against time, since the batteries in the flight-data and cockpit recorders will cease to send out pings in 14 days. Many families are anxious and desperate for continued progress in the case and for the return for their loved ones.
Although occurring many miles away, some Jackson State University students have been impacted by the flight’s disappearance.
Maleigha Watts, a sophomore elementary education major from Jackson Miss. said, “Honestly, I refuse to go overseas because of that [the plane’s disappearance]. I feel that they should be more cautious about these pilots. I’m very, very cautious about that.”
Joshua Millsap, a freshman biology/pre-med major from Madison, Miss. said, “I think the pilots had something to do with it. That’s just weird that planes are missing and untraceable. It’s not in the ocean.”
Greg Linzy, a freshman physical education major from Vicksburg, Miss. state the missing plane has had an effect on his decisions to travel by flight.
“I don’t want to fly. I’ve never flown before, but I don’t think it’s a good experience. It’s too much going on,” said Linzy.
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