( CNN ) -- It 's been more than a week since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 seemingly vanished into thin air . Clues are few and far between . Yet we remain glued to the story -- hungry , some almost desperate , for any tidbit of news . Why ? `` I think the most fascinating aspect of this story now is that it 's become ... transcendent . And by that , I mean , it 's no longer a story about an airplane crash ; it 's a mystery story , '' Patrick Smith , an airline pilot , blogger and author , told CNN 's `` Piers Morgan Live . '' The story of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has dominated headlines and social media since it broke . By Sunday night , it was no longer trending on Twitter in the United States , but it remained among the top stories in Malaysia and India . Folks are using the hashtag # MH370 to connect . And people are doing more than just watching , or reading , the news . They 're getting involved . Thousands of aspiring good Samaritans volunteered their time to scour part of the plane 's search zone using detailed satellite images posted online by DigitalGlobe , a Colorado firm that owns one of the world 's most advanced commercial satellite networks . In fact , so many people joined the effort that the firm 's website -- with its pinpoint pictures of everything floating in the ocean -- crashed . One volunteer , Mike Seberger , 43 , found a fascinating image in a matter of minutes : the silhouette in the ocean has the scale of a Boeing 777-200 , the same model of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 . His discovery can be seen on his CNN iReport page . It 's both the flight 's commonness and its rareness that might have us gripped . One the one hand , many people travel by plane who can relate easily to the experience of flying . Until the mystery is solved , who among us is n't going to jump the next time we 're on a plane and feel a bump of turbulence ? That 's what happened to Brian Stelter , host of CNN 's `` Reliable Sources . '' `` We tend to identify with these kinds of disasters , and so the fear of flying may go up for many people , '' psychiatrist Gail Saltz said on that program . On the other hand , cases such as the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are extremely rare . `` This is a very strange event , '' said aviation historian Carroll Gray . `` It does n't lend itself to the normal sets of explanations . '' Such mysteries are `` phenomenally gripping , '' Gray said . `` Things that are unsolved just sort of grab people , especially when you have the common experience of flying . '' Saltz agreed . `` They want someone to hold accountable . It 's a very disturbing thought , and right now we ca n't figure out who 's to blame , '' she said . The psychiatrist summed up our fascination : `` I think this nebulousness keeps us riveted . '' MAP IT : What happened to Flight 370 ? CNN 's Nick Valencia , Alan Duke , Michael Martinez and John Newsome contributed to this report .
It 's been more than a week since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished into thin air . The story has hit headlines and social media . ` ` It 's no longer a story about an airplane crash ; it 's a news story , '' says the pilot .