New theory about the crash of flight MH370 incriminates the pilot of the missing machine
The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines MH370 is one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. Two search operations, coordinated by Australia and Malaysia, were unable to locate the Boeing that disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. However, wreckage that was washed up on the islands of La Réunion and Madagascar as well as on the African coast suggest that the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia.
Numerous theories have been spun around the disappearance. The then 53-year-old pilot was repeatedly targeted by the investigators. A new study is now burdening the pilot again. Because it shows that the aircraft performed a series of deliberate flight maneuvers that were only possible with a pilot at the wheel.
Invisible “trip wires”
Aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey, a member of the so-called Independent Group of Scientists, which was founded to solve the mystery of MH370, was able to present the new findings after analyzing radio signals. The signals known as “Weak Signal Propagation Reporter” (WSPR) extend across the globe. In an interview with Australian broadcaster ABC, Godfrey compared them to invisible “electronic trip wires” that are triggered when planes cross them. These data can be used in addition to those from the British Inmarsat satellite to trace the last route taken by the aircraft.
For his study, Godfrey developed his own aviation tracking system, with the help of which he analyzed the WSPR signals for the period in March 2014 every two minutes. Godfrey also came to the conclusion that the Boeing 777 crashed around the southern latitude of 34.5 – something that coincides with previous searches for the aircraft. But according to Godfrey, the trajectory up to the presumed crash site was “significantly different” than previously thought.
The expert came to the conclusion that the person who controlled the aircraft had flown numerous turns and also changed the speed. In this way he avoided commercial flight routes and left “wrong tracks” on unofficial routes. He flew on unofficial flight routes in the Malacca Strait, around Sumatra and over the southern Indian Ocean, as Godfrey said. “The flight route follows the coast of Sumatra and it flew close to the Banda Aceh airport.” The pilot apparently knew that the radar there would not be in operation at night and on weekends.
In order to “cover up” his tracks, he changed direction several times. Once he flew in the direction of the Indian Andaman Islands, then in the direction of South Africa, Java and the Cocos Islands. As soon as he was outside the flight routes of any other aircraft, the pilot changed course and headed south. “The route seems to have been carefully planned,” said Godfrey. This allows the conclusion that a pilot controlled the aircraft.
This brings the suicide theory back into the spotlight, which has been discussed again and again since the accident. It was only in February 2020 that the former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a Sky News documentary that he learned “early” from Malaysian officials that the pilot had probably committed suicide and killed another 238 people. “My understanding – my very clear understanding – of the top levels of the Malaysian government is that from the start they thought it was a suicide and therefore murder by the pilot,” Abbott said at the time.
Abbott’s statements clearly contradicted the final report of the Malaysian authorities. There it had been said that the flight captain was probably not responsible for the disappearance. Critics had previously claimed that the Malaysian government wanted to cover up the extended suicide theory in order to save face. Malaysia Airlines is owned by the state and is not a private company.
The 100 or so books that have been published about the disappearance of the MH370 propagate partly absurd conspiracy theories. One of these describes, for example, how the pilot murdered the passengers and parachuted himself down. “The relatives of MH370 passengers are traumatized by the endless speculation fueled mainly by British tabloids and websites,” aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas once wrote on Airlineratings.com.
In addition to many bizarre theories, however, there are also several plausible scenarios. These include an aircraft hijacking, a fire or a sudden lack of oxygen on board, which was triggered by a technical error.
