It has been over two months since Malaysian flight MH-370 disappeared and still not a single credible trace of its final resting place has been found.
In the ongoing din over the confusion surrounding the recovery effort which has led nowhere, even the current Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak recently described the current rescue effort driven by satellite data of the suggested "location" of purported MH370 debris in the Indian Ocean as 'bizarre' and 'hard to believe'. Further, he told CNN when discussing the satellite data which is the basis for the current search in the Indian Ocean that 'To be honest, I found it hard to believe.... It's a bizarre scenario which none of us could have contemplated so that's why when I met the team...of foremost experts in aviation industry I asked them again and again "are you sure?"
In short: "nobody knows." Or so the conventional wisdom goes.
One person, however, who thinks someone may know more than they are letting on is none other than the man who was the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, Mahathir Mohamad [5], and who in a blog post earlier today has some rather provocative questions and thoughts.
In his article, titled appropriately "What goes up must come down", the former PM argues that flight did not crash and its current whereabouts may be know to the Central Intelligence Agency and the Boeing aircraft company: "It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for “pings” from the black box. This is most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted. The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings."
But far more provocatively, and daring to utter a three letter acronym few others do, Mahathir said the plane could have been switched onto autopilot remotely by the CIA if it had been hijacked, citing a reference which claims that "The ‘uninterruptible’ autopilot would be activated – either by pilot, by on board sensors, or even remotely by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck."
Mahatir goes back to day one, when the first disclosure surrounding the fateful flight were made, and when it was clear that the pilot, for whatever reason, purposefully shut down the communication system. "The system must have been disabled or else the ground station could have called the plane."
So putting two and two together, the former PM, who believes that "it is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame" concludes that "someone is hiding something."
His hope:
For some reason the media will not print anything that involves Boeing or the CIA. I hope my readers will read this.
To help the former premier reach as many readers as possible (and perhaps before his blog has an unfortunate nailgun incident), we repost his letter in its entirety.
From Chedet.cc: "Boeing technology - what goes up must come down [6]"
1. What goes up must come down. Airplanes can go up and stay up for long periods of time. But even they must come down eventually. They can land safely or they may crash. But airplanes don’t just disappear. Certainly not these days with all the powerful communication systems, radio and satellite tracking and filmless cameras which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities.
2. I wrote about the disabling of MH370’s communication system as well as the signals for GPS. The system must have been disabled or else the ground station could have called the plane. The GPS too must have been disabled or else the flight of MH370 would have been tracked by satellites which normally provide data on all commercial flights, inclusive of data on location, kind of aircraft, flight number, departure airport and destination. But the data seems unavailable. The plane just disappeared seemingly from all screens.
3. MH370 is a Boeing 777 aircraft. It was built and equipped by Boeing. All the communications and GPS equipment must have been installed by Boeing. If they failed or have been disabled Boeing must know how it can be done. Surely Boeing would ensure that they cannot be easily disabled as they are vital to the safety and operation of the plane.
4. A search on the Internet reveals that Boeing in 2006 received a US patent for a system that, once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a pre-determined landing location.
5. The Flightglobal.com article by John Croft, datelined Washington DC (1st December, 2006) further mentioned “The ‘uninterruptible’ autopilot would be activated – either by pilot, by on board sensors, or even remotely by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck”.
6. Clearly Boeing and certain agencies have the capacity to take over “uninterruptible control” of commercial airliners of which MH370 B777 is one.
7. Can it not be that the pilot of MH370 lost control of their aircraft after someone directly or remotely activated the equipment for seizure of control of the aircraft.
8. It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for “pings” from the black box. This is most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted. The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings.
9. Boeing should explain about this so-called anti-terrorism auto-land system. I cannot imagine the pilots made a soft-landing in rough seas and then quietly drown with the aircraft.
10. Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame.
11. For some reason the media will not print anything that involves Boeing or the CIA. I hope my readers will read this.