MH370 pilot 'chief suspect' in case of foul play: Report

Times of India ^ | June 22, 2014 | PTI

[Uncle Chip]

KUALA LUMPUR: The captain of Flight MH370 has been identified as the prime suspect by a Malaysian police investigation into the disappearance of the plane after checks cleared all other people on board, a media report said today.

The criminal inquiry does not rule out the possibility the Boeing 777-200 plane was lost due to mechanical failure or terrorism, but the police view is that if it was the result of human action, the captain was the most likely perpetrator, The Sunday Times reported.

Malaysia's special branch focused the inquiry on Captain Zaharie Shah, 53, after intelligence checks failed to substantiate any suspicions about the other people on board the jet, the report said....

Detectives conducted more than 170 interviews. They found that Zaharie, an outgoing, married man with a penchant for gadgetry and postings on social media, appeared to have made no social or work commitments for the future, the report said....

The investigators found that Zaharie had programmed a flight simulator in his home with drills rehearsing a flight far out into the southern Indian Ocean and a landing on an island with a short runway.

These were deleted but computer experts were able to retrieve them, the report said.

The pilot had made no secret of his unusual hobby, creating aviation videos that were posted on the Internet.

But behind the facade of a normal family life in a comfortable Kuala Lumpur suburb, with three children and a five-year-old grandson, police heard rumours of marital estrangement and tensions that have been denied by Zaharie's family, it said....

[Uncle Chip]

a flight far out into the southern Indian Ocean and a landing on an island with a short runway.

and that island would be --

[nuconvert]

The plane is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Any good guesses on islands in the southern Indian Ocean that have runways of any kind?

[spokeshave]

These were deleted but computer experts were able to retrieve them

Hey Issa....buy a clue

[Grampa Dave]

Was he a Sunni like our president?

[Gay State Conservative]

and that island would be --

Antarctica

[Jack Hydrazine]

Where the Nazis are!!!

[PghBaldy]

Now the Malaysians deny this: "We did not make any statement to say that Capt. Zaharie was the prime suspect," [police spokeswoman Asmawati Ahmad] said, refuting an article in London's The Sunday Times that says Zaharie is now the sole focus of the investigation.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/22/world/asia/malaysia-mh-370-search/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[bigtoona]

It’s at the bottom of the ocean for sure. I think he called the tower and said that he would crash the plane unless certain demands were not met regarding the release of his buddy that went to prison the day before. They didn’t comply so he crashed it. http://shanghaiist.com/2014/03/17/links-between-mh370-disappearance-zaharie-politics-dismissed.php

[Jack Hydrazine]

That seems like a very probable scenario.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Until confirmed wreckage is found, you have to assume the plane is in one piece and functional (Same is probably not true of the passengers). To assume anything else leaves an open door for disaster...

What function would a plane of this nature have in terrorist hands? Consider 9/11 with an EMP, NORK/Nukes, or a chemical weapon payload coming into a large American city (LA, NYC, Washington?) and let you imagination go from there...

[Uncle Chip]

My guess as to the island on his computeror is New Amsterdam:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_Amsterdam

It appears to be the destination of the 450knot flight path that the NTSB initially charted then abandoned:

https://www.facebook.com/178566888854999/photos/pcb.740971779281171/740971732614509/?type=1&theater

[I want the USA back]

Was the captain a member of the ROP? That’s all you need to know.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I will say this again and again...

It would be one of the lamest terror attempts to use a plane everyone knows went missing. Everyone in the world KNOWS about it and knows they would have to watch for it.

Also lame even if it was literally just a transport. Why draw so much attention to your conspiracy with a worldwide news item?

[Uncle Chip]

He was a MINO —

[Uncle Chip]

regarding the release of his buddy that went to prison the day before.

He wasn't and isn't in jail -- so there would be no reason to make the demand.

[Grams A]

Hey Issa....buy a clue”

You read my mind!

[Jack Hydrazine]

But could he have made it to that island with the fuel he had on board?

[Jonty30]

A plane that size, crammed with just conventional explosives would probably be the equivalent of a small nuke.

If crammed with dirty bomb material, much worse.

[Uncle Chip]

Yes he could have but just barely and with luck.

They said he had fuel for 7.5 to 8 hours at 520mph — 3900 to 4160 miles.

The path that he flew would have been 4230 miles — out of reach but it could still have been a target destination and may be in the waters a couple hundred miles short of it — if that is the island on his computer.