In mid-March 2014, a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 occupants disappeared while en route to Beijing.

Contact with the aircraft was lost at 1:22 AM on the 8th of March 2014, when the aircraft was about to be handed off from Subang (Malaysia) Air Traffic Control (ATC) Centre to Ho Chi Minh ATC centre (Vietnam).

Subsequent attempts to contact the aircraft failed, prompting Subang ATC Centre to notify Malaysia Airlines that the aircraft was missing and could not observed on radar or contacted via radio. No distress call by the crew had been made and no emergency beacon had been activated.

Authorities in Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore subsequently initiated a search for the aircraft.
Authorities involved believe they have narrowed the location of the crash down to a section of the Indian ocean, however this still comprises over 80,000 square kilometres.

The difficulties involved in locating the aircraft are also compounded by time, as the locating beacon for the aircraft’s Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), commonly referred to as the ‘black box’, only has a limited battery life. Without the aircraft’s black box it becomes considerably more difficult for investigators to determine the possible causal factors for the accident.

It is also important to note that all theories regarding possible causal factors remain entirely speculative until the aircraft can be located and an investigation can be conducted. Until this time, the causal factors remain largely unknown.

Azerbaijan has successfully passed its recent International Aviation Safety Audit (IASA), which was undertaken by the U.S. civil aviation regulator, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The IASA program was established by the FAA in order to review the level of oversight by a countries civil aviation regulator and ensure it meets internationally recognised standards in regulatory oversight.

The FAA conducted the audit in October 2013, and entered a review and discussion process with the state regulator authority.

At the conclusion of this process Azerbaijan attained ‘Category 1’ status, which allows Azerbaijani-based airlines to commence unrestricted operations to the United States.

In late February 2014, the Chinese-based aircraft manufacturer, Xian Aircraft, requested that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), distribute a directive to temporarily ground all Xian MA-60 turbo-prop aircraft, after potential design flaw in the aircraft was discovered.

The grounding was prompted by a landing gear indication incident that had occurred to a Chinese-based airline several days earlier, where the aircraft had landed safely after receiving an unsafe landing gear indication (which notifies the flight crew that the aircraft landing gear has not fully extended).

Sources indicate that there are approximately 88 MA-60 aircraft operating globally, all of which will now require inspections.

Several of the aircraft have since returned to scheduled passenger operations.