The Briefing Room

General Category => World News => Topic started by: happyg on March 16, 2014, 12:53:27 am

Title: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: happyg on March 16, 2014, 12:53:27 am: Police investigate data from home flight simulator of captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53
Investigators speak of his 'obsessive' support for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim
Police officers fear Ibrahim being jailed could have left Shah profoundly upset
Flight MH370 disappeared more than a week ago with 239 people on board
Despite a huge multinational search effort, no signs of the plane or a crash have been found

Malaysian Prime Minister said yesterday that the plane was deliberately steered off course

By Simon Parry

Police are investigating the possibility that the pilot of missing Flight MH370 hijacked his own aircraft in a bizarre political protest.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. And hours before the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is understood 53-year-old Shah attended a controversial trial in which Ibrahim was jailed for five years.

Campaigners say the politician, the key challenger to Malaysia’s ruling party, was the victim of a long-running smear campaign and had faced trumped-up charges.

Police sources have confirmed that Shah was a vocal political activist – and fear that the court decision left him profoundly upset. It was against this background that, seven hours later, he took control of a Boeing 777-200 bound for Beijing and carrying 238 passengers and crew.

Yesterday, Malaysian police searched his house in the upmarket Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam, where he had installed a home-made flight simulator. But this newspaper can reveal that investigators had already spent much of last week examining two laptops removed from Shah’s home. One is believed to contain data from the simulator

Confirming rising fears, Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak announced yesterday that MH370 was deliberately steered off course after its communication system was switched off. He said it headed west over the Malaysian seaboard and could have flown for another seven hours on its fuel reserves.

It is not yet clear where the plane was taken, however Mr Razak said the most recent satellite data suggests the plane could have been making for one of two possible flight corridors. The search, involving 43 ships and 58 aircraft from 15 countries, switched from the South China Sea to the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

US investigators say faint ‘pings’ were being transmitted for several hours after the flight lost contact with the ground.

Meanwhile, military radar showed the jet climbed to 45,000ft – above its service limit – which could have been a deliberate attempt to knock out the passengers and crew.

Anwar Ibrahim is a broadly popular democracy icon and former deputy prime minister whose prosecution on a charge of sodomy is seen by many Malaysians as political persecution.

The raids on Captain Shah’s home appeared stage-managed as a display of intent after the Prime Minister said the focus of the investigation was now on ‘crew and passengers’ as a result of the latest leads.

But investigators have told the Mail on Sunday inquiries into the background of the pilot actually began days earlier.

Malaysian police, helped by FBI agents from the US, are looking into the political and religious backgrounds of both Zaharie and his co-pilot. Zaharie’s home was sealed off yesterday as police spent an hour inside.

However, a senior investigation source said two laptops were taken from the property in low-key visits by police early last week despite a series of denials by officials that his home had been searched or raided.

One laptop taken away is thought to contain data from the flight simulator while a second contained little information. Zaharie’s personal laptop was not found, and is thought to have been with him in the cockpit of the plane, the source said.

Pictures and more of article at link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490)
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Chieftain on March 16, 2014, 12:55:32 am: Hoo boy.....there is going to be hell to pay if any of this pans out.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 12:58:35 am: He would have had to have been planning it well in advance. Something this complex couldn't just be thrown together in a few hours. Way too much of a chance for a mistake to derail the entire effort.

He may have decided to do it then (if this theory is correct) but it would have been planned for a while.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 01:02:40 am: If this turns into a hostage situation then at least gives hope that the passengers are alive. For now.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 01:06:22 am: Quote from: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 01:02:40 am
If this turns into a hostage situation then at least gives hope that the passengers are alive. For now.

I would imagine that the US and Chinese are preparing for that possibility, just in case.

It would be kind of strange for Delta Force or the Navy SEALs going along side PLA Special Operations Forces.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Fishrrman on March 16, 2014, 01:07:05 am: I think the investigators ought to take a look at his flight simulator setup, and check if there were any specific airports he was practicing landing into...
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: DCPatriot on March 16, 2014, 01:15:10 am: Quote from: Fishrrman on March 16, 2014, 01:07:05 am
I think the investigators ought to take a look at his flight simulator setup, and check if there were any specific airports he was practicing landing into...

Excellent observation! :patriot:

I understand he built another for the co-pilot for his home-use too!
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 01:17:41 am: While it very well may provide a valuable clue, pilots having flight sims is very, very common.

It may prove to be nothing.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 01:23:03 am: (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/15/article-2581817-1C5441ED00000578-457_964x1609.jpg)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_bin_Ibrahim#2014_Allegations_of_sodomy_acquittal_overturned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_bin_Ibrahim#2014_Allegations_of_sodomy_acquittal_overturned)
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: DCPatriot on March 16, 2014, 01:23:33 am: Quote from: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 01:17:41 am
While it very well may provide a valuable clue, pilots having flight sims is very, very common.

It may prove to be nothing.

Yeah... it may not be the hard drive that he was using when he was 'practicing' the mission. That one is long gone...if they're pros.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 03:36:09 am: Working at Boeing I once got to fly a 757 flight simulator before we ended the program. It is unbelievable how real the simulation is in a simulator that cost nearly as much as the plane. I did pretty good flying it over Seattle and landing at Boeing Field.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: happyg on March 16, 2014, 03:38:40 am: Quote from: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 03:36:09 am
Working at Boeing I once got to fly a 757 flight simulator before we ended the program. It is unbelievable how real the simulation is in a simulator that cost nearly as much as the plane. I did pretty good flying it over Seattle and landing at Boeing Field.

That sounds like fun. My grandkids went to Wright Patterson in Dayton and got to do stuff like that.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Rapunzel on March 16, 2014, 03:55:10 am: Quote from: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 01:17:41 am
While it very well may provide a valuable clue, pilots having flight sims is very, very common.

It may prove to be nothing.

I wonder if he simulated climbing to 45,000 feet and then pulling out of a stall? This morning on CNN they did a flight simulation of this in a 777 simulator and it was fascinating........
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Rapunzel on March 16, 2014, 03:56:56 am: Quote from: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 03:36:09 am
Working at Boeing I once got to fly a 757 flight simulator before we ended the program. It is unbelievable how real the simulation is in a simulator that cost nearly as much as the plane. I did pretty good flying it over Seattle and landing at Boeing Field.

They have them at hobby shops now for WWII fighter jets, when my husband suddenly disappeared for a few hours I knew that was where he was, he loved those simulators.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:16:47 pm: Quote
UPDATE

An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet wearing a T-shirt with a 'Democracy is Dead' slogan as it has been revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a 'fanatical' supporter of the country's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim - jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.

It has also been revealed that the pilot's wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.

It comes as FBI investigators say the disappearance of MH370 may have been ‘an act of piracy’ and that the possibility that its hundreds of passengers are being held at an unknown location has not been ruled out.

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/16/article-2581817-1C56DB9E00000578-105_964x699.jpg)
Peter Chong (left) with best friend Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. He is pictured in a T-shirt with a Democracy is Dead slogan as police investigate claims he could have hijacked the plane as an anti-government protest

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html)
And for some reason there is a pic of him with a dog dish and a butcher knife?
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: DCPatriot on March 16, 2014, 03:30:30 pm: Quote

It has also been revealed that the pilot's wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.

Starting to read like a Robert Ludlum novel....

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524924/ (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524924/)
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:34:08 pm: Quote
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/16/article-2581817-1C573A6200000578-757_964x399.jpg)

What part of the novel has the dog eating very well? :laugh: :wtf:
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Chieftain on March 16, 2014, 03:39:47 pm: Quote from: NavyCanDo on March 16, 2014, 03:36:09 am
Working at Boeing I once got to fly a 757 flight simulator before we ended the program. It is unbelievable how real the simulation is in a simulator that cost nearly as much as the plane. I did pretty good flying it over Seattle and landing at Boeing Field.

yah....when I was stationed at the LSO School at NAS Oceana, I got to fly the A6 trainer...I was doing approaches over Virginia Beach to a touch and go at NAS Oceana. They could program in any and all kinds of weather conditions and cockpit malfunctions, which luckily I wasn't tasked to deal with.

The other cool simulator was our LSO platform simulator. It had voice recognition so the aircraft would respond to calls by paddles and it was incredibly realistic as a night landing simulator. The deck motion simulation alone would make you queasy.....

Good stuff....

:beer:
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 03:54:19 pm: Quote from: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:16:47 pm
And for some reason there is a pic of him with a dog dish and a butcher knife?

I don't think that picture means anything. The look on his face is more consistent with someone having fun and pretending to be a violent butcher knife wielding maniac - with the dog's food in hand - than some fanatic expressing actual rage.

Here's the pic:

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/16/article-2581817-1C54D08A00000578-147_470x500.jpg)
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 03:55:30 pm: Quote from: DCPatriot on March 16, 2014, 03:30:30 pm

Starting to read like a Robert Ludlum novel....

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524924/ (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524924/)

That does point to a "perfect storm" - the confluence of family and political disputes coming to a head and overwhelming him with the emotional need to do something drastic.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:56:36 pm: Quote from: Chieftain on March 16, 2014, 03:39:47 pm
yah....when I was stationed at the LSO School at NAS Oceana, I got to fly the A6 trainer...I was doing approaches over Virginia Beach to a touch and go at NAS Oceana. They could program in any and all kinds of weather conditions and cockpit malfunctions, which luckily I wasn't tasked to deal with.

The other cool simulator was our LSO platform simulator. It had voice recognition so the aircraft would respond to calls by paddles and it was incredibly realistic as a night landing simulator. The deck motion simulation alone would make you queasy.....

Good stuff....

:beer:

I just moved from VaBch when there was a crash into apartments a few years ago. It was surreal the pilot dumped the fuel and no lives were lost and landed with his eject chute and said, 'Hi I am sorry I crashed into you.'
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:57:44 pm: Quote from: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 03:54:19 pm
I don't think that picture means anything. The look on his face is more consistent with someone having fun and pretending to be a violent butcher knife wielding maniac - with the dog's food in hand - than some fanatic expressing actual rage.

Here's the pic:

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/16/article-2581817-1C54D08A00000578-147_470x500.jpg)

Yep agreed, he could be the worst terrorist in the world and that pic is innocent.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: happyg on March 16, 2014, 04:01:58 pm: Quote from: Gazoo on March 16, 2014, 03:56:36 pm
I just moved from VaBch when there was a crash into apartments a few years ago. It was surreal the pilot dumped the fuel and no lives were lost and landed with his eject chute and said, 'Hi I am sorry I crashed into you.'

That would be a shocker! Pat did a lot of jumping back in the day. One time, he was supposed to deliver a football on the 50 yd. line at a hs football game. A wind came up, and he landed through the roof of a bar. The announcer said that is what he probably intended. Now, back to the topic at hand...
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: katzenjammer on March 16, 2014, 04:02:38 pm: For some reason I just don't think that is a "dog dish," more likely some kind of food storage container.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 04:03:19 pm: Quote from: katzenjammer on March 16, 2014, 04:02:38 pm
For some reason I just don't think that is a "dog dish," more likely some kind of food storage container.

fair enough; I still think the picture is innocent.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: katzenjammer on March 16, 2014, 04:04:07 pm: Quote from: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 04:03:19 pm
fair enough; I still think the picture is innocent.

Yes, agree, just typical of the silly sh!t people post on Facebook all around the world!!
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: olde north church on March 16, 2014, 06:54:17 pm: Quote

Anwar Ibrahim is a broadly popular democracy icon and former deputy prime minister whose prosecution on a charge of sodomy is seen by many Malaysians as political persecution.

And I was just wondering what kind of sodomy constitutes political persecution.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: DCPatriot on March 16, 2014, 07:19:04 pm: Quote from: olde north church on March 16, 2014, 06:54:17 pm
And I was just wondering what kind of sodomy constitutes political persecution.

Not sure, but I'll bet it requires one to be double-jointed. :laugh:

no pun intended. honest.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 07:25:09 pm: Quote from: olde north church on March 16, 2014, 06:54:17 pm
And I was just wondering what kind of sodomy constitutes political persecution.

Sodomy, or similar charges, have been used for centuries to eliminate political opposition whether true or not.
Title: Re: Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location
Post by: Oceander on March 16, 2014, 07:47:25 pm: Quote from: Atomic Cow on March 16, 2014, 07:25:09 pm
Sodomy, or similar charges, have been used for centuries to eliminate political opposition whether true or not.

Alan Turing, one of the real geniuses of the Twentieth Century, committed suicide after being convicted of criminal sodomy in UK and being sentenced to hormone "therapy."