--- description: Report suggests engineering failure responsible for expired beacon battery on plane title: MH 370 Compensation May Hinge on Faulty Beacon Battery image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c1fc31b43b3884/698782bfa988caaf6a6acd7c/rtr3jd6d.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 * [Aviation](/tag/aviation/) ## Aviation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # MH 370: Lawyers Say Faulty Beacon Battery May Prove Key to Compensation ## Video: Malaysia Airlines by the numbers [Watch (HLS stream): Malaysia Airlines by the numbers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GlfVOgx3.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2014-07-17. Malaysia Airlines by the numbers_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 9, 2015 5:44 AM CUT  The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force's P3 Orion maritime search aircraft can be seen on low-level clouds as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 on March 31, 2014 The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force's P3 Orion maritime search aircraft can be seen on low-level clouds as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 on March 31, 2014Rob Griffith—Reuters by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 9, 2015 5:44 AM CUT The [revelation](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-malaysia-airlines-idUSKBN0M403J20150309 "undefined") that a beacon battery, which could have served as an underwater locator for tracking missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, had long expired may heavily influence any potential compensation claim, according to lawyers representing passengers’ families. A report Sunday on the fate of the Boeing 777-200, which vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing March 8 last year, revealed the beacon battery, designed to emit pulses in the event of a crash at sea, had expired in December 2012 and was not replaced, Reuters reports. Kreindler & Kreindler LP, a U.S. law firm representing nearly 20 families against the beleaguered carrier, believes that the expired battery could prove “potentially very significant” in compensation negotiations with relatives of the 227 passengers and 12 crew. The report, published by Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation to mark the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, suggests that the engineering department of Malaysia Airlines could be held responsible for failing to correctly update a computer system. In an email to Reuters, Kreindler & Kreindler LP’s aviation attorney Justin Green said, “This airline … even more clearly now may be responsible for the unsuccessful search for this plane.” \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-malaysia-airlines-idUSKBN0M403J20150309 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/"},"headline":"MH 370: Lawyers Say Faulty Beacon Battery May Prove Key to Compensation","datePublished":"2015-03-09T05:44:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:00:25.377Z","description":"Report suggests engineering failure responsible for expired beacon battery on plane","url":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/","keywords":["Aviation","China","Malaysia","compensation","Malaysia Airlines","MH370"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c1fc31b43b3884/698782bfa988caaf6a6acd7c/rtr3jd6d.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c1fc31b43b3884/698782bfa988caaf6a6acd7c/rtr3jd6d.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion maritime search aircraft can be seen on low-level clouds as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370","caption":"The shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion maritime search aircraft can be seen on low-level clouds as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean looking for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370","creditText":"Rob Griffith—Reuters","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":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/","name":"MH 370: Lawyers Say Faulty Beacon Battery May Prove Key to Compensation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Malaysia Airlines by the numbers","description":"Malaysia Airlines by the numbers","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GlfVOgx3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-17T20:25:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GlfVOgx3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3736922/mh-370-malaysia-airlines-compensation-beacon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```