Aviation expert says report into the disappearance of flight MH370 may have been ‘doctored’
AVIATION experts investigating the mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have claimed the official report into its disappearance may have been edited.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE bombshell report on missing flight MH370 was doctored and crucial information about the jet’s final message was edited, it is claimed.
A blog dedicated to the disappearance of the jumbo jet, which killed 38 Australians, points out message logs released by Malaysia Airlines in the July report are either incomplete or have been modified.
Victor Iannello runs a website dedicated to solving the jet’s mysterious disappearance and made these claims on his blog, reports The Sun.
He writes that he found “anomalies” in the message logs about the traffic.
In the logs it was reported that an urgent message was submitted at 18:03 and then retransmitted numerous times.
The report states that the message was retransmitted until 18:43, but Mr Iannello points out that it actually occurred at 18:15.
Furthermore, it is also claimed the text of that message was edited.
Mr Iannello writes the last line of the message has a misplaced symbol giving clues into how the official report was doctored.
He said: “The anomalies suggest the traffic logs appearing in the reports are not complete, and what appears in the reports has been modified.
“It is disappointing that more than four years after MH370’s disappearance, we are still asking Malaysia to release withheld data.”
On July 30 a 495-page report by the Malaysian government was released and showed that the aircraft was under manual control when it deviated before plunging into the Indian Ocean.
The doomed jet went missing on March 8, 2014 and killed 239 people.
The Malaysia Airlines flight was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared and has never been found despite extensive searches.
The official and final report revealed that the doomed jet was deliberately turned off course and could not rule out that it may have been hijacked by a “third party”.
One of the theories is that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately downed the plane, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in an act of murder-suicide.
The report by the official safety investigation team has not assigned blame to any individuals and has not been able to determine why the plane changed course and eventually crashed — leaving the mystery unsolved.
The Malaysian government will only re-open their investigation if new evidence emerges.
Chief investigator Dr Kok Soo Chon told reporters that his team believe the Malaysian Airlines plane was under manual control and was intentionally downed.
He said: “We cannot establish if the aircraft was flown by anyone other than the pilot.”
Speaking about why the aircraft deviated thousands of miles from its course, he said: “The autopilot has to be disengaged,” reported Adelaide Now.
He continued: “It has to be on manual. We have carried out seven simulator tests, flight simulators, three at high and four at low speed and we found the turn was made indeed under a manual, not autopilot.”
Dr Kok said the investigators examined the history of the pilot and the first officer and were satisfied with their background, training and mental health.
A 2017 report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau showed that pilot Zaharie had used his own flight simulator six weeks before the crash to fly a route which was “initially similar” to the one taken by MH370.
However, Malaysian authorities concluded that the flight simulations were game-related and that there was no unusual activities on the simulator.
Another claim is that there is evidence to show the Boeing 777 was intercepted by a fighter jet before it disappeared.
Andre Milne, founder of military technology developer Unicorn Aerospace, said a picture showed the velocity of the aircraft reaching a height of 58,200 feet (17,740m) but added a Boeing could not go higher than 44,000 (13,500m).
The only plane capable of that high altitude was the Russian made Sukhoi SU 30, which are used by the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Mr Milne told the Daily Star: “A jet fighter was deployed to intercept MH370.
“The discovery of this suppressed evidence raises serious issues on multiple levels ranging from total loss of credibility for the Malaysian government to the culpability factor that the Malaysian government is now subject to for the overall disappearance of the passengers and the crew.
“This also means that virtually every single MH370 disclosure made by the government is now suspect as being a fabrication.
“The fact a fighter jet was deployed despite repeated denials with the bizarre explanation that the mystery radar returns approaching Malaysian airspace were deemed as friendly strongly suggests that the radar returns were in fact deemed the opposite of friendly as now being deemed as hostile and or a threat.”
Others reported that while there were no major surprises the report contained more details as to the extent in which Air Traffic Control allegedly “messed up”.
The 495-page report was also condemned by French investigators who said it was “imprecise and ambiguous”.
Unsatisfied with the findings, the Gendarmerie of Air Transport (GTA) has launched its own probe into the mysterious disappearance.
This story was originally published in The Sun and is reprinted with permission.
Originally published as Aviation expert says report into the disappearance of flight MH370 may have been ‘doctored’
‘Not welcome arms’: Why Aussie expats don’t return
They’ll always be Aussies, but our expats who have pulled up stumps to chase their dreams overseas are facing increasingly high hurdles to return. See why and watch the video.
‘Bong-wielding man’ goes berserk on highway
A well-known wildlife expert was attacked with what appears to be a bong in a bizarre road rage incident.