Ian Mader and Eileen Ng, Associated Press
Posted: Sunday, March 16, 2014, 1:09 AM
The announcement shifted the investigation's focus to the crew and passengers on the plane, which has now been missing for more than a week.
Prime Minister Najib Razak's statement also meant the flight path of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to Beijing could have strayed as far as the southern Indian Ocean or northwest to Kazakhstan, complicating the work of search crews who already have been scouring vast stretches of ocean seeking the plane's 12-person crew and 227 passengers.
"Clearly the search for MH370 has entered a new phase," Najib said at a televised news conference. "It is widely understood that this has been a situation without precedent."
Experts have previously said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience. One possibility they have raised is that one of the pilots wanted to commit suicide.
Najib stressed that investigators were looking into all possibilities for why the Boeing 777 deviated so drastically from its original flight path, saying authorities could not confirm whether it was a hijacking. Earlier Saturday, a Malaysian official said the plane had been hijacked, though he added that no motive had been established and no demands had been made known.
"In view of this latest development, the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board," Najib told reporters, reading from a written statement, but taking no questions.
Police on Saturday went to the Kuala Lumpur homes of the missing plane's pilot and copilot, according to a guard and local reporters.
The plane departed for an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing at 12:40 a.m. March 8. Communications with civilian air controllers were severed about 1:20 a.m., and the jet went missing.
China, where the bulk of the passengers were from, expressed irritation over what it called Malaysia's foot-dragging in releasing information about the search.
Investigators now are fairly certain the plane's Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System was partly disabled before the aircraft reached the east coast of Malaysia, Najib said. Shortly afterward, someone on board switched off the aircraft's transponder, which communicates with civilian air traffic controllers.
Najib confirmed that Malaysian air force defense radar picked up traces of the plane turning back westward, crossing over Peninsular Malaysia into the northern stretches of the Strait of Malacca. Authorities previously had said this information could not be verified.
"These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane," Najib said.
Although the aircraft was flying virtually blind to air traffic controllers at this point, onboard equipment continued to send "pings" to satellites.
U.S. aviation safety experts say the shutdown of communications systems makes it clear the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was taken over by someone who knew how the plane worked.
To turn off the transponder, someone in the cockpit would have to turn a knob with multiple selections to the "off" position while pressing down at the same time, said John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. A pilot would know how to do this, but it could also be learned on the Internet, he said.
Malaysia's prime minister said the last confirmed signal between the plane and a satellite came at 8:11 a.m. - 7 hours, 31 minutes after takeoff.
Source: Top Stories - Google News
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