MH370 - It may have ‘hidden’ behind another plane

Published: Wednesday March 19, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM 
Updated: Wednesday March 19, 2014 MYT 1:07:36 PM

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: An aviation enthusiast’s theory that the MH370 aircraft could have shadowed another Boeing 777 over the Andaman Sea to avoid being detected by military radar, has gone viral on social media.

On his Tumblr account, hobby pilot Keith Ledgerwood said he came up with the theory as he felt it was highly unlikely that a Boeing 777 could have slipped through the Indian and Pakistan airspace without being detected.

He said he started out by plotting the route believed to have been taken by the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft on an aviation map.

“The picture started to develop when I discovered that another Boeing 777 was en route from Singapore over the Andaman Sea at the same time,” said Ledgerwood in his post.

“I investigated further and plotted the exact coordinates of Singapore Airlines flight number 68’s location at about 1800-1815UTC (2am-2.15am, Malaysian time) onto the aviation map.

“I quickly realised that SQ68 was in the immediate vicinity as the missing MH370 flight at precisely the same time.”

He said SQ68 then flew across the Andaman Sea into the Bay of Bengal, into India’s airspace then to its final destination of Barcelona.

“It is my belief that MH370 likely flew in the shadow of SQ68 through India and Afghanistan airspace,” he said.

On why the Singapore plane did not detect MH370 if it had been tailed by the aircraft, Ledgerwood said the MH370 would have been “invisible” to the other aircraft if its transponder had been disabled.

“After looking at all the details, it is my opinion that MH370 snuck out of the Bay of Bengal using SQ68 as the perfect cover. It entered radar coverage already in the radar shadow of the other 777, stayed there throughout coverage, and then exited SQ68’s shadow and then most likely landed in one of several land locations north of India and Afghanistan,” he said.