Conspiracy Theories: Malaysian Flight 370 by Alexa Akers

The disappearance of Zaharie Shah and Malaysian flight 370—did the plane get hijacked? Or did the pilot want to commit suicide? This plane was carrying 239 people. Its disappearance took place on March 8, 2014. We will talk about how the pilot may have wanted to commit suicide and then just decided to take down the plane with him, or how this could have been Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was the pilot of the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines flight 370 which crashed unexplainably into the Indian ocean. Shah was fifty-three years old and from Penang, Malaysia. He became a cadet pilot with the airlines in 1981 and quickly rose through the ranks becoming a pilot by 1991 (Drakeford). He became the captain of Airbus A330-300 in 1996 and then became the captain of Boeing 777-200 only two years later. He was a respected pilot with many years of experience. When the plane went missing, there was no concern about the pilot or any dark motives. He was described as a brilliant and skillful pilot who knew how to fly the plane. He was an aviation geek who was knowledgeable and respected and was a veteran pilot with over 18,365 hours of flight time (Moran and Siemaszko). Malaysian Airlines has continued to dismiss Shah as the culprit behind the crash.

Shah’s family describes him as a kind man who was loving and affectionate. He was passionate about food, family, and flying. He lived in Kuala Lumper with his wife and three children. Shah’s family continues to profess his innocence calling the reports that he may have crashed the plane nonsense (Drakeford). His friends and family describe him as a kind man who was easy-going. Yet new evidence reveals that he may have been in a mid-life crisis.

A new investigation has revealed evidence that Shah was stalking twins on Facebook. He openly used social media to follow women and posted rants against his government with no apparent attempts to conceal his identity (Thomas). The investigation cited self-destructive and reckless online behavior by Shah with no efforts to hide his identity. Shah was a married man with children. Other reports have surfaced stating that his wife was leaving him on the day of the crash and taking his children with her. His friends claim that he was very distressed that his marriage was falling apart and was not in a state of mind to be flying (Moran and Siemaszko). Experts cite his behavior has obsessive and reckless which are characteristics not seen in a pilot. He was outspoken about politics and seemed infatuated with the girls he followed on social media (Thomas). He sent multiple racy messages to the twins on social media before the plane crashed. Image result for malaysian flight 370

Yet Shah’s sister continues to defend his innocence amidst growing evidence that he was unstable. She believes that he loved life and that he loved the lifestyle he led (Holmes). His sister maintains that he had a wonderful sense of humor and a passion for life, his family, and flying. Shah married his childhood sweetheart and was a father to two sons and daughter. He also had a grandson. His family continues to describe him as a loving man who would help anyone in need. His family said he was compassionate towards others and would often help people fix their homes with his skills as a carpenter. His family members said their homes reminded them of him every day as he had helped repair leaks, framed pictures, installed electronics, and even built a fish pond (Holmes). They further describe his career as flawless with a great loyalty towards his employer. Malaysian airlines funded his pilot training which fulfilled his dream of becoming a pilot. The family is saddened that the media continues to assassinate his character and his family remains distraught over his death.

a terroristic attack.

Malaysia flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur on a scheduled flight to Beijing with a flight crew of twelve and two hundred twenty-seven passengers on board on 8 March 2014. The last communication between the crew and air traffic control was thirty-eight minutes into the flight (Wardell). Lost from radar but tracked by the military for another hour, the flight deviated from the official flight plan (Corby). The world watched the news coverage of this missing flight anticipating a quick recovery of the plane and explanation of what had gone so horribly wrong on that fateful flight. Four years later, the aircraft has never been found, and the crew and passengers are presumed dead. The search for the plane has been the most extensive and costly in aviation history (Wardell). Investigations have concluded that the flight probably crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Concerning Malaysian flight 370 and the inquiry of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, there are two primary conspiracy theories about what happened to this ill-fated commercial flight. The first theory asks the question, did the plane get hijacked? The second theory centers on the idea that the pilot, Shah, may have intended to commit suicide.

When tragedies of this magnitude occur, it is not uncommon for conspiracy theories to develop. After the events of September 11, 2001, the cause of an airline crash is first examined under the lens of terrorism. MH370 proved no different as the first theory emerged that the plane was hijacked. Studies show that the plane was deliberately redirected from its route (Bloomberg). Investigators were able to establish that the aircraft turned back under manual control and not because of “anomalies in the mechanical system of the aircraft” (Kindred). While no evidence has surfaced that the plane was hijacked, many experts agree that it cannot be ruled as a possibility that a third party took control of the aircraft. Even though about twenty small parts of the plane have been found, experts are unable to determine if the aircraft broke apart in midair or as it made an impact with the ocean (Kindred). The critical piece of evidence in this theory is that the plane was turned back manually.

There is also a belief that the cargo manifest detailing the contents on the plane was wrong, leading some to believe that there was military information or materials on the plane that someone wanted to make sure did not make it to China (Bloomberg). North Korea has been cited as a possible source of hijacking or even shooting down the plane to keep it from getting to China based on their history of military conflict. One of the latest reports suggests that because the controls were deliberately manipulated, it is a strong probability that the plane was hijacked (Lagan, 2018). The Malaysian government concluded in their report that aircraft malfunction was not a cause as it continued to fly for six hours after losing contact with ground crews as evidenced by satellite data obtained after the crash (Evers). They also cite the manual flying of the plane as evidence that a third party may have taken over the flight.

The second theory is based on disturbing information that was uncovered about the activities of the pilot. Using wreckage found in the ocean, Canadian accident investigator Larry Vance concluded that the flaps of the airplane had been fully extended at the time it hit the water which only is done manually from the cockpit (Evers). Because none of the seat cushions have washed up on a beach, Vance believes that the fuselage of the airplane is intact on the bottom of the ocean which would indicate the pilot ditched the aircraft at low speed into the sea. Other experts cite the pilot taking a detour over Penang, Malaysia which was his hometown (Wootson).

Experts believe that the pilot may have depressurized the plane which would have made everyone unconscious. They think this would explain why there were no text messages from passengers, no final goodbye texts, or attempted emergency calls as the plane veered off course (Wootson). Another telling detail from the flight was the aircraft dipped the wing to the left, not once but twice over Penang, the hometown of the pilot. A Boeing 777 pilot said the only reason this would happen is that a pilot was looking out the window to see something specific (Evers). Because the pilot had twenty thousand hours of flight time and experience, experts say that he would know exactly how to make a large airplane merely disappear from radar. Authorities found a flight simulator in his home which fueled the debate that the pilot had deliberately crashed the plane (Dennis).

Further information suggests that the pilot was devastated to learn that his wife was ending the marriage and taking his children with her when she left (Bloomberg). No one wants to believe that it is possible that the captain of a flight would deliberately kill hundreds of people on board his aircraft. The plane flew in and out of two countries eight times which would cause the air traffic controllers to believe that the aircraft was in the jurisdiction of the other country and not look for it on the radar (Westcott). After the inexplicable turns over Penang, the aircraft flew in a straight line for six hours in airspace only detected by later satellite images. This evidence would suggest a deliberate and calculated move by the pilot.

Dozens of investigators and experts from all over the world have participated in the investigation of MH370, and yet it remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation. The wreckage has never been found even after four years and millions of dollars spent searching for it. Best estimates have the plane crashing somewhere in the far southern Indian Ocean. Reports still suggest that authorities still do not have a final cause for the crash and do not know the exact location (Wootson). Texas-based Ocean Infinity conducted a seventy-million-dollar hi-tech search coving five hundred square miles over three months and found no trace of MH370 (Associated Press). None of the theories can explain what happened that day to MH370 and extensive searches have not produced one seat, one piece of luggage, or any other physical clue as to the fate of MH370. A survey of students at College of the Mainland indicates an overwhelming majority, ninety percent, of people believe that the plane was hijacked. The fact that no terrorist organization has ever taken credit for this disaster would indicate that this is not what happened. Based on the evidence of the flight path of the plane, the most likely theory is this was a tragic suicide-murder committed by the pilot of the plane.

After reviewing The Malaysian flight 370 case and Zaharie Ahmad Shah, it leads to 2 different conspiracy theories.

Pilot Shah crashed the plane himself.

The plane was hijacked.

The disappearance of the flight still remains a mystery, but most evidence points to Pilot Shah crashing the plane. We may never know the real answer