MH370 pilot intentionally crashed aircraft, investigators say

Pilot says crash “planned meticulously to make aircraft disappear"

NEWS DESK: Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 was deliberately crashed by its captain Zaharie Amad Shah according to noted air safety experts, The Independent reported.

“This (crash) was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time,” Martin Dolan, who led a two-year search for the aircraft, told 60 Minutes Australia. Beijing-bound MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014.



The aircraft veered off course and crashed to the west of Australia after running out of fuel according to satellite data. An underwater search for the plane, the largest of its kind, was discontinued in January, 2017.

First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was piloting the aircraft alongside Zaharie. MH-370 was Hamid's solo Boeing-777 flight without a training captain.



Authorities conducted raids on their houses a few days after the incident. Seized equipment suggested Zaharie had employed a flight simulator to execute his plan.

Captain Simon Harvey, a Boeing-777 veteran, said the crash was “planned meticulously to make the aircraft disappear." Larry Vance, a Canadian investigator, said Zaharie depressurised the cabin to render those on board unconscious after wearing an oxygen mask.



Dolan ruled out the possibility of terrorism saying no organisation had claimed responsibility. This he said was "almost invariable". Consensus on whether Zaharie was commanding the aircraft when it plunged into the Indian Ocean eluded the panelists.

This story originally appeared in The Independent.