The hunt for the missing flight MH370 could take decades, Malaysia Airlines has admitted, as it emerged that the pilot of the missing plane is the chief suspect in its disappearance.
Investigators found that Captain Zaharie Shah had programmed a flight simulator in his home with scenarios rehearsing a landing into remote areas of the southern Indian Ocean and a landing on an island runway. Although he had deleted the drills before taking command of flight MH370, computer experts were able to retrieve them.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the aircraft's disappearance, Hugh Dunleavy, Malaysia Airline's British commercial chief, yesterday said that he also first blamed the pilot when the Boeing 777 failed to respond on 8 March.
"My first thought was that the pilot had fallen asleep, or something had gone wrong with the communication system," he told the London Evening Standard.
Dunleavy said he believed that the aircraft was "somewhere in the south Indian Ocean", but he warned that it may not be found soon.
"When [a plane] hits the ocean it's like hitting concrete," he said. "The wreckage could be spread over a big area. And there are mountains and canyons in that ocean. I think it could take a really long time to find. We’re talking decades."
No sign of flight MH370, or the 239 people on board, has yet been found despite the most expensive search operation ever mounted.
As the investigation continues, The Sunday Times has reported that the authorities are turning their attention to the pilot, and the flight simulator he kept in his home.
Police have so far failed to turn up any hard evidence against Captain Zaharie Shah, but he is now the prime focus of the criminal investigation after intelligence checks cleared all other passengers and crew.
"Investigators have previously refused to 'clear' the captain’s flight simulator of suspicious activity," The Independent reports this morning. "It now appears they found evidence of routes programmed to take a plane far out into the Indian Ocean and practising landing using a short runway on an island."
Detectives, who have conducted over 170 interviews, also found that Zaharie had made no social or professional commitments beyond the date of the missing flight, in contrast to his co-pilot and the rest of the flight’s crew.
The investigation has not ruled out the possibility that flight MH370 was lost due to mechanical failure or terrorism, but the police view is that if it was the result of human action, the captain is the most likely perpetrator.
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, gave the first hint about the government’s suspicions of "deliberate action by someone on the plane" on March 15.
Zaharie's relatives have defended him against any suggestion of wrongdoing and Malaysian police have refused to confirm the contents of their interim report.
"The police investigation is still ongoing," they told The Sunday Times. "To date no conclusions can be made as to the contributor to the incident."
Nevertheless, the paper says that the initial findings from the investigation have been sent to foreign governments and investigators.
Source : chicagotribune.com
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