. >> reporter: the captain booss s the massive engines. the plane roars into the sky. its altimeter tracking the time through 5,000 feet and then 10,000 feet, and then airborne, the air traffic controllers pick up the flight. >> they will see you on the radar, because you have a squawk code in the transponder which is going to turn the simple radar return into something that has a lot of information on it. it includes the flight number and the speend the altitude. >> coming up to 17,000 feet. >> this is malaysia here, and this is vietnam here. this is cambodia on the left side. >> reporter: as the plane reaches the cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the pilots can relax a little, and so can the passengers like paul weeks and philip wood. it is 1:19 in the morning, and a voice from the cockpit addresses air traffic control saying simply "all right. good night." for flight 370, it has been a routine evening. coming up -- an aircraft with 239 people aboard vanishes. complete i. . >> it has to be a practical joke, and then it stayed mi missing, and it stayed missing. when f