--- description: A new report Friday says Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 significantly changed altitudes and shifted its course as if under pilot control. title: Malaysia Airlines Flight Shifted Altitude and Path: Report image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d942a1714cfcf0c/69868593169ab0d70027840a/hkg9600774.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Report: Flight 370 Shifted Altitude and Path After Dropping Contact  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 14, 2014 10:41 PM CUT  A Royal Malaysian Air Force Navigator captain, Izam Fareq Hassan, center, looks at a map onboard a Malaysian Air Force CN235 aircraft during a search and rescue (SAR) operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane over the Strait of Malacca on March 14, 2014. A Royal Malaysian Air Force Navigator captain, Izam Fareq Hassan, center, looks at a map onboard a Malaysian Air Force CN235 aircraft during a search and rescue (SAR) operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane over the Strait of Malacca on March 14, 2014.Mohd Rasfan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 14, 2014 10:41 PM CUT A new report Friday says Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 significantly [changed altitudes](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?smid=tw-bna&%5Fr=0 "undefined") and altered its course as if under pilot control after it disappeared from civilian radar less than an hour into the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The New York _Times_ report, citing unnamed American officials and people familiar with the investigation, adds a new dimension to [earlier indications](http://time.com/24546/missing-jet-hunt-turns-to-indian-ocean-sources-say-comms-cut-on-purpose/ "undefined") that Flight 370 may have deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course. Nearly a week after the plane disappeared, twelve countries have joined the massive and widening sweep of the region involving scores of aircraft and ships. According to the _Times_, Malaysian military radar showed what is believed to be the missing Boeing 777 climb to 45,000 feet—above the approved altitude limit for the aircraft—after taking a sharp turn west, and then descend to 23,000 feet, well below normal cruising altitude, before gaining altitude and shifting its flight path north over the Strait of Malacca toward the Indian Ocean. Malaysian authorities have shared the radar data with the U.S. and China but not to the public, and the reliability and implications of the revelations are still unclear. Ravi Madavaram, an aerospace engineer at the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan based in Kuala Lumpur, told the _Times_ that the radar altitude readings can be unreliable when the plane is far away. \[[_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-military-radar.html?smid=tw-bna&%5Fr=0 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/25814/report-flight-370-shifted-altitude-and-path-after-dropping-contact/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/25814/report-flight-370-shifted-altitude-and-path-after-dropping-contact/"},"headline":"Report: Flight 370 Shifted Altitude and Path After Dropping Contact","datePublished":"2014-03-14T22:41:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:47:13.324Z","description":"A report follows earlier indications that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 deliberately altered its direction after disappearing from civilian radar","url":"https://time.com/25814/report-flight-370-shifted-altitude-and-path-after-dropping-contact/","keywords":["Malaysia Airlines Flight 370"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d942a1714cfcf0c/69868593169ab0d70027840a/hkg9600774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d942a1714cfcf0c/69868593169ab0d70027840a/hkg9600774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"MALAYSIA-CHINA-VIETNAM-MALAYSIAAIRLINES-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT","caption":"MALAYSIA-CHINA-VIETNAM-MALAYSIAAIRLINES-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT","creditText":"Mohd Rasfan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/25814/report-flight-370-shifted-altitude-and-path-after-dropping-contact/","name":"Report: Flight 370 Shifted Altitude and Path After Dropping Contact"}}]}] ```