- Plane's transponder should provide information to air traffic controllers
- But at 1.20am on Saturday, transponder on flight MH370 stopped working
- Experts say loss of communication suggests 'catastrophic failure'
- But it is 'too early to speculate' on what caused the disappearance
It is regarded as one of the world's safest and most popular jets, which comes complete with a range of technologies designed to keep it in touch with air traffic controllers on the ground.
Fitted with an ASD-B flight transponder which, unlike the GPS in a car, broadcasts its location by sending information back to air traffic controllers every second, the Boeing 777 would appear to have the necessary technology to prevent it disappearing completely without a trace.
Yet early Saturday morning, this is precisely what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, as it made its way, 35,000 ft in the air, from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The interior of the cockpit of a Boeing 777, similar to the one that disappeared early Saturday morning
The plane would also have been fitted with an indestructible black box recorder and a beacon to continue transmitting its location should it land in water
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared from air traffic control screens Saturday (2011 file picture)
The transponder on the plane, which is also fitted with an indestructible black box recorder and a beacon to continue transmitting its location should the aircraft land in water, should provide air traffic controllers on the ground with the aircraft's speed, altitude and direction, according to Tom Clarke, of Channel 4 News.
But the signal from the transponder was lost at 1.20am, without a change in altitude or course, which has suggested to some a sudden event caused the plane to crash.
Crews however are also able to speak to their airline through 'discrete radio channels', according to aviation expert John Goglia, writing on the Forbes website.
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