Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Where Did It Go, the World May Never Know by Julianne Jones

             How can a whole plane go missing? Well, in March of 2014, the Malaysia Plane went missing over the South China Sea (Colwell). This happened less than an hour after it took off (1). The plane lost contact with the air traffic control and then about an hour later the plane disappeared off of the military radar. Was this an accident? Was this Zarahie Shah’s way of committing suicide, did  Vladimir Putin high-jack the plane, or did North Korea take the plane?
            Zaharie Shah, 53 years- old, was the captain of the Malaysia Flight 370 (Brumfield). (The plane went missing on March 8, 2014 (1). The plane disappeared off of all the radars: the communication tower, the black box (a communication box the plane has that records the location of the plane) and then the military radars (1). Shah is believed to have some mental illnesses. Some people are convinced that this was Shah’s way of suicide. Others are not so easily swayed (1). Shah’s sister said, “simply put, the suicide story is but another story. My brother loved life, he loved his lifestyle, period.”(1).  All that these are is theories. A wing flap from the plane was found in Tanzania (Karimi). There are some allegations that Shah was talking to a married women about “personal matters” (Malaysia…). Was Shah facing some dark times? Was Shah having an affair? Was the plane crash on purpose?
            "The MH370 captain's flight simulator showed someone had plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean," Joint Agency Coordination Center, or JACC (Brumfield). Spokesman for the JACC, Scott Mansford, told CNN that that was all he could reveal at that time (1). Though this is not “tangible evidence” it seems to be pointed in the direction that this was not a mistake (1). Another thing leading to the fact that it was not an accident is that Shah has been a pilot for too long to make these kind of mistakes or for something so awful to happen (1). He was simply too experienced (1). Shah had been flying 777 (a Boeing 777 was the type of plane that went missing) for over 15 years (1). If someone has been doing one thing for more than 15 years it is unlikely that this kind accident would not happen (McKirdy). Which arises the question again, was this crash on purpose? A psych evaluation was done on Zarahie and no change to his behavioral patterns had changed (Wise). A psych evaluation was also done and recorded on the co-pilot, Fariq Hamid(1). During Zarahie’s evaluation they studied things like: coping style, relationship with spouse (and other people close to him such as family friends parents) and his interests and hobbies (1). It also states that he was highly respected among peers(1). It states that he did have the same interest as his family, but it was in a healthy manner (1). This comes from a medical journal (1). It is also believed that he was smoking before the fight (1). “Indeed, I don’t think there has ever been a case where someone who is known to have carried out such an act had such an outward appearance of being balanced and well-adjusted,” says Jeff Wise (1). “In my estimation this psych evaluation must be regarded as powerful evidence that Zaharie did not hijack MH370” (1).
Does this mean that it is fact that Shah did not purposefully crash the plane? No, but it does help the fact that it may have been an accident and not a mass suicide/murder (Wise). However he had great reason to be upset (1). His marriage and family were falling apart (1). “He’s one of the finest pilots around and I’m no medical expert,¨ said a friend, who is also a pilot and insisted on not being identified (Brumfield). ¨But with all that was happening in his life, Zaharie was probably in no state of mind to be flying.” (1). This friend goes on to say his personal life is way more complex then it led on to be (1). For example, he was talking to another woman (1). This friend was also a pilot but did not want to be identified (nydailynews).  So, was Shah mentally stable? Should he have been flying that plane?  Do all the things in Shah’s  life lead to this being a suicide?  There is no definite answer more of one that is made off of personal knowledge and understanding of the facts that have  been given.
            How could a huge plane go missing? How could it just vanish? On March 8, 2014 a Boing 777 went missing leaving Malaysia  (Brumfield).  Many different people have many different ideas about what happened to the Malaysia flight 370. The amount of conspiracies behind the pilot, Zaharie Shah is bountiful. The opinions of him are even more. Some believed it was an accident , or maybe even that it is was deliberate, that this was Shah’s way of committing suicide. Others believe that other countries were involved such as Russia or North Korea.


            Zaharie Shah was a very experienced pilot, who has over 18,000 hours of flying experience (McKirdy). This is why it is s unbelievable that this plane crash was a mistake. He had flown with the Malaysia Airlines for 15 years (1).  How does this experience of a pilot make such a big mistake? Unless it was not a mistake. The JACC ( Joint Agency Coordination Center) the so-called “seventh arc” (1). Where they search apart of the southern Indian Ocean, an area of that is mapped off using satellites. They are using several tools aircraft systems and data modeling to try and find where the plane went down (1). They believe they have found some pieces of debris but are not certain that it is the missing Malaysian flight 370 (1). However, even though they believe they have found debris they have not found the majority of the plane (1). "For the purposes of defining the underwater search area, the relevant facts and analysis most closely match a scenario in which there was no pilot intervening in the latter stages of the flight," says the JACC (1). They later say how it shows the possibility of it being planned but not exactly how it happened (1).  Now if it was intentional then there are several conspiracies on that as well. Could Shah have been so upset with his life that he would not only end his own life on purpose but hundreds of others. However, another theory behind it being on purpose is that Shah wanted to create the world’s greatest mystery (MH370). A missing plane that had over 200 passengers is kind of bizarre. The amount of communication and technology that the plane had, also the searching vessels, it is amazing how only a little debris was found.
            Now aside from the blame being on Shah and it either being mass murder/ suicide, or to create some great mystery. There is a theory that Russia knows where the plane may be located (MH370). Vladimir Putin is accused in this theory that his has known this whole time where the plane landed and or crashed (1). Now, why would Putin tell the world, and Russia go down has solving the greatest mystery? Well, the way Putin would known was if there was some spy satellites giving the location of the missing plane (1). Andre Milne said to the Daily Star this "Satellites that were placed by the Russians saw the wreckage, he said. "Putin would have been given that information" (1). In this theory it is believed that the plane crash landed in the Bay of Bengal (1).  That the plane “soft ditch” landing in the Bay of Bengal (1). Now, this can be a problem considering that the Bay of Bengal is not off of Russia but off of India (1). So, why exactly is it a big deal if he did have satellites there? Wouldn’t finding the plane and maybe even survivors been better than protecting some spy satellites and could he not just move the satellites? Also if he did come out and say that he knew where the plane was would solving this mystery not outweigh, in a sense, how he knew it was there? Well, Milne answers all these questions,  "The reason President Putin did not raise his hand and march in and say we found it is because technically he would have been admitting committing espionage." (1).
            The last theory is that North Korea was involved. This is the least likely conspiracy simply because there was minimal evidence to support this theory. North Korea was most likely drug into this mystery wurlwind because North Korea is a very, if not the most secretive country in the world (1). Several conspiracy theorists believe that North Korea is what is missing to solve this mystery (1). On March 5, 2014 one of North Korea’s missiles crossed paths with a Chinese Southern Airline plane carrying 220 passengers (1). The two crossed paths not but seven minutes after the missile was launched (1).  Then on March 8, 2014, three days after this tragic event, the MH370 is now missing (1). An anonymous worker told eTurboNews Group that someone wanted “a really, huge plane” (1). The MH370 is indeed that and also has massive amounts of technology (1). However, why would Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, go as far as kidnapping and human trafficking for a plane?  Nelson Alcantara says that "Kidnapping and human trafficking has always been part of North Korea's scary agenda," (1). Why could Jong-un just build or buy a plane that he needed? Why go to such lengths of hijacking one? A Reddit user simply puts it like this, "The North Korean government is bat shit crazy," he added. "There's no telling what crazy logic they might have for taking a plane."(1). None of these are concert evidence against Jong-un or North Korea, but in fact just theories.
            There are three conspiracy theories have arose.
  1. Did Shah commit suicide?
  2. Does Putin know where the plane, and may be hiding it to cover secret satellites?
  3. Did North Korea have something to do with the disappearing plane?
There is a reason they are called theories, because there is no evidence to prove that any of these or even ones not mentioned are actually what happened to the Boing 777. However, we can infer that it is more likely that it was a mass murder/ suicide. It is still plausible that Russia was involved, it is not the most believable but still has some substance. On the other hand, North Korea being involved is a stretch. Considering it is a mystery they could very well be involved but there is not enough evidence to accuse Jong-un of being the cause of this great mystery.






Work Cited
  Aspinall, Adam. “MH370 Plane Was Not Crashed in Suicide Bid Says Pilot's Brother-in-Law.”Mirror, 15 June 2014, www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mh370-plane-not-crashed-suicide-3700179.

Brumfield, Ben, and Pamela Brown. “Malaysia Missing Plane: Pilots of MH 370 Suspected in
Disappearance.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 July 2015, www.cnn.com/2014/03/14/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-pilot-profiles/index.html

Chesterton, Andrew. “'It Was His Last Joyride': MH370 Pilot Was Upset over Wife Moving out and in 'No State of Mind to Be Flying', Reveals His Long-Time Friend.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 26 Mar. 2014, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2589365/MH370-pilot-upset-wife-moving-no-state-mind-flying-says-friend.html.

Colwell, Ann. “Timeline of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.” CNN, Cable News Network, 12 Mar. 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/03/11/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-timeline/index.html.

Karimi, Faith. “MH370: Here's What's Been Found from Missing Jetliner.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Mar. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/asia/mh370-debris-found/index.html.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 - Gikipedia, gikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia%20Airlines%20Flight%20370

“Malaysia Confirms Flight 370 Pilot Plotted Fatal Route.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 5 Aug. 2016, www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-confirms-flight-370-pilot-plotted-fatal-route/.
Ridley, Louise. “MH370 Pilot Sent 'Personal' WhatsApp Messages To Married Woman Days Before Fatal Crash.” HuffPost UK, HuffPost, 7 Sept. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mh370-pilot-sent-personal-whatsapp-messages-to-married-woman-days-before-plane-crashed_uk_57cfc63ce4b0ced6a0977335.

McKirdy, Euan. “MH370: Captain's Home Simulator Had Indian Ocean Course Plotted.”CNN, Cable News Network, 28 July 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/asia/mh370-pilot-flight-simulator/index.html.

“MH370 Conspiracy Theories: The Truth behind One of Aviations Greatest Mysteries.” The Week UK, www.theweek.co.uk/mh370/58037/mh370-conspiracy-theories-what-happened-to-the-missing-plane

Westcott, Richard. “Flight MH370: Could It Have Been Suicide?” BBC News, BBC, 16 Apr. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31736835.

Wise, Jeff. jeffwise.net/2017/01/05/zaharie-shahs-secret-psych-evaluation/comment-page-1/.


Zaharie Shah’s Secret Psych Evaluation, jeffwise.net/2017/01/05/zaharie-shahs-secret-psych-evaluation/.

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