If Australian authorities have found the wreckage of flight MH370, what is it doing off the coast of Perth and why did it crash? Here are some of the current theories circulating the internet.
Pilot sabotage: Malaysian authorities have confirmed that they have searched the residence of Capitan Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and seized a home-built flight simulator that was in the veteran pilot’s home. Friends of Shah, who has been flying for Malaysia Airlines since 1981, told reporters the pilot was a “loving and generous” father of three.
While it was widely reported that 53-year-old Shah went to the court where Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed on the day of the flight, his friends say while he was a committed supporter he was not a “fanatic”.
However, some of the speculation surrounding the pilot has to do with the planes transponder which stopped relaying its position to air-traffic controllers and other planes at the most opportune moment during the flights hand-off from Malaysia’s controllers to those in Vietnam.
Suspicions about the staggered shut down of crucial communication and tracking devices also lead some the wonder about pilot involvement.“All right, good night,” was the calm final transmission from the plane’s co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, to Malaysian controllers and shortly after the transponder shut off and Vietnamese controllers were never contacted. The aircraft was abruptly turned and then kept flying for up to seven hours.
Investigators also confirmed that Shah was not the only crew member under investigation. The Malaysian Government has looked into all aircrew on board the Boeing 777, including Hamid, 27, who had just started flying the 777.
Terrorist hijacking: In the early days of the flight’s disappearance it was discovered that two passengers travelling on board the passenger jet were travelling on stolen passports which led to terrorism fears.
It came to be known that that the two individuals travelling on the illegal documents were two Iranian men— one 18, the other 28 — who had only purchased one way tickets.
This theory was then widely discounted when investigators failed to uncover any evidence linking either traveller to terror groups; it is believed they were friends and were hoping to seek asylum in Europe.
“The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it was not a terrorist incident,” said Interpol’s head, Ronald Noble.
Sudden mechanical catastrophe: This was one of the initial theories presented by aeronautical experts looking into the crash who suspected that something abrupt and horrific had happened.
Perhaps a failure with the engines or an explosion? According to crash experts if a sudden catastrophe did occur then investigators say that it would be likely that aircraft debris would have been found in the spot where the transponder stopped signalling.
Fire: Billie Vincent, a forensic witness in the Lockerbie bombing trial, suggests a fire could have broken out.
“The data released thus far most likely points to a problem with hazardous materials,” Vincent has said. “This scenario begins with the eruption of hazardous materials within the cargo hold – either improperly packaged or illegally shipped – or both.”
If cargo caught alight and damaged communication systems, rendering them useless to signal for help this could explain the planes silence and the aircraft’s change of direction.
Decompression: Whether it be slow or sudden, the loss of oxygen on an aircraft would be capable of killing all on board.
If air levels suddenly dropped loud alarms would have sounded and oxygen marks would have dropped, and the pilots would have known to descend to below 10,000 feet immediately.
Should the aircraft have de-pressurised and killed its occupants, that would explain the silence, but experts say the Boeing 777 should have kept flying on auto-pilot towards Beijing and would have still been transmitting radar data.
Plane has landed somewhere: According to experts the plane veered wildly off course and flew for 7 hours after the transponder shut off.
“It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait,” a military official, who has been briefed on investigations, said.
There was also speculation that the plane had engaged in ‘terrain masking’, a military tactic used by pilots on stealth missions, to avoid radar detection. This led to theories that someone on board had taken the plane off its planned route deliberately to land it somewhere else.
Without a wreckage it is possible that the plane has landed somewhere remote and deliberately avoiding detection but experts do warn it would be extremely difficult to land a 777 at a small airport without normal navigation guides.
An accidental shoot-down: In the past there have been instances where civilian aircraft have been unintentionally shot down by a country’s military.
The United States Navy missile cruiser USS Vincennes infamously shot down an Iran Air flight, killing all 290 souls on board in July, 1988. A Korean Air Lines flight suffered a similar fate in 1983 when it was shot down by a Russian fighter jet.
There is no evidence that Flight 370 was brought down by a government entity.
For the families of the missing it has been a painful roller-coaster of emotion and a lack of information has been adding insult to injury. While Australian authorities believe the debris spotted is “credible sightings” of the missing plane, officials are hesitant to comment any further until search planes arrive on the scene later tonight.
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