Evidence that the pilot wanted to make MH370 'disappear'

On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur Airport. The plane, with 239 people on board, was on its way to Beijing but disappeared from radar screens shortly after take-off.

The search for MH370 in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia, was futile and ended several years ago. But last week, a US technology company proposed new and expanded research in the area.

Last weekend, a memorial service was held in Kuala Lumpur. During the day on Friday, relatives of the MH370 passengers gathered outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing as it had been exactly ten years since the flight disaster.

Some theories about what happened are that the plane was shot down or crashed either in the ocean or on an island.

But there has also been speculation that pilot Zahiri Ahmad Shah may have deliberately shot MH370 into the sea. British pilot Simon Hardy, who consulted on the research, says the plane's log documents may support the theory that the disappearance was planned.

“It seems like everything was carefully planned.”

The documents show that oxygen was filled in the cockpit of MH370 just before take-off, although, according to Hardy, it was not necessary for the relatively short flight to Beijing.

“It seems like a strange coincidence that the last thing done before this plane disappeared was to fill oxygen but only for the cockpit, not for the cabin crew,” Hardy says.

Everything “points to the same scenario,” says Hardy. It is believed that Shah may have been in complete control of the plane until it crashed, with the intention of never finding it.

Everything seemed to have been carefully planned about how the plane would disappear, says Hardy.

Hardy believes the pilot wanted to put the plane in the water so it would sink without crashing, thus reducing the chance of finding the wreckage.