Day 81 — Ping transmissions: Ran out of fuel?

The Malaysian government has today publicly published the final ping transmissions between Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and an Inmarsat satellite that it was communicating with before it disappeared - so now anyone can investigate what happened to the aircraft.

Based on the same data, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has also issued a report explaining that the plane most likely descended to its fate after running out of fuel. That's based on calculations of how long it took the plane to descend and modeling of fuel burn for different flight paths. Flight 370's final digital handshake with the satellite didn't coincide with previous regular hourly transmissions. That is likely due to its electrical systems resetting when the plane ran out of fuel, the ATSB summary said. It's still believed the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, though all searches to date have proved fruitless. The conclusion comes as Australia's naval vessel Ocean Shield abandons its search on Wednesday - and a week before authorities open up the hunt to private contractors.