MH370 experts think they’ve finally solved the mystery of the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight

Washington Post ^ | 05/15/2018 | By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

[SeekAndFind]

All but one of the 239 people on the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had probably been unconscious — incapacitated by the sudden depressurization of the Boeing 777 — and had no way of knowing they were on an hours-long, meandering path to their deaths.

Along that path, a panel of aviation experts speculated Sunday, was a brief but telling detour near Penang, Malaysia, the hometown of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

On two occasions, whoever was in control of the plane — and was probably the only one awake — tipped the craft to the left. The experts believe Zaharie, the plane's pilot, was taking a final look.

That is the chilling theory that the team of analysts assembled by Australia's “60 Minutes” have posited about the final hours of MH370. The conclusions have not been backed by any official findings from investigations into the mystery surrounding the March 2014 flight. But the experts on the "60 Minutes” show sought to draw the most likely scenario of the plane's fate from the little that is known.

They suspect that the plane's 2014 disappearance and apparent crash was a suicide by the 53-year-0ld Zaharie — and a premeditated act of mass murder.

But first, the experts said, they believe that Zaharie depressurized the plane, knocking out anyone aboard who wasn't wearing an oxygen mask. That would explain the silence from the plane as it veered wildly off course: no mayday from the craft's radio, no final goodbye texts, no attempted emergency calls that failed to connect.

That would also explain how whoever was in control had time to maneuver the plane to its final location.

The wreckage has not been found, though hundreds of millions of dollars have gone into the four-year search.

[Hot Tabasco]

That theory is as good as mine. I think it was accidentally shot down by the Chinese over the S. China Sea........

[Myrddin]

In my flight training, we had to do the hyperbaric chamber. Sea level to 26,000 feet in about 30 seconds. The chamber had oxygen masks. You had to grab it fast, strap it on and start sucking oxygen. Time of useful consciousness is about 20 seconds. Act or die. We were training with the expectation that it would happen. The average airline passenger is oblivious. They also have significantly poorer masks. An easy wipe-out of the entire complement of passengers and unprepared crew. Descent to a safe altitude where masks aren't required takes time. Under about 18,000 feet you can do OK without a mask. If cruising at 40,000 feet, the descent time in a decompressed aircraft would likely ensure dead passengers absent a steep dive.

We had training staff that had their oxygen masks on BEFORE the chamber did the rapid ascent. They were present for safety as this was a training exercise. We had backup to ensure nobody died. We were all warned ahead of the training that is was designated "High Risk Training". One project member died on a treadmill doing a supplemental evaluation when an earlier test flagged a concern. It's always hard to have to call an employee's family to inform them of a death on the job.

[mowowie]

I remember a scene from Titanic that at first showed the giant ship then panned out to the HUGE ocean surrounding it until titanic was just a tiny white dot in a massive sea of black...add 3 miles deep to that.
the oceans are HUGE.
They don’t ever have a chance of finding the plane unless some credible coordinates are established.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I am very aware of the vastness of the oceans.

But watch some air disaster shows. You’ll see something always turns up. Aircraft are built to save weight, and most stuff floats. 4 years and nothing (well, I think they had SOME couple things), even with educated guesses for tracking, is unbelievable.

Even if it went over a land mass, surely something would’ve turned up by now. Difficult, but not impossible if you’re looking.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Moslem pilot over Europe? I don’t recall that incident.

There was a German guy who was a nut but not Moslem.

[the OlLine Rebel]

But he obviously didn’t care much if anyone found them. It was blatantly obvious where he might be and indeed, was.

If this guy wanted to hide it, he was the most successful ac suicide ever.

[stockpirate]

He was a Muslim, nough said.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Link to full video of the Aussie 60 Minutes on this

An interesting 50 minutes to watch. The guy affiliated with the 'official' failed Aussie government searches is still trying to defend their search strategy, but the other guys have a stronger case, backed up with real evidence: the confirmed bits of the (otherwise lost MH370) that have washed ashore. 'Official' scenario has bird fly deep in to Indian ocean until running out of fuel then making an uncontrolled 2 minute, terminally supersonic, nose dive into said ocean. Which would have fragmented the plan into tiny bits and left a large, at least initially floating debris field. Most importantly the pieces that have washed up lack the inevitable seeming damage that would produce. New theory is the perp Captain decompressed the plane, to kill all potential opposition, carefully dodged the local radar coverage after going silent and flying into the Indian ocean. But kept himself on O2, stayed alive until the end to try a sea landing. That would leave the plane intact or at worst in a few larger pieces which would more easily sink. Thus making it harder to find the plane. If your plan all along was to lose the plane forever this improves your chances. And what pieces have washed up DO show evidence of the kind of damage that strategy would produce. There are now searches going on a bit away from what the 'official' target zone would produce, although it wasn't clear to me whether they are precisely where the new theory predicts.

[Jack Hammer]

Another sick, homicidal moslem asshat.