The Plane That Wasn't There

Why We Haven't Found MH370

By: Jeff Wise

Narrated by: Jeff Wise

Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive investigation into the greatest aviation mystery in history, with a startling hypothesis about who took the plane, where they took it, and how. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared. A year later, still no trace of the plane - or the 239 people onboard - has been found. But why? In The Plane That Wasn't There, science journalist and CNN aviation analyst Jeff Wise sweeps aside the conspiracy theories and misconceptions and lays out, with clear concision, just what we know about the plane's fate - and what we don't. The deeper into the technical details one delves, Wise reports, the stranger the case seems. He proposes that in order to make sense of the data we have, a radical new hypothesis ought to be considered - one that he lays out in gripping detail, complete with modus operandi, flight path, possible perpetrators, and a startling destination. Jeff Wise is a science journalist specializing in aviation and psychology. A licensed pilot of gliders and light airplanes, he has also written for New York, The New York Times, Time, Businessweek, Esquire, Details, and many others. His 2011 Popular Mechanics story on the fate of Air France 447 was named one of the Top 10 Longreads of 2011. His last book was Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger. A native of Massachusetts, he lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

©2015 The Yellow Cabin Press (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Truly Disappointing

If you have a true interest in MH 370, stick to Richard Quest's book. This one is very short, disorganized, random, and full of outlandish far-reaching conspiracies. I was so disappointed I decided to write this review despite never having reviewed a book on Audible before. Save your money, buy Quest's book instead.

Russia hijacked MH370?

Any additional comments?

Wise offers an interesting but ultimately unconvincing argument to explain the disappearance of MH-370 in March 2014. He speculates that the flight was hijacked by Russian special forces in response to international sanctions that had been imposed on Russia as a means to pressure the Putin administration into ending its war against Ukraine. He cites as proof of a hijacking the complete lack of aircraft wreckage in the ocean despite months of sea searches mounted by various governments. Of course a hijacking may well turn out to be the most likely answer to the mystery of Flight 370 one day, but Wise's Russian hypothesis, although superficially appealing to conspiracy types, is implausible at best, supported by little more than a James Bond-like scenario involving highly trained special forces operators’ taking over the plane only a day after the U.S. government announced its support for international sanctions. That hardly seems enough time to mount the complex operation Wise describes. Certainly, the author offers no solid proof that would stand up to careful legal analysis. The book’s major strength provides a fascinating, albeit frequently deeply technical, analysis of the plane's extremely complex operating systems; it makes for tough going for readers who are not experts in avionics and aircraft engineering, but the details are enthralling.

Very well thought out and intriguing

Extremely interesting and well researched. The only flaw I could mention is that I wish it had been longer.

No need to believe to enjoy

Whether you’re into conspiracy theories or not. This book is a lot of fun in terms of learning how aircraft work in the modern era. And how an lost aircraft search is conducted and is well worth the read

Compelling OSINT investigation!!!

Deep dive into top expert analysis on what really happened with some very plausible conclusions drawn. If you work in aviation like I do, Wise’s findings are gripping and whisk you forward through the revelations, one new data point after another. Great read!

Stale Content; Curious Theory

In full disclosure, I really enjoyed this book. The writing and narration by the author was good.

Unfortunately, the theory presented by the author is a little implausible and out there (vast conspiracy that considered future advancements), and that’s even before you realize that debris from MH370 was discovered after its publication. But I guess it’s easy to Monday morning quarterback. Had I realized it was published before the discovery of debris, I would have taken a pass on this one.

The plane that wasn’t there

Interesting topic, great narrator, who happens to be the author as well. Updates to the story would be appreciated.

Technical

This is a Kindle Single that is slightly over two hours in length. The first two chapters or so were off the charts in technical terms. I knew very little about flying before this book so these chapters were mind boggling for me. Although I sill don’t completely understand, I was able to follow the jest of what Mr. Wise was conveying. Overall, his speculations and theory makes sense and are probably the best out of all them. However, it still doesn’t help explain we’re that plane is and what happened to the 200+ passengers. Sadly, we will most certainly never figure out this mystery.

Incredible!!!

Wow! What an amazing theory! Quite plausible! Worth a listen! The concepts are well informed and thought out.

The reading was too fast

Otherwise, the premise was well developed and stated in a believable manner. Anyone who is interested in the fate of this airliner should read the book.

Rubbish

Utter rubbish. A waste of a credit. I can't believe a word of this rot.

Oh dear

So.. First part of this was very informative. I enjoyed the dive into how the satellite data was used to track the flight.

Then, it sadly descends into some daft gobbledegook about how Russia did it. Stick to facts.. If MH370 interests you, may I recommend youtube user LEMMINO. That was factual, and no 'Russia is the bad guy' 80s movie nonsense to be seen.

Yeah right

I guess it was Black Manta who hijacked it on orders from KGB Beast or something. makes as much sense.

pointless

interesting conspiracy theory which relies wholly on there not having been any debris found of the plane. The problem is, numerous pieces of debris HAVE been found so this entire audiobook is pointless

One for the truthers

Thought this was going to be a work of non-fiction but it ended up being a random single-theory journey to the land of conspiracy. Absolute waste of my time.

I'm glad I didn't pay for this

Thankfully, I added this to my library as it is one of the titles included in my subscription. For potential buyers out there - move on.

The first half of the book is an ok summary of the facts of the case. It added little to my knowledge, but then I was paying attention at the time. If you had only watched TV news during the event itself and not read around it, you might learn something.

The second half of the book descends into the author's pet theory as to why the general consensus about the plane ending up in the ocean is wrong. Frankly, I stopped listening so I didn't catch too much of the stupid, but scanning some reviews on here I don't think I missed too much.

If you want something more worthy of your time than this, there's a Tim Curry version of Journey to the Center of the Earth included in subscriptions. Go get that instead.

Twaddle

Two things, Who writes something that would be so hurtful to the relatives and the his premise is debunked because wreckage has been found in the Indian Ocean

Draws attention to the incompetence of humanity

First of all, I’d like to say that the narrator/writer did an excellent job both with the information, and the wealth of knowledge of planes, satellites and technology involved in commercial flight.

However,

They don’t know. I think the main thing I took away from the book is just how useless the authorities and technology is. ‘The plane could have gone north, toward India, or south into the Indian Ocean’. No wonder they never found a wreckage. The book talks about all the things that were wrong with the flight, such as satellites being out of fuel and not creating a completely accurate reading. It also gives you an insight into just how unlikely it is for plane wreckage to completely disappear, suggesting that a hijack was far more likely.

I don’t want to go into too much detail, and spoil it for readers but I came away from this quite angry. Hands down the best, unbiased account of what happened with the flight, but also an infuriating insight into just how much the souls on board that plane were failed by those that are meant to keep them safe

Credit to Jeff Wise for an excellent investigation. I would 100% recommend, however prepare to be frustrated!

OK but but felt like it need more time!

This book is only OK as it doesn't go into much detail! Felt like he needed to expand the research and go into a lot more detail!

The possible scenario at the end was a nice idea, but again he could of cover a few of the possibilities not just one!

Still it killed two hours!

Reads Like a QAnon Conspiracy Theory!

This book is pro-US and anti-Russia propaganda. The author runs roughshod over known historical facts to force through his rather 'reaching' theory that pro-Russisn terrorists hijacked flight MH370! Omitted completely is that when this flight went missing, the US Obama Administration was funding, arming and politically supporting a neo-Nazi regime change in the Ukraine and Crimea. Obama brought the neo-Nazi 'Maidan' Junta to power but this pro-EU regime could only gain control of Western Ukraine (despite committing various military atrocities against the Ukrainian people). The people of Crimea voted to re-join Russia whilst the people of East Ukraine voted to declare their Independence from a Ukraine controlled by US-backed neo-Nazis. If the two Ukrainian passengers did hijack MH370 it would have been entirely for the benefit of US and Maidan regimes! If you search online, you will find videos of the Maidan regime 'celebrating' the Nazi German annexation of their part of the former USSR in 1941 - which saw thousands of Catholic Ukrainians joining the German SS Units and carrying out atrocities against Russians, Jews, Gays and the Disabled, etc.