The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 is a horrible tragedy but not without precedent. The aftermath of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Pan Am Flight 103, Adam Air Flight 747, Asian Flight 214 and Air France Flight 447, among others, all held striking similarities with the missing Malaysian plane.

Their causes were initially a mystery but each disaster was eventually resolved, providing a litany of potential failures to be dealt with in the future. Among them: pilot error, improper maintenance, a hijacking gone wrong, a terrorist attack, pilot suicide, unwanted military intervention, a systemic failure or a combination of the above.