Little known reason why airplanes 'disappear' from radar when flying across ocean

There is a little known reason why airplanes suddenly ‘disappear’ from the radar when flying across the ocean.

Radar has been in use almost as long as humans have been flying.

Standing for radio detection and ranging, the system was invented back in 1935 after Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins conducted their first experiments.

Nowadays, radar is used for a whole host of different tasks including speed cameras, weather forecasts, environmental studies and for aircrafts.

Thanks to radar, air traffic control is able to keep track of where planes are located in the sky.

The system is also used for navigation as well as making sure collisions between aircrafts are avoided.

There is a little known reason why airplanes suddenly ‘disappear’ from the radar (George Pachantouris/Getty Images)

However, sometimes planes disappear from the radar without a trace and while that could lead to panic that something terrible has happened, there is actually a very simple explanation as to why it happens.

Why do airplanes disappear from radar?

Radar relies on radio waves to function, with the signal needs a clear line of sight to the object its detecting.

But due to the fact that the Earth is a globe (sorry Flat Earthers), when a plane flies beyond the horizon, the radar tracking it loses sight of the aircraft.

This also happens when a plane flies over the ocean and reaches hundreds of miles away from the shore or in remote and mountainous areas.

However, even when a plane disappears from the radar, the vehicle can still be tracked using its transponder.

There have been cases when both have failed to pick up a signal, leading to panic as the aircraft is lost.

One particularly famous case is Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from 2014.

Radar has been in use almost as long as humans have been flying (moxumbic/Getty Images)

The plane was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing in China when it vanished from the radar.

With signal from the transponder also gone, an extensive search was carried out but the plane was never found.

Pieces of debris that are thought to have come from the aircraft have since been found of several different islands in the region, and it is thought that the plane crashed.

And this isn’t the only recent tragedy to have taken place after a flight disappeared from the radar.

Just last month, a Antonov An-24 passenger plane vanished in Russia and was later found to have crashed close to its intended destination of Tynda.

Sadly there were no survivors and all 48 people on board were confirmed to have died in the incident.