MH370 IS IT TRUE? - Focus back on MH370 pilot because of deleted flight path

The Malaysian Insider – 4 hours ago

The renewed interest in Malaysia Airlines flight MH370's pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, stems from the fact that he had plotted a flight path to a remote island far into the southern Indian Ocean on his flight simulator at home.

The Telegraph reported today that suspicion of Capt Zaharie's involvement has grown as investigators have gradually eliminated other suspects and causes of the plane's disappearance.

Sources confirmed to the Telegraph that a deleted flight path had been recovered from Zaharie's simulator, which had been used to practise landing an aircraft on a small runway on an unnamed island in the southern Indian Ocean.

It has been more than three months since the Boeing 777-200ER from KLIA to Beijing disappeared off the radar in the early hours of March 8 with 239 people on board.

With few clues and no sign of the aircraft despite a massive international search effort concentrated on the Indian Ocean, foreign reports said investigators were once again turning their sights on Zaharie.

The Telegraph's report said the flight path in Zaharie's home simulator had been deleted before MH370 disappeared.

Citing official police investigations, the Sunday Times had reported yesterday that Zaharie had emerged as a prime suspect in the plane's disappearance.

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the pilot's family and friends, however, denied that the pilot was now the prime suspect in the disappearance of flight MH370.

The acting transport minister had criticised the Sunday Times, calling it irresponsible and only having the intention of increasing its circulation.

Dr Mohd Ghouse Mohd Noor, a friend of Captain Zaharie’s family, had asked the newspaper to name its source.

The report in The Sunday Times in UK said that mechanical failure or terrorism had not been ruled out, but police believed that if it was the result of human action, the pilot was the most likely perpetrator.

The report, which was also carried in The Australian, said Malaysia's Special Branch had focused the inquiry on Zaharie after intelligence checks failed to substantiate any suspicions about the other people on board the jet.

Malaysian police, too, had rubbished the report with Inspector-General of Police Secretariat assistant head (corporate communications) ACP Datin Asmawati Ahmad describing it as irresponsible and baseless.

The Telegraph report said detectives and investigators, including experts from Britain's Air Incident Branch, had so far found no evidence of a technical fault or malfunction which could explain its disappearance.

Inquiries into the backgrounds of the flight's passengers and crew have similarly failed to yield any evidence of, or motive for, anyone hijacking the plane or sabotaging it.

Suspicion of Zaharie emerged a week after MH370's disappearance, following the discovery of the flight simulator in his home.

However, the pilot had made no secret of his unusual hobby, creating aviation videos that were posted on the Internet.

His current and former co-workers had said that Zaharie enjoyed flying the Boeing 777 so much that he spent his off days tinkering with a flight simulator of the plane that he had set up at home.

"He was an aviation tech geek. You could ask him anything and he would help you. That is the kind of guy he is," said a Malaysia Airlines co-pilot who had flown with Zaharie in the past.

Police had raided Zaharie's home in Kuala Lumpur and took away his flight simulator as part of their investigation as tracking information from the British Inmarsat satellite company indicated the flight had not plunged into the South China Sea close to Vietnam as initially feared but had doubled back across the peninsula, turned left and headed towards the southern Indian Ocean. – June 23, 2014.