Malaysia Airlines MH370 May Have Traveled Thousands Of Miles After Disappearing From Radar [Report]
In a new report published in the Wall Street Journal, US investigators believe that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have traveled for hours, after it was last detected by radar almost one week ago on Saturday morning while on its way to Beijing.
Malaysian authorities are emphatically denying the accuracy of the latest information in the midst of yet another disappointing dead end when it was confirmed that a possible debris location in China proved to be a false lead.
The mystery of what happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight that has simply vanished into thin air is a puzzle for investigators, as well as aviation experts following the case closely.
According to MSNBC Wednesday’s press conference, in which Malaysian authorities tried to answer reporters questions which just grow in intensity as the disappearance enters its sixth day, was chaotic, however, on Thursday things were more calm but there are no real answers as to where the 239 souls on board are.
Malaysian officials do not know where the plane was headed when air traffic controllers lost contact in the early morning hours of Saturday, even as Military officials reported that MH370 was tracked making a U-turn and they believed it was somewhere near the Strait of Malacca.
Aviation experts say someone in the cockpit purposely turned off the transponder on the Malaysia Airlines doomed flight — which indicates location, speed, and direction — for unknown reasons. They insist this is a manual operation as the navigation instrument does not stop working or turn off on its own.
According to the WSJ report, published Thursday, US investigators believe Malaysia Airlines flight 370 traveled for up to four hours covering 2,200 nautical miles which could put it as far as the Indian Ocean.
Aviation officials and national security investigators base their conclusion on information automatically gathered and downloaded by the Boeing 777 and sent to the ground as part of its routine maintenance and monitoring system.
Six days into the mysterious vanishing of Malaysia Airlines MH370 and with no location of a debris field in the area where civilian traffic controllers last had contact with the plane, counterterrorism officials in the US are exploring the possibility that the pilot or someone else in the cockpit diverted the aircraft to an unknown location by turning the transponder off to avoid radar detection.
Even though US national security officials are not saying that the disappearance of the jet was related to terrorism, they are not discounting any options.
US investigators are examining all the theories that have arisen with the latest disclosures and according to a source close to the inquiry, officials were told they are actively pursuing the possibility that the plane was diverted “with the intention of using it later for another purpose.”
As late as Wednesday, there was no indication the Malaysia Airlines MH370 had reached a different destination and the desperate search continues.
[Image via ScrapeTV.com]
