MH370 THEORY: ELECTRONIC HIJACKING

Various scenarios have been put forth as potential explanations for the disappearance of MH370. As I have shown in my book, there is only one that is consistent with all of the known facts. To learn about the methodology that can be used to examine and assess any proposed scenario, read this article or listen to the audio version below.

There is support for a theory that some passengers hijacked the airplane by gaining access to the airplane’s onboard flight computers, which are located in the electronics and equipment bay (under the floor below/behind the cockpit). The hypothesis is that the hijackers took control of the airplane by using sophisticated electronic equipment they had smuggled on board.

Every professional airplane accident investigator, pilot, airplane designer, maintenance engineer, and everyone familiar with operating airplanes, knows that this hijack scenario is completely unrealistic. Computers in the electronics and equipment bay are used only for maintenance diagnostics. They are designed to function only when the airplane is on the ground.

To be able to fly and navigate the airplane from the electronics and equipment bay would require a complete redesign of the airplane, and a complete rebuild of its flight control systems. It is both naive and preposterous to propose that such a major redesign could be replaced by some type of electronic wizardry hacked into a system that could not possibly react to it.

For this scenario to be true for MH370, one would have to accept that passenger-hijackers forced their way into the electronics and equipment bay shortly after take off, and they were able to work there without challenge or interference, and that the pilots failed to notice their devious activities while they were reprogramming the cockpit functions and flight controls, and that the pilots therefore did not inform air traffic control of any irregularities, and that the pilots made no attempt to divert the flight to get the airplane back on the ground, and that within something less than thirty minutes after take off, the hijackers were ready to disable the transponder, and to take complete control of the airplane from the pilots, and that the hijackers caused the airplane to reverse course, and that in that short timeframe they somehow reprogrammed the airplane to fly a circuitous route to avoid radar detection, and then to fly far out into the southern Indian Ocean, and then to extend the flaps, and then to carry out a controlled ditching. You would have to accept that the passenger-hijackers knew that their efforts would result in their own deaths, and the deaths of everyone else on board.

I am compelled here to add some comments about wild theories such as this electronic hijacking theory. It is frustrating to watch as these types of stories gain traction on the internet, and get media attention. Even though they have no basis in fact, they garner interest because they provide intrigue and entertainment, especially when attached to a tragic event such as MH370. At the same time, they are a source of misinformation that can needlessly concern people about the safety of air travel.

A tragic consequence of stories like this is that they have real and lasting negative effects on the families and loved ones of those who perished in the airplane. I have witnessed this consequence first hand, and the damage is real, and it can be heartbreaking. There are versions of this particular hijacking theory that claimed that the airplane landed safely at some remote location, and that the airplane’s occupants were captive, but alive.

Regardless of whether the motivation to present such a story is personal gain, or notoriety, or a misguided attempt to inform, it is inhumane and shameful to promote such an implausible scenario while ignoring the mental anguish it could inflict on such vulnerable people.

The third hijack scenario mentioned earlier involves remote hacking into the airplane, where the perpetrators gained control of the airplane’s flight management systems from some remote location. What you just heard about onboard hijacking should suffice to discredit any remote hijacking theories. Such theories can be dismissed, their only value being as entertainment for conspiracy theorists and fans of science fiction.

OTHER THEORIES

The Theory of an Onboard Fire

The Theory of a Passenger Hijacking

The Theory of a Mechanical or Electrical Malfunction

The Theory of a Bomb, or Military Action

Book cover of MH370: Mystery Solved by Larry Vance

MH370 MYSTERY SOLVED

This book, by a veteran air crash investigator, finally explains what really happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

On March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, with 239 people on board, disappeared into the dark of the night, never to be heard from again. The disappearance of MH370 has been described as the “greatest mystery in the history of aviation”.

Despite the efforts of an international investigation team, and millions of dollars spent searching the ocean bottom, the wreckage was not found.

This book explains why.

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