Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Satellite Company Says There’s ‘Uncertainty’ Around Final Location of Plane

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The satellite company that has been instrumental in providing information about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has said there’s nothing certain about the final location of the plane, which disappeared in March.

The company, Inmarsat, published a report in the Journal of Navigation, which admits “there remains significant uncertainty in the final location.”

But it added that it’s certain “the aircraft remained operational for at least seven hours after the loss of contact as the satellite terminal continued to transmit messages during this period.”

“It may further be deduced that the aircraft navigation system was operational since the terminal needs information on location and track to keep its antenna pointing towards the satellite,” said the report.

However, there’s a significant number of potential flight paths suggested in the data. It said Flight 370 changed its course after it passed the northern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra before going south until running out of fuel in the southern Indian Ocean.

This map from the Australian Transport Safety Burea shows details of the rebooted the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean. After a four-month hiatus, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed this week in a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean, with searchers lowering new equipment deep beneath the waves in a bid to finally solve one of the world's most perplexing aviation mysteries. AP Photo/The Australian Transport Safety Bureau