(CNN) – While such situations are rare, the puzzling disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 is not the first time a plane has vanished without a trace. Here are nine cases of mysterious plane disappearances and disasters. Some remain unsolved, decades later.
2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The Boeing 777 passenger jet vanished early Saturday, about an hour into its flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing. There was no distress call before contact with it was lost over the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam. Search teams from various nations are combing the waters on the Malay Peninsula for traces of it, but so far, nothing has been found. The mystery over the fate of the jet and the 239 people aboard has baffled government officials and aviation experts.
2009: Air France Flight 447
The Airbus A330 took off from Rio de Janeiro en route to Paris on May 31, 2009. A few hours later, as it crossed the Atlantic, it told control center its position.
That was the last contact with the plane. Its last known position — two to four days by ship from the nearest ports — and the ocean’s depth hindered searches.
It took almost two years before the bulk of the wreckage, the majority of bodies, and the voice and data recorders were recovered. All 228 aboard died.
In 2012, French authorities said ice crystals disrupted the system used to determine the plane’s airspeed, causing the autopilot to disconnect. The plane plunged into the ocean.
2003: Boeing 727
Eleven years ago, a Boeing 727 vanished in the Angolan capital of Luanda.
