How could a Boeing 777 simply vanish?

Mystery, intrigue and concern shroud Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as officials scramble to uncover the missing plane. Such a strange occurrence raises the obvious question: How does a 200-plus passenger jet simply vanish in the first place?

The fated flight departed Kuala Lumpur last Friday afternoon Eastern Standard Time en route for Beijing. Just under an hour into the flight, air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet. As of now, even after multiple search attempts, the whereabouts of the Boeing 777, its 227 passengers and 12 crew members remain unknown. The commercial jet was last understood to be flying over the Gulf of Thailand.

Reminiscent of Bermuda Triangle mysteries and yet quite unprecedented in flight history, the case of Flight 370 seems almost paranormal. So how exactly does a plane disappear?

Air traffic controllers utilize two types of radar to track commercial jets. The first and more familiar type of radar (an acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging) sends out pulses of radio waves in a circular perimeter and analyzes the signals that bounce back in order to determine the precise location, altitude and velocity of surrounding objects. The second type of radar utilizes a piece of equipment called a transponder (which is aboard the plane) to transmit location information to land-based radar facilities.

Unfortunately, radar has a reach of only about 200 miles and requires an unobstructed view to transmit successfully, so most facilities are built at higher altitudes to project over geographic barriers like mountains. Because of this, planes can fly at low altitudes under the radar or drop off the grid entirely during transoceanic flights. However, during such times, flight crews are expected to utilize text-data networks and high-frequency radio, satellite-based voice communication to maintain communication with air traffic control during designated checkpoints in the flight path.

In the case of Malaysia Flight 370, the pilots failed to check-in, alerting authorities that something was amiss. Officials continue to investigate the inexplicable mystery.