Who is Peter Foley, former MH370 search director?

Sometime before 12:45 a.m. local time on March 8, 2014, pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah launched Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 into the sky. But the flight mysteriously disappeared without a trace, and what exactly unfolded in the sky is still one of aviation history’s greatest puzzles.

The “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared” Netflix documentary series explores several hypotheses regarding what might have happened that evening. It also talks about various family members, experts, and officials who were associated with the event, one of which is Peter Foley.

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Who is Peter Foley?

Peter Foley served as the program director for the international effort led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. More than 120,000 square kilometers of the southern Indian Ocean’s bottom were combed by hundreds of individuals. They studied the area, attempted to trace debris back to its source, and even planned a recovery effort until the search was called off in early 2017.

Post this, the ATSB spoke openly to the families of the missing people while outlining its scientific procedures and professing very personal sentiments in its final report.

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“We share your profound and prolonged grief, and deeply regret that we have not been able to locate the aircraft, nor those 239 souls on board that remain missing,” the report says.

“It is almost inconceivable and certainly societally unacceptable in the modern aviation era … for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of the aircraft and those on board.”

Moreover, Foley spoke directly to the audience’s sympathy and grief, assuring them that MH370 will be discovered and that it would be found close to the area they were searching.

“It’s one of those things that will enthrall people until the mystery is solved,” he says. “It is a mystery that must be solved and will be solved eventually.”

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Despite his retirement, Foley is still deeply affected by the MH370 case and has a comprehensive understanding of all that has transpired since the ATSB search was called off.

He claims to be “extraordinarily keen” to see a new search launched in the hopes of finding the plane. He is also incredibly eager to link inquiries about his involvement to the work done by others and the families for whom they performed it.