The first comprehensive report into the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has revealed the battery of an underwater locator beacon had expired more than a year before the plane vanished.
Apart from that anomaly, the detailed report released on Sunday devotes pages after pages to describe the complete normality of the flight, shedding little light on aviation's biggest mystery.
The significance of the expired battery was not immediately apparent, except indicating that searchers would have had lesser chance of locating the aircraft in the Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed, even if they were in its vicinity.
The report says civilian radar had tracked the plane for a short time after it diverted on March 8 of last year, apparently contradicting earlier Malaysian statements that only its military radar had monitored the plane.
The two instruments are critical in any crash because they record cockpit conversation and flight data, leading up to the end of the flight.
The 584-page report by an independent investigation group also goes into minute details of the crew's lives, including their medical and financial records and their training, and mentions no findings that cast suspicion on them.
"There were no behavioural signs of social isolation, change in habits or interest, self-neglect, drug or alcohol abuse of the captain, first officer and the cabin crew," it says.
The report also details the aircraft's service record as well as its maintenance schedule, weather, communications systems and other aspects that show nothing unusual except for the one previously undisclosed fact of the battery's expiry date.
It says that according to maintenance records, the battery on the beacon attached to the flight data recorder expired in December 2012.
"There is some extra margin in the design to account for battery life variability and ensure that the unit will meet the minimum requirement," it says.
"However, once beyond the expiry date, the (battery's) effectiveness decreases so it may operate, for a reduced time period until it finally discharges."
While it is possible the battery will operate past the expiry date, "it is not guaranteed that it will work or that it would meet the 30-day minimum requirement".
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