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Could MH370 have been ‘swapped’ mid-air?

Aircraft expert Ian Black previously worked as a fighter weapons instructor for the Malaysian Air Force, and is the author of two Haynes Manuals for aircraft, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom Manual and the RAF Tornado Manual. He flew the Tornado ADV in the first Gulf War and over Kosovo. He is now an A340 Airbus captain with Virgin Atlantic.

Could the aircraft have been ‘swapped’ mid-air?

Generally air traffic radars use something called a “Squawk” code - this is 4 digits, say '1234' - that is then used to transmit information to the ground radar of the aircraft’s position and other relevant detail. This is very easily disabled - it is operated with a simple on/off switch. The Boeing 777 has two separate systems for safety in the event of failure.

There is another angle which i think might be a possibility that the MH370 switched codes. If MH370 had a code of, say 4376, then it would be pretty easy to get another aircraft, say a Gulfstream 5 private jet, to fly up behind it and swap codes. The Gulfstream sets its squawk code to the same as MH370's code of 4376 then the B777 takes on the Gulfstream's code, and they then split... It would certainly make it easier for the B777 to continue on undetected.


Why did the Malaysian air force not scramble their fighters?

I actually trained the Malaysian air Force at Kuantan Air Base on the east coast of Malaysia and they have two MIG 29 fighter aircraft sat on alert 24/7 ready to scramble should an unknown aircraft enter their airspace – why were they not scrambled?

Most countries in this region spend billions of dollars on defence, in particular Air Defence – protecting their international airspace and waters.

The Indian Air Force have stated they only turn their radars on a 'need-to' basis – I think that's very unbelievable. I find it almost impossible that a Boeing 777 could be flying over land – whether that's Vietnam / Malaysia / India / or further north without anyone seeing it.

Australia is leading the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 along the southern search corridor. Photo: AP
Australia is leading the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 along the southern search corridor. Photo: AP

Could one pilot have ‘knocked out’ the entire passenger section?

Malaysia Airlines have stated that the Co-pilot and Captain did not ask to fly together and it was natural rostering that had them crewed on the same flight so we could probably say that the two were not working as a team.

On all airliners now there is what’s known as a “locked door” policy. That is to say the Flight crew are locked in behind a ballistic door and only allow authorized people in via a video entry system. However with only two pilots if one pilot leaves the flight deck to visit the bathroom he cannot get back in unless the other pilot opens the door. Although there is an emergency code it is possible to lock the other pilot out. In this scenario you would imagine the other pilot and the 250 would doo everything to gain entry and start using phones etc. – in the cabin there is a medical emergency system, which allows the crew to talk to various medical centers from the cabin.

My only thought on this was the person left in the cabin could have put on his oxygen mask- turned off the passenger Oxygen emergency supply and depressurized the aircraft – in a few minutes all the people in the cabin would be unconscious. The pilot could then repressurize the aircraft and remove his mask and fly normally with 250+ behind him incapacitated – not impossible.

It wouldn’t be difficult for one of the two pilots to either spike the other ones drink as well or simply kill him behind the locked door (we carry an axe in the flight deck – for emergencies).

Family members of passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 wait for news at the Lido Hotel. Photo: Getty Images
Family members of passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 wait for news at the Lido Hotel. Photo: Getty Images

Why it’s not likely to have been an accident

Boeing tend to be fairly conservative in their approach to design, sticking to tried and tested forms. The B777 has only had 3 confirmed write-offs since its introduction to service in 1995, and more remarkably these have all happened on the ground.

So its quick to see that in 20 years service no Boeing 777 has blown up in mid air, had an in-flight fire causing a crash or any other major incident. So what possible causes could lead to a B777 vanishing from the sky?

The B777 has a dual INS/ GPS navigation system that guides the aircraft along airways - their preordained routes - with an accuracy of a few meters. The only time aircraft leave the airway is to avoid bad weather (thunderstorms or clear air turbulence, or occasionally in the far east volcanic ash clouds). As far as I’m aware there was no bad weather along its intended track so there would be no reason to divert off course.

Why a bomb or depressurisation is unlikely

If it was a bomb, these are often designed to detonate on a pressure switch, so as the aircraft reaches a certain altitude the pressure device will detonate and the bomb will go off. The bomb will normally be in the hold and cause a rapid loss of pressurization and/or the aircraft to break up. As no wreckage has been found on the original track – within 100 miles of Malaysia - which is where any pressure-activated device would have detonated, I think we can count out a bomb.

Perhaps there was a rapid depressurization? For example a door/ cargo door blows open, the aircraft loses pressurization and the oxygen masks, for some reason, fail to come down.

This is unlikely as the flight crew have a separate system to the passengers and it would need multiple failures for both to go wrong. Also, in the event of losing cabin pressure, the crew would at least have a few seconds, maybe minutes to put out a mayday call. So again this would be highly unlikely.

Members of the social group Christian Muslim Alliance Pakistan take part in a candlelight vigil for passengers that were aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Photo: AP
Members of the social group Christian Muslim Alliance Pakistan take part in a candlelight vigil for passengers that were aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Photo: AP

Could the aircraft still navigate with its communications turned off?

For guidance the Boeing 777 uses a mixture of Inertial Navigation and GPS. The Inertial Navigation system is quite old in terms of technology (it dates from the 1970s) but it's very reliable and will allow aircraft to fly accurately along air routes. Its biggest advantage is that it is an “onboard” independent system, so therefore unjammable by outsiders. The B777 has 3 individual systems to cater for failure and or error. They are also used to supply other information to vital flight control systems so are therefore never turned off.

In addition to INS modern airlines use GPS (the same as in every modern car) Normally the information is mixed with the INS to give what is known as a “blended” position, i.e. all the information is mixed together to give a VERY accurate position – accurate to within a few centimeters. The GPS is pretty much unjammable. Airliners normally take information from up to 5 satellites. It can easily be turned off in the flight deck but as it does not transmit your position and is therefore “covert” it never is turned off.

The likeliest explanation

In my view suicide looks unlikely – he would have had to been very lucky to kill the other pilot, then fly undetected to a remote spot in the sea and either crash or run out of fuel – it doesn’t add up. Why wouldn’t he have just flown into the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur?

At this stage I have an open mind as to what’s happened – I sadly however don’t think it’s an accident. Which leads me to think it must have crash-landed over water – if it’s landed on a remote strip even camouflaging it would be hard. If it has crashed into the sea wreckage will be found - perhaps not in the next week, but eventually it will be found.