The MH370 report that has been anticipated for a long while was released yesterday along with the flight map, passenger manifests, and recordings from the communication with the plane’s pilot.

Unfortunately, this small report could open Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control authorities to some criticism of their handling of the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370.

According to the report, which was only five pages long and originally written on April 9th, there was a conspicuous four-hour gap after Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control at 01:19:24 local time instructed the captain to contact Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control Center on radio frequency 120.9 MHz.

Ho Chi Minh had lost contact and noticed the plane flying off path by then. The only response from MH370 was the now infamous statement, “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero.”

The plane then disappeared off of Kuala Lumpur’s radar at 01:21:13 after it passed over a waypoint named IGARI. Then, at 01:38 Malaysian time, Ho Chi Minh ATC asked Kuala Lumpur ATC about the location of the MH370 aircraft. Kuala Lumpur ATC then initiated an effort to locate the aircraft through Malaysia Air’s operations center and air traffic control in Singapore, Hong Kong and Phnom Penh.

However, when that effort was unsuccessful, it wasn’t until around 5:30 local time that search and rescue was initiated. Malaysia could be under some criticism in the following days for the delay. They could also be under intense scrutiny about the gap in the report that gives little to no information about efforts that were being made to find the plane in that important four-hour gap.

It could be concluded that the four-hour delay in initiating search and rescue might just be the reason that MH370 has been so incredibly difficult to find. If the plane is ever found, perhaps those questions might be answered.

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