The Malaysia Airlines flight gave one last unexplained signal eight minutes after its final "ping", possibly the result of the plane entering its "catastrophic phase".

The captain of Flight 370 was in no state of mind to fly the day it disappeared and could have taken the Boeing 777 for a "last joyride", a fellow pilot says.

It was the news Paul Weeks' family had been dreading.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel stationed in Perth to help search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are due for a break

Thousands of flights each year in and out of New Zealand fly through radar black spots relying only on scheduled long-range radio calls to track their position.

Family and friends are comforting Danica Weeks after it was confirmed today the Malaysian Airlines flight carrying her Kiwi husband Paul has been lost in the Indian Ocean.

When the news finally arrived in Beijing, it was not from a spokesperson, or even in a language the relatives could understand. Phones began to beep inside the conference room at the Lido hotel, receiving a text message in English.

Pilots have been reminded of the dangers of cockpit distractions after a flight into Queenstown was left on auto-pilot and passed below minimum low flying safety levels.

White, rectangular objects were spotted last night in the search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.

"You want so badly to see something that your eyes start playing tricks on you", writes Herald reporter Anna Leask on board an Orion hunting for the missing jet.

She is the woman whose cries of despair captured the unimaginable agony of the families waiting for news of the 239 passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

The families of two NZers killed in a fiery Queensland plane crash have been told by air accident investigators to wait for more than three weeks for answers.

French satellites have made the latest sighting of possible aircraft wreckage in the southern Indian Ocean, as sources say there was only a 2-min window for a hijacking.

At dawn yesterday the first of an international air fleet lifted off yet again from the Australian Air Force's big Pearce base north of Perth.

Another investigation has been launched into the captain of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight after phone records found he had received a call just before take-off.

If these photos are anything to go by, you have virtually no chance of seeing a broken-up airliner, writes Billy Adams.

The last contact with a small plane that crashed in Hawkes Bay yesterday, killing both men on board, suggested nothing was wrong.

Five people are dead after a light plane carrying a group of skydivers crashed and burst into flame at an airfield north of Brisbane.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will continue indefinitely in the ocean off West Australia, but authorities want to be clear the effort could be fruitless.

The deep ocean where planes and ships are seeking signs of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is so treacherous any wreckage recovery would be extremely challenging.

Media from around the world were gathered outside the RAAF Pearce Base north of Perth last night.

Searchers for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have spent a second fruitless day hunting for wreckage in the Indian Ocean.

The entire 54 minutes of cockpit communication aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight is revealed

Getting hold of the flight recorders will be the priority if a crash site for MH370 is identified - but recovering anything from seas estimated to be around 4000m deep will be a major challenge, an Australian expert in accident investigation says.

Two weeks ago, 38-year-old New Zealander Paul Weeks kissed his wife Danica goodbye at the airport.

New Zealand aviators searching for the missing Malaysian airliner are expected to be "pumped up ready to go" again this morning after earlier disappointments.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion was expected to lead the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight early today, as more ships headed to the massive area of sea off Western Australia.

Flight MH370 had been missing for just two days when engineers from a satellite company concluded the plane probably crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Kiwi air force crew searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane were "very deflated" after they failed to find any wreckage from the aircraft.