Captain John Cox, a former US pilot who has assisted the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), however concedes that “it has not been determined how the jet finally came down”.
Cox, an air safety consultant, was casting doubt on the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s (ATSB) “death dive” theory. “I do not believe there’s sufficient data in the Inmarsat data to draw any conclusion on the rate of descent.”
The hourly “pings” between the satellite and aircraft was reliable only for tracking purposes, he pointed out. “It was not sufficiently accurate to determine rates of ascent and descent.”
Cox was arguing the information available was insufficient to support the ATSB’s theory or a competing one, that Zaharie flew the aircraft to a watery landing. The third theory was divided between ditching under power and a controlled glide.
The “end of flight” scenario was crucial for the ATSB leading the underwater search for MH370 in the 7th Arc in the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia. The ATSB does not use the term “death dive” but left unsaid was the fact that the current 120,000 sq km search area was based on the theory.
A controlled dive, however, would have taken the aircraft to somewhere outside the current search aircraft.
The ATSB has denied media reports that it has been “playing down” the “rogue pilot” and “controlled glide” theories under pressure by Malaysia.
ATSB Chief Commissioner, Greg Hood, claims that MH370’s final moments came very quickly. He’s sure, based on an analysis of Inmarsat satellite tracking data by defence scientists, that an unpiloted MH370 descended rapidly after running out of fuel.
The ATSB said in a statement, according to The Australian, that the aircraft was in a high, and increasing, rate of descent. “That’s the conclusion after analysis of the metadata associated with the final two satellite communications from the aircraft to the ground earth station,” said the ATSB.
MH370 disappeared during a routine Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.
It’s known the aircraft stopped just short of Vietnam and turned back. Apparently, according to military radar, the plane flew across the Malay peninsula, passed over Pulau Perak in the Straits of Malacca and made for northern Sumatra.
It’s believed, based on hourly pings from the aircraft to the satellite, that MH370 rounded the northern tip of Sumatra and headed for the remote southern Indian Ocean.
The radar transponder was reportedly switched off not long after the aircraft took off. There was also no radio contact.
It’s believed that two hundred and thirty nine people, including cabin crew, perished in the incident. The majority of the passengers were from China. There were also six Australian nationals and permanent residents on board the plane that went missing.