B777 captain gives his assessment of new book on “The Disappearing Act” of MH370

4 May 2021 Editor BOOKS 0

^{Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRJ) Malaysia Airlines flies over KLIA on 19 July 2014 in KLIA, Sepang, Malaysia}.

The Disappearing Act: The Impossible Case of MH370, a new book about the loss of MH370 by former Foreign Correspondent Club president Florence de Changy, is impressively researched and finely detailed, but like the maddening mystery itself, just raises more questions. Will we ever know what happened to the infamous Malaysian Airlines flight? The Boeing 777 vanished on 8 March 2014 with 227 passengers and 12 crew. A BUZZ editor asked a B777 Captain to review de Changy’s book. The Captain wishes to remain nameless. Here’s his review:

^{Former Foreign Correspondent Club president Florence de Changy}

The author is clearly a dedicated professional journalist. The determination to follow all leads to their conclusion is very commendable. The extended travels to remote Islands in the Maldives being one such example.

The book certainly raises the very valid question of the limited search where the aircraft was last seen on radar. If the aircraft was seen on radar at position BITOD, how could it have turned 36nm earlier at IGARI? The official version of events by PM Razak showing a criminal act of hijack by the well respected and highly experienced Captain was always dubious.

^{De Changy speaks with Malaysian Member of Parliament and Admiral Mohamad Imran bin Abdul Hamid}

There are two scenarios that carry merit in my opinion:

A turn back towards an airport in Malaysia after a major event, followed by a rapid or subtle incapacitation of the crew. The aircraft would continue in a stabilized mode even without correct FMC inputs. Fuel exhaustion and a possible docile stalling descent. A lithium battery fire could be rapid, and certainly disable any aircraft.
A missile strike which rapidly took the aircraft down, possibly with time for some garbled transmissions from the pilots.

^{The various possible flight paths of MH370} ^{(Sources: BBC; Australian Transport Safety Bureau Flight Path Analysis; Florence de Changy)}

The author, also to her credit, explores other books and their theories in some detail. In regard to controlling the aircraft from the electronics bay, I would say that this is not possible. Diversions to Diego Garcia and various kidnapping theories were well covered and dismissed. The Scenario of events in the book is perhaps as fragile as the official version.

^{A family member of a Chinese passenger from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
protests outside the Yonghegong Lama temple in Beijing. (Photo: Goh Chai Hin / AFP)}

However fact can often be stranger than fiction. There were some technical errors such as aircraft weights in the book, although nothing that detracts from the overall summary of the events.

Let the truth prevail for the families of MH370.