What actually happened to Malaysia Airlines flight? Here're possible causes of plane's disappearance

Kuala Lumpur: The search and rescue operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing on Saturday while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, has not so far produced results. Although the Malaysia Airlines has not confirmed that the Boeing 777 has crashed, but the pictures released the Vietnamese Air Force of oil slicks on water suggest that the flight has crashed. The airplane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, lost contact with air traffic control between Malaysia and Vietnam over the South China Sea early Saturday local time and disappeared since then. While there are various speculations regarding the fate of the flight doing the rounds, what does seem clear is that whatever happened was very sudden and catastrophic, leaving no time for the crew to react or even send a mayday call. According to aviation experts, quoted by news agency AP, here are some of the possible causes for the disappearance of the plane

1. Failure of both engines If there was a minor mechanical failure - or even something more serious like the shutdown of both of the plane's engines - the pilots likely would have had time to radio for help. "The lack of a call suggests something very sudden and very violent happened," the Sydney Morning Herald quotes William Waldock, who teaches accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States.

2. Catastrophic structural failure of the airframe or its Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines Most aircraft are made of aluminium which is susceptible to corrosion over time, especially in areas of high humidity. But given the plane's long history and impressive safety record, experts suggest this is unlikely.

3. Pilot disorientation Experts say that the pilots could have taken the plane off autopilot and somehow went off course and didn't realise it until it was too late. The plane could have flown for another five or six hours from its point of last contact, putting it up to 4800km away. This is unlikely given that the plane probably would have been picked up by radar somewhere. Also the crew of the Malaysian flight were capable enough. The 53-year old pilot was a veteran with over 18,000 flying hours since 1981, while the 27-year old first officer had about 2,800 hours of experience since 2007. And though the first officer was transitioning to the Boeing 777, he had undergone several months of training.

4. Bad weather Planes are designed to fly though most severe storms. However, in June 2009, an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed during a bad storm over the Atlantic Ocean. All 228 passengers and crew aboard died. The pilots never radioed for help. But in the case of Saturday's Malaysia Airlines flight, all indications show that there were clear skies.

5. Pilot suicide There were two large jet crashes in the late 1990s that investigators suspected were caused by pilots deliberately crashing the planes.

6. Accidental shoot-down by some country's military In July 1988, the United States Navy missile cruiser USS Vincennes accidentally shot down an Iran Air flight, killing all 290 passengers and crew. In September 1983, a Korean Air Lines flight was shot down by a Russian fighter jet.

7. Hijacking A traditional hijacking seems unlikely given that a plane's captors typically land at an airport and have some type of demand. But a hijacking like those on September 11, 2001 is possible, with terrorists forcing the plane into the ocean.

8. A bomb Several planes have been brought down, including Air India flight in June 1985 between Montreal and London. Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down between London and New York in December 1988. In September 1989, French airline Union des Transports Ariens blew up over the Sahara Desert.