Aussies to revive MH370 ‘rogue pilot’ theory, says daily

As the Australian-led underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 nears its end, air crash investigators might have to re-establish the "rogue pilot" theory that the captain deliberately flew the jetliner to the end. This contradicted the ongoing 120,000 sq km underwater search, which was based on a "ghost flight" scenario of the pilots being unconscious or dead, The Australian reported today. Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief commissioner Martin Dolan told British daily The Times that if MH370 could not be found in the next few months, it would have to provide an explanation and alternative to governments. "And the alternative is, frankly, that despite all the evidence, the possibility that someone was at the controls of that aircraft and gliding it… if we eliminate all of the current search area. "If we haven't found it, then we'll have to be contemplating… that there were control inputs into that aircraft at the end of its flight," Dolan was quoted as saying. Veteran pilot Byron Bailey said ATSB refused to entertain the theory as it did not want to embarrass Malaysia. Some media speculated that MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was a supporter of jailed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and the hijacking was an act of political protest. MH370 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. In August, the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) confirmed that a part of the aircraft known as a flaperon was found on Reunion Island, but there has since been no further trace of debris. All 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board are presumed dead after an official declaration on January 29 classifying the incident as an accident based on international aviation rules. – February 19, 2016.]]>