Backgrounder: Accidents and incidents of Malaysia Airlines

March 8, 2014

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft was en route to Beijing, China from Kuala Lumpur. 239 passengers, including 2 infants and 12 crew members were onboard the flight. The aircraft was more than eleven years old.

December 17, 2013

Malaysia Airlines MH 710 departed Jakarta for Kuala Lumpur. While landing, the plane went into an air vortex caused by a previous flight and began tilting left and right. The pilot was able to stabilize the flight and land safely.

August 1, 2005

A Boeing 777-200ER as Malaysia Airlines Flight 124 departed Perth for Kuala Lumpur. Climbing through 38,000 feet a faulty accelerometer caused the aircraft's Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) to command changes of altitude. The flight crew overrode the ADIRU and manually returned to land the aircraft at Perth. Subsequent NTSB investigation led the US FAA to issue emergency airworthiness directive 2005-18-51 on the fly-by-wire software.

March 15, 2000

Malaysia Airlines Flight 85, an Airbus A330-300 (9M-MKB) was damaged by a chemical called oxalyl chloride, which leaked from canisters when unloading, causing damage to the fuselage when arrived at KLIA from Beijing. The 5-year-old Airbus was sufficiently damaged to be written-off.

September 15, 1995

Malaysia Airlines Flight 2133, a Fokker 50 (9M-MGH) crashed during approach in Tawau, Sabah due to pilot error. 34 people were killed.

December 18, 1983

Malaysia Airlines Flight 684, an Airbus A300-B4 (OY-KAA) leased from Scandinavian Airlines crashed 2 km short of the runway in Subang on a flight from Singapore. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was written-off.

December 4, 1977

Malaysia Airlines Flight 653, a Boeing 737-200 (9M-MBD) was hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, killing all 100 people aboard. It remains the deadliest crash of all time in Malaysia up to this day.