MISSING MALAYSIA PLANE: INVESTIGATORS STUDY PILOTS BACKGROUND Malaysian police have searched the homes of the pilots of the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished eight days ago with 239 people on board. The police are also reportedly looking at the family life and psychological state of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27. This comes after the authorities said the communications systems of the plane had been deliberately disabled. The Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight is believed to have then changed course. Analysis: Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent The hijacking theory, previously largely discounted, has now climbed back up the list of possible explanations for flight MH370s disappearance. The aircrafts communications systems were deliberately switched off in mid-air, so either the flight crew did this willingly, or they were forced by someone else to do so. This has refocused attention on the individuals on that flight, both passengers and crew. Investigators will want to know if any had a recent history of mental problems, family difficulties or extreme stress. Only four weeks ago an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked his own plane to seek political asylum in Switzerland. The pilot of this Malaysian plane had a commendable record but the authorities have still raided his home. When it comes to terrorism, there are no obvious suspects. The regions Jemaah Islamiah, once a powerful transnational terrorist group, is not thought to have the capability to carry out such a plan. Likewise there are doubts Chinese separatists could be behind it. There have also been no claims by any known group, though this does not rule out a possible criminal motive. According to satellite evidence, the Boeing 777 could have continued flying for a further seven hours after its last radar contact, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said. He added that the plane could be anywhere from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean. Mr Razak stopped short of saying it was a hijacking, saying only that they were investigating all possibilities. In a separate development, India on Sunday suspended its search for the plane around the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and also in the Bay of Bengal. Delhi said it acted at the request of the Malaysian authorities. China - which had 153 citizens on board flight MH370 - has urged Malaysia to continue providing it with thorough and exact information on the search. Elaborate suicide The Kuala Lumpur homes of Mr Zaharie and Mr Fariq were searched on Saturday, a senior police officer familiar with the investigation was quoted as saying by Reuters. We are not ruling out any sort of motivation at the moment, the official said. The authorities have so far released no new details on the pilots investigation. However, nothing has been ruled in or out - so terrorism, piracy or even an elaborate suicide are all options now being considered, the BBCs Jonah Fisher in Kuala Lumpur reports. Mr Zaharie joined Malaysia Airlines more than 30 years ago, and was considered a very experience pilot. Mr Fariq recently recently graduated to the cockpit of a Boeing 777. It is believed that he was considering marriage. It was also reported that Mr Fariq had drawn scrutiny after he and another, unnamed pilot invited two female passengers to sit in the cockpit during a flight in 2011, according to the Associated Press. The flight left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on 8 March and disappeared off air traffic controllers screens at about 01:20. Mr Razak told a news conference on Saturday that new satellite evidence shows with a high degree of certainty that the one of the aircrafts communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System - was disabled just before it had reached the east coast of Malaysia. ACARS is a service that allows computers aboard the plane to talk to computers on the ground, relaying in-flight information about the health of its systems. Continue reading the main story ACARS system Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System is a service that allows computers aboard the plane to talk to computers on the ground, relaying in-flight information about the health of its systems. Messages are transmitted either by radio or digital signals via satellites, and can cover anything from the status of the planes engines to a faulty toilet. This provides ground crews with vital diagnostic information, allowing maintenance to be carried out more quickly. How do you track a plane? Shortly afterwards, near the cross-over point between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic controllers, the planes transponder - which emits an identifying signal - was switched off, he said. According to a military radar, the aircraft then turned and flew back over Malaysia before heading in a north-west direction. A satellite was able to pick up a signal from the plane until 08:11 local time - more than seven hours after it lost radar contact - although it was unable to give a precise location, Mr Razak said. He went on to say that based on this new data, investigators have determined the planes last communication with a satellite was in one of two possible corridors: a northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through to northern Thailand a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean The BBCs Jonah Fisher in Kuala Lumpur says investigators will now focus on trying to obtain the radar data from any of the countries the Boeing 777 may have passed over. This could include Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Pakistan. Along with the Chinese passengers, there were 38 Malaysians and citizens of Iran, the US, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, India, France, New Zealand, Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan and the Netherlands on board. An extensive search - involving 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft - since the plane disappeared has proved fruitless. -BBC NEWS
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 13:39:23 +0000
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