Missing plane MH370 hijacked by ‘experienced pilot’ before disappearance, say experts

Flight MH370 disappeared about 38 minutes after leaving Kuala Lumpur airport in southern Malaysia en route to Beijing, China, on March 8, 2014.

Despite a frantic search by governments and private companies, the plane was never found and the fate of its 237 passengers remains unknown.

In September, aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly called for a new search based on revelations about the fate of the flight.

During a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society, the pair said the new search area could be canvassed in just 10 days in an open call for help.

“We have done our homework. We have a proposal … the area is small and considering new capabilities it will take 10 days,” Mr Marchand said.

“It could be a quick thing. Until the wreck of MH370 is found, nobody knows (what happened). But, this is a plausible trajectory.”

The pair called on the Australian Transport Safety Authority, Malaysian government, and exploration company Ocean Infinity to begin a new search.

Last year, Ocean Infinity revealed it was interested in a restarting its search having canvassed swathes of Indian Ocean on a “no find, no fee” basis.

Mr Marchand said the “swift” search could be a good proving ground for the company’s new unmanned sub-nautical search technology.

Importantly, the pair told the RAS the new search area was based on the belief the plane was purposefully hijacked and downed in deep ocean.

Mr Marchad described it as an “atrocious one-way journey”, which he believed was likely carried out by an experienced aeroplane pilot.

“We think, and the study that we’ve done has shown us, that the hijacking was probably performed by an experienced pilot,” Mr Marchad said.

“The cabin was depressurised … and it was a soft control ditching to produce minimal debris. It was performed as to not be trapped or found.

“Certainly, the aircraft was not visible except for military. The guy knew that if search and rescue would be triggered it would be on the flight path.”

The pair gave further evidence that the plane’s transponder was turned off and that the “U-turn” it did away from the flight path could not have been autopilot.

Critically, they said the sudden change in direction occurred when the plane was in a “no man’s land”, between Thai, Indonesian, Indian, and Malay airspace.

“What would have been the intention of the hijackers? This is a very sensitive area. You have Thai, south Indian radar coverage, but they don’t care,” Mr Macrhard said.

“You have reached the war range, but also the radar, so this zone here is in no man’s land. No control, no visibility for Kuala Lumpur. So, the guy can do whatever he wants.”

The bold claim comes after a separate new report into the missing aeroplane posited a new search area off the Australian coast, sparking new interest in a search.

The 229-page report suggested the missing wreckage could be located about 1560km west of Perth, and was based off “groundbreaking” radio technology.

Researchers Richard Godfrey, Dr Hannes Coetzee, and Professor Simon Maskell used weak signal propagation reporter or WSPR, to track the plane.

“This technology has been developed over the past three years and the results represent credible new evidence,” the researchers stated.

“It aligns with analyses by Boeing (…) and drift analyses by University of Western Australia of debris recovered around the Indian Ocean.”

The disappearance of MH370 is one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries and has captured the fascination of experts and conspiracy theorists alike.

MH370 departed Malaysia shortly before 5pm with 12 crew and 227 passengers from 14 nations, including 153 people from China.

About 5.20pm, Captain Zahrie Shah responded to Malaysia air traffic control, stating: “ … contact Ho Chi Minh (…) good night.”

Shockingly, the plane soon after went “dark” before diverting back over Malaysia, the opposite direction from the intended flight path.

Primary civilian and military radar data reported the plane travelling back over the Malacca Strait and into the vast Indian Ocean.

After about 7.5 hours, MH370 ran out of fuel and subsequently crashed 11 minutes later into the ocean, and was never found.

Debris of the plane was found as far away as Madagascar in the years following, with 41 one pieces in total recovered.

Speculation about the reason for the strange detour run the gamut from terrorist hijacking or that it was for some reason captured by the US.

Allegations, disputed heavily by US authorities such as the FBI, claim the plane was flown under instruction to a remote island or atoll.

Other claims circulated around Captain Shah’s family and whether the plane was purposefully ditched into the Indian Ocean.

For their part, Mr Marchand and Blelly said they did not formally blame the pilot, but also could no absolve him until the plane was found.

The possibility of a fire, a cyber attack, or that the plane has been shot down have all been posited, but fail to credible answer the mystery.

The same year, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down by Russian-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, sparking outrage.

Indonesia, nearby to Malaysia, also witnessed a tragedy in 2018 when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea only 13 minutes after takeoff.