How do passenger planes fly?

Unlike motorbikes or cars, many times the navigation of commercial passenger aircraft has been predetermined.

The latest news about Malaysia Airlines' first major departure of the missing Malaysia MH370 has raised questions about how modern aircraft are navigated.

Before taking off

The dispatch system will set up before the flight. When pilots board the plane, their flight routes are predetermined and programmed in the flight management system. Malaysia Airlines' chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, told him that the programmed Boeing 777-200 flew to the expected Beijing destination.'It's the standard process , ' he said, March 18.

The missing MH370 still has many mysteries - (Photo: ibtimes.co.uk)

After the pilot boarded the plane

Flight change is quite simple, according to Mark Weiss, a former Boeing 777 pilot. He said a pilot only needs to change a few commands in the flight control system, which works like a car GPS system.

The CNN news agency quoted one official as saying someone had reprogrammed the flight of MH370 to make it deviate, but it was unclear whether this happened during the flight or before the plane took off.'We don't know when it will happen,' said Mary Schiavo, an aviation expert and former chief inspector of the US Department of Transportation.

In flight

Pilots often have a reason to change flight routes when they have gone to the sky. Weiss said: 'It is a very typical scenario, you may have bad weather, you can change direction to avoid other planes' . To change the direction of flight, they will type in a new command, a type of aerial control point. There have been reports that MH370 diverted after an hour took off on March 8, but authorities have not confirmed this.

Redirect request

Reprogramming the flight in a Boeing 777-200 flight control system is 'beyond the capabilities of non-professional pilots' , according to Robert Goyer, Flyingmagazine magazine editor and a capitalist. former pilot. Once the pilot has boarded the plane, 'everything is possible' , according to Ahmad Jauhari.

Contact aircraft-ground

The investigation currently focuses primarily on the data that MH370 has sent to the ground. Information about the programmed route seems to have been passed through the ACARS system (Communication and reporting system for aircraft). This system conveys information such as engine reports, maintenance requirements and weather conditions to the ground.

The last transmission of the ACARS signal from MH370 is at 1:07 am (local time), according to authorities. The next expected signal transmission, at 1:37 am, was never done.