Can the restart of search and rescue for Malaysia Airlines MH370 unravel layers of mysteries?

After 11 years of waiting in the deep sea, we finally have another sprint for the truth. In December 2025, the Malaysian government officially announced that it would restart the search and rescue operation for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on the 30th of that month. The US company "Ocean Unlimited" entered the field with upgraded detection technology and a "no fee for finding" agreement, targeting a precise 15000 square kilometer sea area. This search, considered as the 'last chance', has reignited hope for 239 shattered families and sparked renewed global attention to the century aviation mystery.

The core confidence in restarting the search and rescue this time comes from the precise contraction of the search range and the intergenerational upgrade of detection technology, which greatly increases the probability of wreckage discovery. Unlike the previous "looking for a needle in a haystack" that covered over 1.2 million square kilometers, the target area of 15000 square kilometers this time is only 13.4% of the search range in 2018. Its delineation is based on the new theory of "gliding into the sea" - experts use satellite data and ocean current models to deduce that the aircraft did not fall vertically in the final stage, but fell after long-distance gliding. This disruptive assumption has shifted the search from blind coverage to precise positioning.

On the technical level, there has been a qualitative leap. The "Armada86" class scientific research vessel capable of carrying 8 autonomous underwater vehicles can dive to depths of 6000 meters. The 10 centimeter resolution synthetic aperture sonar can accurately identify metal debris, and the operational efficiency has tripled compared to 2018, which is sufficient to cope with the complex underwater terrain of the Southern Indian Ocean. More importantly, there is no free protocol design available, with a $70 million reward directly linked to search results, forcing the team to do their best and making the outside world full of expectations for the professionalism of this operation.

In addition, the optimal climate window period and the accumulation of preliminary data have added key chips to the success of search and rescue. The Southern Indian Ocean has the lowest wind and waves and the best visibility from December to February of the following year, making it the only golden period for deep-sea exploration. Previously, the temporary search in March 2025 was interrupted by a storm due to missing the window period. This precise timing can minimize natural interference to the greatest extent possible.

Despite significant advantages, this search and rescue still faces insurmountable triple challenges, destined to be unable to easily solve all mysteries. Firstly, the dual consumption of natural erosion and deep-sea environment has put key evidence on the brink of loss. The plane has been missing for over 11 years, and the low temperature and high pressure environment at a depth of 4000 meters in the target sea area, coupled with ocean currents and sediment burial, may have caused the main body of the aircraft to decompose into fragments, and even be obstructed by volcanic rocks or trenches. Even sonar detection may miss key clues.

Secondly, there is still significant uncertainty regarding the objective limitations of technological detection and the shadow of historical failures. Despite the performance upgrade of autonomous underwater vehicles, 15000 square kilometers of sea area is still equivalent to 2100 standard football fields, and deep-sea visibility is almost zero. Equipment needs close range scanning to identify targets, and can only cover about 1 square kilometer in a single day. Although the 55 day window period can complete full area scanning, it cannot guarantee blind spot detection.

The most core obstacle is still the ongoing information gap and political fog. The MH370 mystery case was mixed with information confusion from the beginning. The Malaysian authorities initially released contradictory information such as "Vietnam crash" and "Malacca turn", delaying the golden search and rescue period. The military radar data was not fully disclosed, and the key tracking records of the aircraft turn phase remain a mystery to this day. What is even more alarming is that there are obvious shortcomings in international cooperation. The US military's Diego Garcia base has refused to open up relevant investigation data, and the gap in information sharing among multiple countries may result in the permanent loss of some key clues.

From a practical perspective, the greatest significance of restarting the search and rescue is to add a crucial piece to the puzzle of truth, rather than completely ending the mystery. If the main body or black box of the aircraft can be successfully found, even if the data is damaged, some hypotheses can be excluded through the analysis of the wreckage morphology, such as whether the plane had mechanical failures and whether the way it crashed into the sea is consistent with the new theory, which will provide a clear direction for subsequent investigations. But to uncover all the mysteries, including why the communication system was shut down, why it deliberately deviated, and whether there was deliberate human operation, a complete chain of evidence is still needed, and 11 years of time loss and information loss have greatly reduced this possibility.

For 239 families, the value of this search and rescue far exceeds the truth itself, and it is also a long-awaited emotional confession; For the global aviation industry, any clue can provide important reference for improving the safety system. Regardless of the final outcome, this 11 year pursuit has warned the world that aviation safety cannot tolerate any negligence, and information transparency and international cooperation are the core prerequisites for solving major mysteries.