Does the revelation that missing Malaysian jet crashed into the ocean prove its crew WERE overcome by smoke? News supports theory the plane ran out of fuel after flying 'unmanned' for hours

  • Mystery still surrounds what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
  • Experts have speculated on various theories since the plane went missing
  • Malaysian PM: 'Latest analysis indicates flight ended in southern Indian Ocean'
  • Could support theory crew were heading for safety but overcome by smoke

By Richard Shears and Amanda Williams

PUBLISHED: 10:58 EST, 24 March 2014 | UPDATED: 17:30 EST, 24 March 2014


The revelation that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean could prove an online theory that crew aboard were overcome by smoke.

The news of its discovery appears to support the idea that the plane was in trouble and simply heading for the nearest safe airport when it turned off-course.

The online theory, predicting that the aircraft would be found in the Indian Ocean, was posted online last week by a veteran pilot, and went viral.

Chris Goodfellow, a Canadian pilot with 20 years experience, hailed captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah a hero, not a hijacker, in his explanation that a fire broke out aboard the plane.

Scroll down for video

New data may have been able to indicate flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, but what led to its demise and that of the 239 people aboard is still yet to be discovered

New data may have been able to indicate flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, but what led to its demise and that of the 239 people aboard is still yet to be discovered

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak today said a new analysis of satellite data shows that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak today said a new analysis of satellite data shows that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean

 

He claims Shah was doing exactly what he needed to do in an emergency - and trying to get the plane to the nearest airport as soon as possible.

In this case, that was the 13,000 foot strip Palau Langkawi, and that is directly where the aircraft was heading when it was last tracked.

However, Goodfellow believes the crew were overcome by smoke and the aircraft flew as a 'ghost plane' for hours past the chosen airport before finally crashing into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.

 

More...

'We old pilots were always drilled to always know the closest airport of safe harbor while in cruise. Always,' Goodfellow wrote. 'Instinctively when I saw that left turn with a direct heading I knew he was heading for an airport.'

He said he immediately brought up Google Earth and discovered the runway, which was had fewer obstacles blocking the plane's approach than if Shah attempted to return to Kuala Lumpar, which was also further away.

'This pilot did all the right things. He was confronted by some major event aboard that made him make that immediate turn back to the closest safe airport,' he says in the post.

Goodfellow's initial post went took the web by storm after he posted it on Google Plus and then Reddit.

Simple theory: Chris Goodfellow, a Canadian pilot with 20 years experience, has hailed captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah a hero, not a hijacker, in his interesting post, which took the internet by storm

Simple theory: Chris Goodfellow, a Canadian pilot with 20 years experience, has hailed captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah a hero, not a hijacker, in his interesting post, which took the internet by storm

He wrote a number of follow up posts answering the hundreds of questions he had received as more information, and speculation, came to light.

In his last note late on Tuesday, he claimed reported sightings of an aircraft over the Maldives corresponds to his theory and he predicted it will be found sometime Wednesday a small distance west of the Maldives.

In his first post, Goodfellow said the loss of transponders and communications makes 'perfect sense' in the event of a fire.

He suggests an electrical fire may have started inside the plane, perhaps incapacitating crew with smoke. The plane's cargo - which reportedly included a shipment of lithium batteries - may have ignited.

Or possibly one of the tires overheated during takeoff and began burning slowly, eventually making it to the cockpit where the pilots were overcome by smoke.

He said all the circumstances that night - a full plane, hot weather, and a long run takeoff runway - make this incident all the more plausible, and he cited a similar occurrence in Nigeria of a DC8 that had a landing gear fire on takeoff.

He believes at that point, the Malaysian plane 'just continued on (that route)probably on (autopilot) until either fuel exhaustion or fire destroyed the control surfaces and it crashed.'

'I said four days ago you will find it along that route - looking elsewhere was pointless,' Goodfellow added in his captivating piece.

He said he has been stunned that no officials, pilots or reporters have looked at the case from the pilot's point of view.

'Thanks to Google earth I spotted Langkawi in about 30 seconds, zoomed in and saw how long the runway was and I just instinctively knew this pilot knew this airport. He had probably flown there many times,' the pilot wrote.

As for the last voice transmission, Goodfellow told said 'Good night' is customary as a hand-off to a new air traffic controller and also strongly indicates to him that all was OK on the flight deck. 

  
So far, ships in the international search effort have been unable to locate several 'suspicious' objects spotted by satellites in grainy images or by fast-flying aircraft over a vast search area in the remote southern Indian Ocean

So far, ships in the international search effort have been unable to locate several 'suspicious' objects spotted by satellites in grainy images or by fast-flying aircraft over a vast search area in the remote southern Indian Ocean

Relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been informed the plane ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean

Relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been informed the plane ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean

  

So what happened? Some serious theories that have been put forward in the more than two weeks since the aircraft disappeared.

EXPLOSION

One possible explanation is an explosion on board caused by a bomb or something in the cargo hold blew a hole in the frame of the aircraft.

It was not powerful enough to bring the plane down, but caused such a sudden decompression that all on board were rendered unconscious and the plane continued flying on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

This appears to be one of the most logical theories.

FIRE

Another possible explanation is a fire so severe that the pilots, following the emergency rule of aviate, navigate and finally communicate, managed to turn the aircraft around to head to a runway on the west of Malaysia but become unconscious before they were able to send out an emergency message - and the autopilot took over.

Another logical theory.

A SUBTLE CRACKING OF THE AIRCRAFT FRAME

This could have lead to a slow decompression that rendered everyone unconscious after putting them in an incapacitating daze.

This, included in a warning by Boeing that said corrosion might occur on some models of the jet, might account for the pilot on another plane hearing the mumbled voice of Fariq over the air waves. This condition, hypoxia - oxygen starvation - might have led to the pilots fumbling with the controls, making mistakes and being unable to issue a MAYDAY before they passed out, turning MH370 into a ghost flight.

Another convincing theory.

HIJACKING

A conclusion put forward by Prime Minister Najib Razak more than a week ago based on the belief that someone in the flight deck had turned off all communications under duress.

This can possible be ruled out following the latest announcement - why would a hijacker order a Malaysian Airlines jet to fly to the southern Indian Ocean? 

SABOTAGE

One or both of the pilots - Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid - had deliberately shut down the communications and set the jet on a course into the Pacific.

This can again potentially be ruled out as it again raises the question - for what purpose?

 
Another theory is human error, although the 53-year-old pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has more than 18,000 flying hours and has been flying for the airline since 1981

Another theory is human error, although the 53-year-old pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has more than 18,000 flying hours and has been flying for the airline since 1981

PILOT SUICIDE

Did one of the pilots subdue the other in a determined attempt to kill himself along with all on board?  Nothing in their personalities shows that - but if he was going to do that, why not send the aircraft into a death plunge shortly after take-off? Why keep on flying for up to seven hours until the aircraft ran out of fuel? 

THEFT OF THE AIRCRAFT

Another theory is that the captain practised landing on a remote airstrip on his home-based flight recorder after being offered a fantastic sum of money by a criminal group who planned to repaint the aircraft and use it for a terrorist attack.

Nothing has been found to incriminate the captain - and what were the thieves going to do with more than 200 angry passengers? This can again possibly be ruled out following the latest announcement.

First officer Fariq Hamid, 27, has about 2,800 hours of experience and has flown for the airline since 2007

First officer Fariq Hamid, 27, has about 2,800 hours of experience and has flown for the airline since 2007

MECHANICAL FAILURE

Another potential explanation is that everything broke down except for the 'clever' aircraft's autopilot that kept it on a westward course, away from any country's radar, until it ran out of fuel and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.

TERROR ATTACK 

Everyone on board has been cleared of terrorist backgrounds and what was the purpose without a political or terrorist group claiming responsibility?

CYBER ATTACK

Was a passenger with a laptop computer able to hack into the aircraft's controls and render it useless in the hands of the pilot?

This would have been a complex scheme that would require a computer genius with a knowledge of that particular aircraft's controls - but why use those seemingly impossible skills to send the plane off on a flight to nowhere?


Comments (331)

Share what you think

 View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

So the last words of the Transcript are "Goodnight", correct? So just seconds later we have a terrible fire without warning and everyone is overcome by smoke and all communications equipment destroyed before it can be contacted by Vietnam Air Traffic Control? Yeah - whatever! Bit hard to seem credible....

1
1
 Click to rate

It's so important to take sedative medication before flying in order to aid sleep and soothe feelings of panic .

1
0
 Click to rate

Smoke inhalation?Flown mostly over water.If it is the wreckage of MH370 and if it was smoke,more than one maneuver was made off the flight path.NW to straights of Malacca,SW towards Indian Ocean,finally South,towards Southern Ocean/South Pole.With fuel calculations,seems further easterly taken off course, early on,then no turning back once positioned South,as inadequate fuel to reach closest land.So who made the final movement South?Obviously concious until positioned South.If it flew to max emergency fuel capacity,irony is,it couldv'e still been airborne,when declared missing in Beijing.If smoke/fire incident onboard,its a very long time to remain airborne.Bearing in mind, if passengers concious and navigation screens shut off, they wouldv'e physically seen the sunrise East,flying onwards South,over open Ocean and not China.If incapacitated early on,might explain lack of hysterical calls to loved ones,when still over/near land as separate oxygen supplies,passengers and flight deck.

0
1
 Click to rate

What about the pirates and fanatical pilots who -shock-horror- had a flight simulator at home?

0
2
 Click to rate

I am not buying this where is the plane?

1
3
 Click to rate

So still unbelievable that not one person on board, be they flight deck, crew or passengers,had no time to contact anyone at all, this makes no sense

4
6
 Click to rate

I'm never going on a plane again!!!

3
3
 Click to rate

Possibly!

0
1
 Click to rate

I don't understand how Boeing 777 pilots can be suddenly overcome with so much smoke - so fast - that they are immediately incapacitated. I mean if the plane were in that kind of distress, then how the hell did it make it all the way to the Maldives before burning up? Does Boeing not plan for catastrophic situations like cockpit smoke? It's happened before so one might conclude that they'd thought of a way to deal with it in an emergency.

2
9
 Click to rate

When I first read the Canadian pilot's theory and explanation, it sounded very logical. Sometimes there's no bad guy or conspiracy. Accidents happen.

5
28
 Click to rate

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now