MH370's disappearance was 'crew-related and well planned': Expert says location of 'debris' suggests pilot intervention as search for ghost plane resumes in 10,000ft of water

  • Aviation expert says the search area increases likelihood that MH370 pilots deliberately flew plane off course
  • Expert Neil Hansford says: 'This was well structured and well planned'
  • Search back on as air teams joined by both military and commercial ships
  • Debris likely to be in 10,000ft of water and unlikely to be visible from the air
  • Two objects seen by satellite 1,500 miles southwest of Perth, Australia

By Simon Tomlinson and Sara Malm and Ted Thornhill and Chris Paine

Published: 00:08 EST, 20 March 2014 | Updated: 11:40 EST, 21 March 2014


The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was not an accident, according to an industry expert.

Neil Hansford, chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions, is convinced that the evidence points to the plane’s crew being involved.

What’s more, he claims, they’ve deliberately picked a remote area to send the plane to.

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Aviation expert Neil Hansford says he's confident that, whether it's an act of terrorism or activism, the disappearance of MH370 was well planned

Aviation expert Neil Hansford says he's confident that, whether it's an act of terrorism or activism, the disappearance of MH370 was well planned

A Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion takes off from Pearce air base to recommence a search for possible debris belonging to missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Two large objects were spotted on satellite in the southern Indian Ocean, some 2,500km off the coast of Perth

A Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion takes off from Pearce air base to recommence a search for possible debris belonging to missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Two large objects were spotted on satellite in the southern Indian Ocean, some 2,500km off the coast of Perth

The search is focused some 2,500km off Australia's west coast, where satellite images revealed two pieces of debris floating in the open ocean

The search is focused some 2,500km off Australia's west coast, where satellite images revealed two pieces of debris floating in the open ocean

In light of the objects picked up by a U.S satellite in the Indian Ocean, he told Network 10: 'I think it's been put there either by one of the crew or both, and they've picked an area where the aircraft won't be found.

'This was a crew-related incident. It wasn't a catastrophic explosion. It wasn't hit by military ordnance.

'[The debris is] in about 10,000ft of water. In that part of the world there's currents.

'Whether it's terrorism or activism, it's certainly something that has been well structured and well planned.'

He explained that the southern Indian Ocean would be a perfect spot to lose an aircraft.

He said: 'If I was trying to lose an aircraft, and make sure there was no evidence... you'd certainly be looking to put the aircraft it in very, very deep water a long way from land.

'In the end if it is in the area it's only going to be found by sonar and other maritime assets, not by aircraft assets.

'There's unlikely to be any naval ships in the area [for days]. You've almost been able to put it (MH370) in with little chance of anything floating up too quickly to be able to isolate the wreck.'

Mr Hansford pointed to the amount of fuel likely on board the Boeing 777-200, at nearly full capacity with 31,000 gallons instead of the 45 per cent loading required to pilot a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, as being a strong indicator that MH370's disappearance was not accidental.


Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 - one estimated to be 78ft in size - have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today. Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370

Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 - one estimated to be 78ft in size - have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today. Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370


Royal Australian Air Force Loadmasters, Sergeant Adam Roberts (L) and Flight Sergeant John Mancey (R), prepare to launch a data marker buoy from a C-130J Hercules aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Defence Force's assistance to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Royal Australian Air Force Loadmasters, Sergeant Adam Roberts (L) and Flight Sergeant John Mancey (R), prepare to launch a data marker buoy from a C-130J Hercules aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Defence Force's assistance to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Royal Australian Air Force loadmaster Flight Sergeant John Mancey scans the ocean while onboard a C-130J Hercules aircraft as it flies over the southern search area in the Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Defence Force's assistance to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Royal Australian Air Force loadmaster Flight Sergeant John Mancey scans the ocean while onboard a C-130J Hercules aircraft as it flies over the southern search area in the Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Defence Force's assistance to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

He added that given the location of the debris, the plane very well could have headed for mainland Australia, blaming the co-ordination effort in Malaysia for the slow and frustrating search.

'This aircraft has been positioned to where it is; it could as easily, more frighteningly, have been positioned to the centre of Australia,' Mr Hansford said.

'[Malaysian investigators] have never had control of this incident from the time the passenger manifest was never checked against the stolen passport.

'We've only seriously been involved for really five for six days. We were all out looking in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand until they realised they didn't have a clue.'

Commercial pilot Robert Mark, who is editor of Aviation International News Safety magazine, said the site of the new search area off the coast of Perth in relation to the plane's last-known location reduced the likelihood that it was hijacked.

Mr Mark told MailOnline: 'What I think is interesting is that if you look at where the plane was last seen on radar and where the debris has been found, it is almost a straight line.

'I would say it means that once the aircraft turned, it didn't change course. A mechanical fault or emergency seems more plausible to me.'

He said the plane could conceivably have flown on auto-pilot for another five to six hours, possibly a maximum of seven, from its last-known location off the west coast of Malaysia before running out of fuel.

The scenario also adds weight to speculation that a structural fault with the Boeing 777 could possibly be behind the plane's disappearance with 239 people on board.

Last week, it was reported that the US Federation Aviation Authority (FAA) ordered airlines to fix a potentially fatal flaw in some Boeing 777 jets six months ago - although the flaw did not affect the particular model of 777 used on the MH370.

The FAA reportedly warned the planes could suffer a drastic loss in cabin pressure or even break apart because of cracks or corrosion in the fuselage.

Malaysian authorities have insisted the plane had been 'fully serviced' and all the maintenance checks 'were in order'.

Meanwhile, Mr Marks said speculation that the plane had been taken for a suicide mission was also now more unlikely. Space technology: The images of the objects were taken on March 16 by U.S firm DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite - a commercial satellite launched in 2009 that operates at an altitude of 770km (480miles)

Space technology: The images of the objects were taken on March 16 by U.S firm DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite - a commercial satellite launched in 2009 that operates at an altitude of 770km (480miles)

'If you've taken a plane to commit suicide, why fly for seven hours?' he added.

However, he said he was unable to fully discount any theory and said the idea it may have been hijacked was still on the cards despite the absence of any obvious targets in the Indian Ocean.

Mr Mark added: 'It may have been on some other mission to one that was being hijacked for use some time later.

'We may find that whoever has taken the plane may be breaking new ground we have never experienced.

'We thought the Air France crash (in 2009) was a game-changer.

'It is going to be another one for the (history) books - we have never seen anything like this before.'

The agency co-ordinating the exhaustive search operation for MH370 still holds out hope of finding people alive, as authorities scramble to cover the massive 600,000 square-kilometre (230,000 square-mile) search area.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) revealed on Friday that they were preparing for the remote possibility of a human rescue mission, should the two large objects spotted by satellite some 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) off the coast of Perth be related to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

John Young, the general manager of AMSA's Emergency Response Division, said the focus of the massive search operation - which now includes 29 planes, 21 ships and six helicopters from more than 20 contributor countries - was first and foremost on trying to locate the large pieces of debris, one up to 24 metres (78ft) in length, the other five metres (16 feet).

'We want to find these objects because they might be the best lead to where we might find people to be rescued,' Mr Young said.

'We have done some work on that area and we're still focused on that task, to find people to be rescued.

Mission: Royal Australian Air Force pilot Sam Dudman monitors the systems of a RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft as it prepares to launch two Self Locating Data Marker Buoys in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the search for MH370

Mission: Royal Australian Air Force pilot Sam Dudman monitors the systems of a RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft as it prepares to launch two Self Locating Data Marker Buoys in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the search for MH370

'It is a very large team effort... with the international community providing technical support and information and we're all very grateful for that.'

The two objects are in one of the most remote areas of the world - about the same distance from Perth as London is from Moscow - which means that aircraft only have a limited time to conduct searches.

And it takes them four hours to get there.

What's more, the area is renowned for shipping debris - so much so that it's dubbed 'the maritime dustbin'.

There is a strong chance, therefore, that the objects in fact fell off a ship.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who announced news of the objects on Thursday, warned: 'It could just be a container that has fallen off a ship. We just don't know.'

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced in Parliament on Thursday that new and credible information had come to light in the search for MH370

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced in Parliament on Thursday that new and credible information had come to light in the search for MH370


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This Google Earth map shows just how remote the search area is

Vast: This Google Earth map shows just how remote the search area is in the southern Indian Ocean

Treacherous weather hampered Thursday's search effort, but the operation resumed on Friday in much clearer weather, with planes scouring an area slightly to the north of the zone that was combed initially.

This is because strong currents may have moved the objects.

'It's about the most inaccessible spot that you can imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it,' Mr  Abbott told reporters in Papua New Guineau, where he is on a visit.

'We owe it to the families of those people (on board) to do no less.'

Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 - one estimated to be 78ft in size - have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today. Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370

Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 - one estimated to be 78ft in size - have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today. Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370

The debris was spotted on satellite imagery and a total of four aircraft have been sent to investigate the sighting, some 1553 miles off the coast of Perth

The debris was spotted on satellite imagery and a total of four aircraft have been sent to investigate the sighting, some 1553 miles off the coast of Perth

 

The pilot from the first RAAF P3 Orion to return from its second sweep of the search area told a press gathering at Pearce RAAF air base: 'We've got a lot of hope.'

'We got out there and had really good weather,' he said.

'Compared to yesterday the visibility was great, more than 10km visibility, we had a really opportunity to see.

'There are more aircraft out there, still searching, and with any luck we'll find something shortly. We've got a lot of hope.'

COULD MH370 HAVE CRASHED DUE TO A NEW FAULT WITH A BOEING?

While the 777 has an excellent safety record, with an accident rate of one quarter the rate of the total jet fleet, theories abound about mechanical or structural failures that could have contributed to the disappearance of flight MH370.

If something did turn out to be wrong with the aircraft it would be the latest in a long list of problems that have beset Boeing planes recently, albeit incidents that mainly occurred on its 787 model and didn't involve any injuries, fatalities or aircraft losses.

Here are some of them:

January 7, 2013: The battery on an empty Dreamliner caught fire at Boston airport

January 15, 2013: A flight made an emergency landing in Japan after a smoke alarm went off. The string of incidents led to regulators ordering a global grounding of the entire Dreamliner fleet, which lasted for four months

July 12, 2013: Ethiopian Airlines plane catches fire on the runway at Heathrow, forcing the closure of the whole airport

January 14, 2014: Norwegian Airlines Boeing 787 was preparing to take off from Bangkok on a journey to Oslo when a passenger saw that fuel was leaking on to the runway

Earlier, aviation expert Neil Fergus, who was Director of Intelligence for Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, told Australia's Channel 9 that he believed catastrophic malfunction on MH370 would mean the plane couldn’t have flown all the way to where the debris has been spotted.

The Bangkok-based specialist said it could only have occurred with human involvement – either by passengers, crew or pilots Capt Shah and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.

‘If this debris does turn out to be the missing MH370 then, given its location, we can definitely rule out technical malfunction,’ he said.

‘There is no way with (some) sort of technical calamity or fire that it could have travelled to where it appears to be. It would in the first instance confirm human intervention.’

Another aviation expert believes the plane may have crashed as a result of foul play and a technical fault.

Peter Marosszeky, from the University of New South Wales School of Aviation, told the Sydney Morning Herald: 'It looks there was foul play and whoever was the in cockpit couldn't get the plane to work the way they wanted it to.'

He believes all electronic signals and lights would have been disabled at the time communication was cut off.

However, a top air-crash investigator said the fate of MH370 may forever remain a mystery unless a human cause can be found for its disappearance.

Thomas Anthony, a former security chief with the Federal Aviation Administration, told Sky News: 'If the aircraft breaks, the technical investigation will likely disclose the causes.

'If the human breaks, the technical investigation may actually provide no answers to what caused the accident, incident or crash.'

His comments come as investigators were reportedly trying to identify a mysterious phone call made by pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah while he was in the cockpit.

It is not known who he rang or what was said, but officials believe the call, made minutes before the plane took off, could solve the mystery of the flight's disappearance, The Sun reported.

The actions of the pilots have come under fresh scrutiny in recent days after the Malaysian Prime Minister said the plane had changed course as a result of 'deliberate action' on the flight.

It was reported that Capt Shah had programmed a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a runway long enough to land a Boeing 777 into his home flight simulator.

A U.S. official said the Malaysian government is seeking the FBI's help in analysing any electronic files deleted last month from the pilot's simulator.

The official, speaking anonymously, said the FBI has been provided electronic data to analyse.

CNN also reported investigators at Quantico, a Marine Corps base and home to FBI labs, were examining 'hard drives belonging to two pilots'.

Malaysia's defense minister said investigators were trying to restore files deleted from the simulator last month to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.

Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted February 3.

Enlarge   Search area: A handout picture made available by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on 20 March 2014 shows a map of the search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Search area: A handout picture made available by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on 20 March 2014 shows a map of the search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370


Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah
Co-pilot Fariq Hamid

Security expert Neil Fergus said the plane could only have flown to the new search area with human involvement – either by passengers, crew or pilots Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah (left) and Fariq Hamid (right)

It emerged on Thursday that four days were wasted searching the wrong area because of delays by Malaysian officials in releasing crucial satellite data that changed the entire course of the investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

On March 11, a British satellite operator released data analysis and other documents that showed how the plane could have taken one of two corridors - north and south - stretching some 3,000 miles from the plane's last known location.

It was handed to a partner company then passed to the Malaysian government the following day.

Satellite operator Inmarsat also handed the information to British security and air-safety officials at the same time.

Two people familiar with the investigation said the information may not have been made available to the search teams until March 13.

But disputes about cross-checking the data and how much of it to release meant the decision to shift resources from the South China Sea did not happen until March 15 - the day Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak admitted the flight was diverted as a result of 'deliberate action' on the plane.

Reports also suggested that Malaysia Airlines did not buy a basic app that helped locate the Air France plane that crashed in 2009.

The software, which costs just £6 a flight, would have continued sending crucial data such as direction, speed and altitude even after the transponder and ACARS systems were switched off, the Washington Post reported.

It proved pivotal to finding the Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic ocean by enabling search teams to triangulate the search area to around 64 kilometres. They found the debris in just five days.

But the app, called Swift, was reportedly not being used on MH370.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO FIND FLIGHT MH370'S CRUCIAL 'BLACK BOX'

An expert has said time is of the essence as the search mission for flight MH370 turns its attention to the southern tip of the Indian Ocean.

Canadian pilot Chris Goodfellow told The Toronto Star, that in about two weeks the missing Boeing 777's 'black box' cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder will stop emitting the vital pinging sound and fall silent.

The 66-year-old, who lives in Florida, said that eventuality will make it much harder to locate the aircraft.

'If there is no ping, that’s a whole other kettle of fish,' he said. 

Mr Goodfellow said he is confident that the search mission is concentrating on the right area, after two large floating objects, which could  be debris, were spotted off the western coast of Australia.

He said he believes the aircraft made a 90-degree turn off its planned flight path, after the crew detected a fire on board.

He posted his thoughts on his blog, revealing he thinks speculation about terrorism, hijacking and suicide missions being to blame are 'wildly unfair'.

He said were a fire detected on board, the pilot would have been trained to prepare for an emergency landing - in his theory the pilot of flight MH370 could have been heading for a 13,000ft runway on the island of Langkawi.

Mr Goodfellow said it would be a logical place for the pilot to consider, adding he would have been trained to have a safe alternate landing spot in mind.

He added:  'I have over 50 per cent confidence this morning that this is a piece of the aircraft.
'It’s going to be a long process to find the main body of the aircraft.'

Enlarge   Mystery: Australian security expert Neil Fergus says if objects spotted by satellite off the coast of Perth are confirmed as belonging to MH370 then its location would rule out any possibility of a technical error.

Mystery: Australian security expert Neil Fergus says if objects spotted by satellite off the coast of Perth are confirmed as belonging to MH370 then its location would rule out any possibility of a technical error.


THE BAFFLING SEARCH FOR MH370: HOW EVENTS HAVE UNFOLDED

March 8 - Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time bound for Beijing carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.

Someone, apparently the co-pilot, makes the final voice communication from the cockpit at 01.19am, saying 'All right, good night' to air traffic controllers.

The plane is last seen on military radar at 02.14am heading west over the Strait of Malacca. Half an hour later the airline reveals to the public it has lost contact with the plane. The plane was due to land around 6.30am.

Officials reveal two passports used to board the flight were stolen, raising the first suspicions of terrorist involvement.

March 9 - Malaysia's air force chief says that military radar indicated the missing Boeing 777 jet may have turned back.

March 10 - Vietnamese aircraft search for a plane door spotted in their waters but find nothing.

March 11 - The hunt is widened to cover a 115-nautical mile radius involving 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries.

The Malaysian military claims it has radar evidence showing that the missing plane changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait which is hundreds of miles away from the last location reported by civilian authorities. The aircraft was believed to be flying low.

The two male passengers travelling with stolen passports were Iranians who had bought tickets to Europe and were probably not terrorists, Malaysian police said.

March 12 - Satellite images on a Chinese government website shows suspected debris from the missing plane floating off the southern tip of Vietnam, China's Xinhua News Agency says.

The report includes co-ordinates of a location in the sea off the southern tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia, near the plane's original flight path.

March 13 - Malaysian authorities expand their search for the missing jet into the Andaman Sea and beyond after acknowledging it could have flown for several more hours after its last contact with the ground.

Nothing was found when planes were sent to search an area off southern Vietnam identified by Chinese satellite images.

The Chinese Embassy notifies the Malaysian government that the images were released by mistake and did not show any debris from the missing flight.

March 15 - Prime Minister Najib Razak's says the missing airliner was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with the ground. The plane could have gone as far north west as Kazakhstan or into the Indian Ocean's southern reaches.

Malaysian police have already said they are looking at the psychological state, family life and connections of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27. Both have been described as respectable, community-minded men.

March 16 - The search area now includes 11 countries the plane might have flown over. The number of countries involved in the operation had increased from 14 to 25.

Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he had asked governments to hand over sensitive radar and satellite data to try to help get a better idea of the plane's final movements.

March 17 - Officials release a new timeline suggesting the final voice transmission from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian plane may have occurred before any of its communications systems were disabled.

Investigators have not ruled out hijacking, sabotage, or pilot suicide, and they are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.

March 18 - Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand's military said it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but did not report it 'because we did not pay attention to it'.

March 19 - Distressed relatives of the missing passengers threaten to go on hunger strike over the lack of information about the investigation.

March 20 - Two objects which could be connected to the missing jet are detected in the southern India Ocean, the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said.