Malaysia Plane: 'Criminal Act' Behind Mystery

Missing Plane Probe 'May Provide No Answers'

Updated: 5:10pm UK, Thursday 20 March 2014

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

One of the world's top air crash investigators has said finding a possible human cause for the disappearance of flight MH370 may be the only way of solving the mystery.

Thomas Anthony, a former security chief with the Federal Aviation Administration, told Sky News finding the aircraft, which disappeared nearly a fortnight ago with 239 people on board, is vital to solving many of the unanswered questions.

It comes after an American scientist who found the wreckage of an Air France plane, which crashed in 2009, claimed investigators may "never find out what happened".

"If the aircraft breaks, the technical investigation will likely disclose the causes," Mr Anthony said.

But he warned: "If the human breaks, the technical investigation may actually provide no answers to what caused the accident, incident or crash."

His comments come as the FBI is brought in to help analyse files deleted from a flight simulator belonging to Malaysia Airlines pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

Records of simulations were deleted on February 3, although investigators insist Mr Zaharie is innocent until proven guilty.

Mr Anthony, director of the world renowned Aviation Security and Safety Programme at the University of Southern California (USC), criticised officials for failing to speak with a "single investigative voice".

He also said he believes Malaysian authorities failed to prepare for a major air disaster.

As news of a possible sighting of debris was announced, the US also offered to help in any way it can.

Officials from both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are in Malaysia to assist with the investigation.

Most air accident investigators will at some point turn to the USC's crash lab.

Sky News was given access to its vast warehouse in eastern Los Angeles, where the wreckage of numerous aircraft is stored.

Project specialist Daniel Scalese said: "The answers are all here. It does look like a bunch of twisted wreckage but the answers are all here if you know where to look and what to look for."

The USC team said aviation has benefited from the public attention on air disasters as safety continues to improve.

They point to figures showing only 0.4 of every one million flights result in a crash.

Generally, they claim, a chain of five or six factors lead to an accident and discovering just one of those can lead to huge advances.

Mr Anthony said: "We don't have to wait for the final analysis to learn some lessons."

The investigation into the disappearance of flight MH370 is looking at a number of theories, including hijacking, sabotage and terrorism, as well as a fault with the plane, such as a fire in the cockpit.

Authorities believe someone on board intentionally switched off two vital pieces of communication equipment and deliberately diverted the aircraft.

Satellite data suggests the plane flew for at least seven hours after it was turned back across Malaysia towards the Strait of Malacca.

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Malaysia Airlines Plane Debris Search Resumes

The hunt for objects that could be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has entered a third day in the southern Indian Ocean.

Today's search will involve six aircraft and cover 13,900 square miles (36,000 square kilometres) of ocean south west of Perth in western Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "It's about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the Earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it.

A plane embarks on Saturday's search

"We owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones of the almost 240 people on Flight MH370 to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle."

The plane disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing two weeks ago with 239 people on board, the majority of them from China.

Authorities face a race against time to locate the plane's black box voice and data recorder, which only transmits an electronic signal for 30 days before running out of battery.

After that it will be much harder to locate the piece of equipment that is likely to hold the key to solving the mystery of what happened to the plane.

Three Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion aircraft, a New Zealand P3 RAAF Orion aircraft and two ultra long-range commercial jets with 10 volunteer observers on board make up the latest search team scouring an area 1,200 miles (2,000km) from the Australian mainland.

The jets and the P3 Orion left Perth at 9am local time (10pm UK time) and took four hours to reach the search area.

The vast distance only allows the Orions two hours of search time before they must head back to Perth. The jets will be able to stay for five hours.

The two objects that could be debris from the missing plane

Two merchant ships are currently in the area, and are due to be joined by the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Success later on Saturday afternoon.

Two Chinese aircraft are expected to arrive in Perth today, followed by two Japanese planes on Sunday. A flotilla of Chinese ships is making its way to the southern Indian Ocean, although it is still several days away.

Potential pieces of debris from the Boeing 777 were spotted by satellite last Sunday, but were only revealed on Thursday after analysis.

One object is thought to be 24 metres (72 feet) in length and the other about five metres.

The sightings have been deemed the most credible lead in the search to date, but some experts have warned the larger of the two objects could be a shipping container.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has also admitted the objects could have sunk by now.

The search is in the southern Indian Ocean

Poor weather hampered the first day of the search on Thursday, but conditions are expected to be good today.

The planes are expected to fly low under cloud cover rather than rely on radar, a repeat of the procedure followed on Friday.

The US is considering a request from Malaysia for underwater surveillance equipment to help in the search.

The Pentagon says it has spent $2.5m (£1.5m) providing ships and aircraft for the hunt, and has budgeted for a further $1.5m (£900,000).

Despite the focus of the search shifting south, authorities are renewing their search of the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the country welcomed "all assistance to continue to follow all credible leads" in what was a "long haul" operation.

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Flight MH370: Latest Developments At A Glance

The search for possible debris of missing flight MH370 has entered its second day.

This is what we know:

:: Five aircraft will be involved in today's search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

:: Three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orions, a civil Gulfstream jet and a US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft are being used.

:: Due to the distance to and from the target area, the aircraft involved have approximately two hours of search time.

:: One merchant vessel is currently in the search area.

:: A second merchant vessel is due to arrive tonight.

:: At least seven Chinese ships are heading to the region but could take days to arrive.

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Missing Malaysian Jet: Search For Debris Resumes

The search for two large objects that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has resumed in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said Friday's operation would involve five aircraft, including three RAAF Orions, and a US Navy P8 Poseidon.

The planes are scouring a remote area of 8,800 sq miles (23,000 sq km).

Flight Lt Conan Brett pilots a RAAF Hercules aircraft during the search

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said the country was doing everything it could to find the suspected debris and to keep the families of the passengers informed of the progress.

"We owe it to the families, the friends and the loved ones of the nearly 240 people on board flight MH370 to do everything we can to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle," he said at a news conference.

"Because of the understandable state of anxiety they're in, we also owe it to them to give them information as soon as we get it to hand.

The area where the search will concentrate on today

"We have five aircraft searching the area. We're looking for a visual that was picked up on satellite imagery and as soon as we have additional information we'll make it available."

A Norwegian merchant ship - the first vessel to reach the vicinity - has been using searchlights through the night to try to locate the objects.

They were spotted by a satellite last Sunday and could potentially be debris from flight MH370.

One is thought to be 24 metres in length and the other about five metres.

Thursday search was hampered by strong winds, cloud and rain.

HMS Echo is heading towards the region

The sightings have been deemed "credible" and a "potentially important development" by authorities - as the search for the passenger plane enters its 13th day.

Australian naval vessel HMAS Success, which is capable of retrieving debris, is also en route to the search area but is some days away.

A British naval survey ship, HMS Echo, is also heading to the region.

There has been no trace of the aircraft since it vanished from radar a short distance into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

Wider searches, including of a northern corridor from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan, are set to continue until investigators are certain they have located the plane. Some 18 ships and 29 aircraft are taking part.

Those areas were targeted after faint electronic "pings" picked up by one commercial satellite suggested flight MH370 flew on for at least six hours after it disappeared from air traffic control screens.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of the International Airlines Group, said he was baffled by the disappearance of the aircraft.

Satellite images show the possible plane debris

"My deepest sympathies to everybody associated with this, it must be truly awful for the families and friends of the passengers and crew," he told Sky's Jeff Randall Live.

"I'm baffled; I must have heard twenty, thirty, maybe even forty theories on what has happened and quite honestly, we just don't know.

"I've been in this industry 35 years and I've never seen anything like this. I'm confident that with the technology today and the fact accident investigation has progressed significantly, we will ultimately find out."

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Missing Plane: Police Probe 'Flight Engineer'

Investigators say they are looking into the background of one of the passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines plane who claimed he had worked as a flight engineer.

Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat said on social media sites he worked for a Swiss-based private jet charter company.

The 29-year-old's apparent experience means he would have a knowledge of in-flight computer systems and be able to carry out repairs.

However, as an engineer specialising in executive jets, he would not necessarily have had the skills required to divert and fly a Boeing 777.

A senior police official with knowledge of the investigation said: "The focus is on anyone who might have had aviation skills on that plane."

The hunt for the missing plane was expanded significantly over the weekend, as the investigation moved from shallow seas to large tracts of land in 11 countries, as well as deep, remote ocean trenches.

It is thought the aircraft flew for up to seven hours after vanishing from radar on March 8, when its communication systems were deliberately switched off.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board

Some 25 countries are now involved in the search for the jet, which emitted its final 'ping' as it travelled along one of two air corridors going north and south from the sea off Malaysia.

It has been claimed the plane could have landed at one of more than 600 runways spread across at least a dozen countries.

Researchers at WNYC searched for runways with a length of at least 0.95 miles (1.52km) within a radius of 2,530 miles (4,070km) from the aircraft's last known position.

The missing plane could have landed at hundreds of locations. Pic: WNYC

Some 634 runways, stretching from the India-Pakistan border to the northeast coast of Australia, matched those requirements - many of them in remote, inaccessible places.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the US Homeland Security Committee, said hijackers may have landed the plane and be planning to use it "as a cruise missile" in a 9/11-style terror attack.

Some experts believe the plane is most likely to have flown southwest towards the Indian Ocean.

A northwesterly route would have taken it through numerous national airspaces in an area monitored extensively by satellites, they say.

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Missing Pilot 'Caring And Very Professional'

A friend of one of the pilots on missing flight MH370 has told Sky News he cannot believe he had anything to do with the aircraft's disappearance.

Peter Chong described Zaharie Ahmad Shah as a kind, generous man and said he longs for his friend to return.

He said it was "only natural" investigators were searching his friend's home but added: "He is a very caring person who enjoys life and enjoys flying. He is a very professional pilot."

Mr Hamid is patted down by a member of security staff. Pic: YouTube

Leaked CCTV footage appears to show Mr Zaharie and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, calmly passing through security shortly before boarding the aircraft.

The video, which was uploaded to YouTube, seems to show  walking through a body scanner at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Dressed in uniforms, the two men in the video are frisked for less than two seconds each by security staff before collecting luggage from the conveyor belt of an X-ray machine.

Mr Hamid (L) and Mr Zaharie's backgrounds are being investigated

The two pilots have come under increased scrutiny since investigators revealed flight MH370's tracking devices were deliberately switched off mid-way through a flight to Beijing.

Authorities are yet to comment on the CCTV footage, although the personal and religious backgrounds of both pilots are being checked.

Police are investigating a flight simulator found at the home of Mr Zaharie, who has more than 18,000 hours' flying experience and joined Malaysia Airlines more than 30 years ago.

Messages posted on the 53-year-old's Facebook page suggest he was a politically active opponent of the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 57 years since the country became independent.

Mr Fariq, 27, had only recently graduated to the cockpit of the Boeing 777 and had not asked to fly with Mr Zaharie, authorities have confirmed.

Satellite data suggests the Boeing 777, which had 239 people on board, flew for at least seven hours - more than six hours after it lost contact with air traffic control.

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