Ten years after the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, a scientist returns to the exact location where the plane could be as well as the cause of the crash.
On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, mysteriously disappeared while flying over the South China Sea. The plane had no fewer than 239 passengers on board. The underwater search was suspended in 2017. It is one of the great mysteries of aviation.
Ten years later, the case seems to be rekindled. A scientist from the University of Tasmania, Vincent Lyne, shared on LinkedIn a study that claims to have finally located the device. The latter actually dates from 2021 but has only just been accepted by the Journal of Navigationa reference in the field.
The device is believed to be at the edge of Broken Ridge, an oceanic plateau in the south-east Indian Ocean, and is in a 6,000-metre-deep hole, “a very rugged and dangerous ocean environment, renowned for its wild fisheries and new deep-sea species”. According to the scientist, it is the “perfect hiding place”, Broken Ridge being an area composed of narrow sides and massive ridges. This would explain why the wreck has not yet been found. For the scientist, it is now up to the authorities to search this place or not.
A voluntary act?
The researcher also put forward a theory about the origin of this incident. According to him, the plane did not run out of fuel, as has often been claimed, but was the victim of an intentional landing maneuver by the pilot, in particular following the damage caused to the wings and flaps which gave the impression of a controlled water landing, similar to that of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger on the Hudson River in 2009.
Several elements had already previously led to this track: unexplained change of trajectory, possible deactivation of communication systems… However, this is still insufficient to know if the pilot acted in this way following an emergency situation or if he tried to voluntarily make the aircraft disappear.
The case has not been completely forgotten. As recently as March, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he would be “happy to restart” the investigation if there was “convincing evidence.” Moreover, according to The Telegraphlast June, a signal picked up using underwater microphones could help advance the investigation. At the time of the crash, a station identified a “relatively weak” signal, which could potentially coincide with the final moments of the flight.