Will aviation’s greatest modern mystery of MH370 ever be solved?
IT’S been almost two-and-a-half years since Malaysia Airlines MH370 vanished, apparently crashing into the ocean. Will the world’s biggest aviation puzzle ever be solved?
FOR more than two years now, the mystery of MH370 has kept the world guessing.
So far nobody has been able to say why the Malaysia Airlines’ flight went dramatically off course, at the same time as all communication with the aircraft was lost.
Even harder to explain is why the Boeing 777 then flew for more than seven hours before apparently crashing into the Southern Indian Ocean.
On board were 239 people from 14 countries including Australia, China, Malaysia, the US, New Zealand and a host of others.
STARTLING REVELATION: Pilot plotted MH370 route on flight simulator
Among the theories put forward are catastrophic fire — possibly as a result of the load of lithium ion batteries on board, hijacking and pilot murder-suicide.
The latter is considered the easiest “fit” with what is known about the plane’s movements but no real motive has been established.
The family of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah has angrily rejected suggestions he would commit such an atrocity.
But FBI evidence he tested a “one-way” flight path remarkably similar to the one MH370 is thought to have taken, cannot be ignored.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau insists the simulator information shows only evidence of possible “planning” and nothing further.
A former flight simulator training instructor told News Corp it seemed highly unusual for such a path to be tested.
“I cannot think of any reason you’d want to go down to the Southern Indian Ocean, especially as the pilot of an airline that never flies in that area,” says the former instructor.
“Someone with Air New Zealand or Qantas who occasionally flies down to Antarctica might at a stretch.”
“But to think about a particular flight plan which goes down to the SIO, you’d wonder what benefit would it have from a career and pilot perspective? I can’t think of one.”
US blogger and lawyer Blaine Gibson, who has dedicated more than a year of his life to finding debris from MH370 in the hope of solving the mystery, is angry the finger is again being pointed at Captain Zaharie.
Having spent considerable time getting to know the families of those on board the Malaysia Airlines’ flight, Gibson says it’s offensive to dredge up claims that have previously been shown to amount to nothing.
“There is absolutely no evidence in the background of the pilot and the co-pilot that they would do anything to end their lives, and the lives of their passengers,” he says.
“This is a guy who loves to fly, he’s a flight instructor and he loves to play with this simulator.
“He loves to travel and he sits there in a simulator and flies to all these interesting places.”
But Gibson does understand the desperate desire for answers about how a modern aircraft could simply vanish in an era when even a mobile phone can easily be traced.
It’s why he took it upon himself in 2015 to launch his own hunt, in a mission that has taken him to Malaysia, Australia, the Maldives, Mozambique and Madagascar.
In that time, he has found a range of aircraft debris — some of which has been confirmed as “almost certainly” from MH370 and other items which are yet to be collected by Malaysia.
Gibson says as the only physical evidence that MH370 did indeed crash in the Indian Ocean south of the equator, the debris should be enough to keep the search going.
“The countries have said “we need new credible evidence to extend the search” — well this is it,” Gibson says.
“They need to put this together with the satellite data and redefine the search area.”
University of Western Australia oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi says the location of confirmed MH370 debris to date does indicate a final resting place to the north of the zone currently being searched.
“I can’t definitely say (the Australian Transport Safety Bureau) is searching in the wrong place because I don’t know all the evidence they’re using,” said Professor Pattiaratchi.
“Based purely on oceanography, which does have a degree of error, I’d say the wreckage is closer to 32 degrees south, plus or minus two degrees.”
The priority search zone is focusing on a segment of the seventh arc between 32 and 35 degrees south.
With fewer than 10,000 square kilometres left to be scoured, authorities have conceded they are no longer confident of a result.
The man who had ministerial oversight of the operation for almost two-years, former Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, says the “most prospective” places were searched first.
“It would be extraordinary if it was found on the last day,” says Truss.
“(The current) areas are less prospective but how long do you keep going?”
He’s adamant there has been no cover-up, no information held back from families or the public and nothing less than a total commitment by those involved to find the aircraft.
But Labor’s Transport and Infrastructure spokesman, Anthony Albanese is not convinced the government has shared all of the information it has received from Malaysia.
“My concern all along has been the need for clarity for the families affected by this tragedy,” says Albanese.
“The Australian Government should be transparent about what it knows about issues related to this.”
For next of kin, like Melbourne’s Jennifer Chong, the daily torment of wondering what happened to husband ChongLing Tan has not eased over time.
After travelling to Kuala Lumpur for last week’s announcement on the future of the search, Ms Chong sought a meeting with Malaysia’s Minister of Transport.
The eldest daughter of Brisbane passengers Rod and Mary Burrows, Karla McMaster, also tried to facilitate a meeting with Malaysia’s High Commissioner through the Joint Agency Coordination Centre and was denied.
Chong says that sort of treatment of next of kin only serves to foster suspicion and distrust.
“I cannot fathom why the Malaysian Government acts the way it does if there is nothing to hide,” she says.
“Voice370, the official family support group has never received any official reply from the Malaysian Government, regardless of how many letters we wrote to them.”
“Comparing the continued unresponsiveness of the Malaysian Government to the open and healthy dialogue families have with (Australia’s) Joint Agency Coordination Centre is unbelievable. Whose national carrier was it anyway?”
Gibson says it was ridiculous to suggest Australia was part of a “deliberately fruitless search”.
“They’re doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances,” he says.
“In Malaysia the mid-level people are very good, the investigators really want to get to the truth.
“But at the higher level, they’re getting tired of this. It’s costing a lot of money and they just want to forget about it.”
Attempts by News Corp to secure an interview with Malaysia’s Minister of Transport or even a statement also went unanswered.
Malaysia has offered no indication when a final report on its investigation into MH370 might be released although police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has hinted it will not be anytime soon.
“Whatever findings now are not conclusive until we recover the black box which will tell us what actually happened ... if not, everything else is speculative,” Khalid says.
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