Families of victims outraged over MH370 final report

THE devastated wife of one of the Australian passengers on board MH370 says she feels “deflated” by the failure of the report to reveal anything new.

WHEN MH370 changed its course and flew away in the opposite direction with 239 people on board it was “likely” under manual control, not autopilot, a long-awaited report into one of aviation’s greatest mysteries says.

The report says the communication systems on the plane were also “likely” to have been manually turned off or had power interrupted to them but there was no suggestion the flight was trying to evade radar.

The MH370 report has failed to answer key questions, say angry relatives.

But it makes no suggestion that the pilot, co-pilot or crew had anything to do with the plane’s disappearance, saying that the pilot had nothing in his background, family and medical history to suggest he was harbouring problems.

The pilot’s home flight simulator, which was examined, found “there were no unusual activities other than game-related flight simulations”, saying that manually programmed points could not be shown to have plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed MH370 is now resting.

MORE: How the MH370 tragedy unfolded

The report says Captain Zaharie Shah had nothing in his background to suggest he was harbouring problems.

The 495-plus-page report from the Malaysian Safety Investigation Team was released in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, four and a half years after MH370 disappeared on a routine flight from Malaysia to Beijing flight on March 8, 2014.

The report, which contained no new information from the investigation team and which lamented only the discovery of MH370 itself would lead to the truth, was dedicated to the memory of the passengers and crew.

“They will be forever missed by their families, friends and colleagues, but never forgotten.”

MORE: What we still don’t know about MH370

Grace Subathirai Nathan, daughter of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passenger Anne Daisy, speaks during a press conference after being presented with the final investigation report.

VICTIM’S WIFE FEELS ‘DEFLATED’

The report was released first to family members in Kuala Lumpur who were briefed by investigators about the findings before it was later publicly released. A last-minute offer to fly foreign families to Malaysia was slammed by families, including Sunshine Coast woman Danica Weeks.

Ms Weeks, whose husband Paul was on board the plane, was offered a free trip to Malaysia on Friday, far too late for her to make arrangements for her two young sons, now aged five and seven.

She said she felt “deflated” by the failure of the report to reveal anything new.

“Where does that leave us? We are in the wheel again going around and around. It just keeps on going and it just sucks. You have all these hopes that one day someone is going to tell you where your husband is, but it doesn’t happen,” Ms Weeks said.

Danica Weeks, with her two sons Jack and Lincoln, lost her husband Paul.

Melbourne-based Jennifer Chong, whose husband Chong Ling Tan, a Malaysian citizen was on the plane, tweeted her disappointment: “1605 days of waiting, 495 pages of ‘final’ report — Only one sentence worthy of mention: In conclusion, the Team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of #MH370. Unacceptable.”

MH370 diverted from its normal flight path after signing off to Malaysian air traffic control and turned back.

Aussie victims Mary and Rodney Burrows were on the doomed flight.

A series of satellite transmissions from the plane were later analysed and it was concluded that MH370 ended its journey deep in the southern Indian Ocean. Underwater searches, which ended in May this year, failed to find any trace of the plane. Several pieces of wreckage, washed ashore in Tanzania and Mauritius, have been confirmed from the missing plane.

While not ruling anything in or out, the report suggests “there is no evidence to suggest that a malfunction had caused the aircraft to divert from its filed flight plan route”.

A reconstruction flight, in a B777 simulator, found the first turn back was likely made while the aircraft was under manual control and not the autopilot. But it could not be established if the other two turns made by the plane were manual or autopilot.

The report suggests “there is no evidence to suggest that a malfunction had caused the aircraft to divert from its filed flight plan route”.

“Although it cannot be conclusively ruled out that an aircraft or system malfunction was a cause, based on the limited evidence available, it is more likely that the loss of communication … prior to the diversion is due to the systems being manually turned off or power interrupted to them or additionally in the case of VHF and HF, not used, whether with intent or otherwise.”

The report found that the changes in flight path, heading back across the Malaysian Peninsula, turning south of Penang and another turn toward the southern Indian Ocean “are difficult to attribute to any specific aircraft system failure. It is more likely that such manoeuvres are due to the systems being manipulated.”

INVESTIGATION SAYS PILOT NOT RESPONSIBLE

Dr Kok Soo Chon, head of the search team, suggested the investigation did not believe the pilot was responsible.

“We cannot deny that there was a turn back. We are not ruling out any possibility.

“(But) we are not of the opinion it could be an event committed by the pilot.”

The report says that MH370 was not carrying any cargo which could be classified as dangerous goods and that extensive testing on Lithium-ion batteries and mangosteen in the cargo hold had been carried out following speculation that both could have been a fire hazard.

Concerns that the mangosteen and batteries could have mixed and caused hazardous fumes or a short circuit and fire were deemed “highly improbable”.

“In conclusion, the team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370.”