The pilot of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 took the plane down in a murder-suicide, a new documentary has claimed.
Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who said “goodnight” to air traffic control in Malaysia before the plane vanished, is speculated to have flown the aircraft for seven hours after cutting contact with authorities.
The MH370 flight, which crashed in March 2014 around 38 minutes after leaving Kuala Lumper Airport, carried 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.
Since it vanished a decade ago, no wreckage has ever been discovered despite extensive searches for the ill-fated plane.
Zaharie Ahmad Shah is speculated to have flown the aircraft for seven hours after cutting contact with authorities
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A new documentary, Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt For MH370, theorises that Shah intentionally depressurised the cabin to “neutralise” passengers and crew, who would have been dead after 20 minutes.
Shah, 53 at the time of the disappearance, was described as a veteran pilot who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and accumulated 18,423 hours of flight time.
He was recognised as an accomplished and well-respected pilot who had no flaws on his record.
Captain Paul Cullen, a psychology professor from Trinity College Dublin, revealed that a startling number of pilots could be suffering from mental health issues.
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A new documentary has theorised that Shah intentionally depressurised the cabin to 'neutralise' passengers and crew
GettyCiting a survey of 1,000 commercial pilots which discovered that 17 per cent met the threshold for moderate depression, he stated: “There are people flying who shouldn’t be flying.”
“None of those should ever be in the cockpit of an aeroplane,” he added.
Whilst Captain Shah nor First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid had a history of mental illness, Cullen said: “It’s not easy for a pilot to say he has a mental health issue as, once he does that his medical will be revoked and he can’t fly. The system has to change. That fear has to be removed.”
However, French investigator Florence de Changy, who has been researching the crash for almost 10 years, has dispelled rumours that Shah brought the plane down.
She insisted that he was innocent after reading confidential police reports and speaking to people who knew him.
Earlier this week, Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company, claimed to have new scientific evidence in the search for the doomed flight.
The company submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government after announcing plans for a new search.
Investigators suggest this could have been the final flight path of MH370WikiCommonsThe Texas-based company is offering a "no-cure, no-fee" search – which involves the client paying for the services if the company secures a positive outcome.
Ocean Infinity said they are now "in a position" to reopen a probe after previously scouring the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.
The company’s chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said: “We now feel in a position to be able to return to the search for MH370, and have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government.
“Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.
“Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.”
Relatives of those who died on board the plane are desperate for a new search to be commissioned to help find the wreckage of MH370.
Jacquie Gonzales, whose husband Patrick Gomes was on the aircraft the day it disappeared said: “I thought we would have answers way, way earlier."