New physical evidence from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 suggests the plane may have been crashed intentionally.
The new theories come from a bit of debris seemingly from MH370, which was recently located in Madagascar. A fisherman had found the debris in 2017 and held on to it.
According to a report by engineer Richard Godfrey and MH370 wreckage hunter Blaine Gibson, the debris may have come from one of the landing gear doors.
The report suggests that this part of the landing gear was damaged from the inside, indicating “that the landing gear was highly likely extended on impact”.
So what does that mean? Well, when pilots make emergency landings on the water, they usually retract the landing gear. This helps make the landing smoother.
The report makes the conclusion that “the end of the flight was in a high speed dive designed to ensure the aircraft broke up into as many pieces as possible”. Plus, having extended landing gear could lead to a plane sinking more quickly.
“The crash of MH370 was anything but a soft landing on the ocean,” it said.
According to the report, the fact the plane’s landing gear was extended “supports the conclusion that there was an active pilot until the end of the flight”.
“The realistic possibility that the landing gear was lowered shows both an active pilot and an attempt to ensure the plane sank as fast as possible after impact,” it said.
“The recovered… floating debris speaks to how the plane crashed, and the oceanographic drift analysis speaks to where. Neither can tell us who was flying the aircraft or why.”
There are a number of theories about the plane’s disappearance. One which has been floated before is that the plane was deliberately crashed, either by captain Zaharie Shah or by someone else.
The Malaysian Government declared in 2015 that the crash was an accident.
The plane has never been found though hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into the hunt. Tragically, we still have no definitive answers about what happened to the plane and the more than 200 passengers and crew on board.
Debris from the plane has so far been found in Madagascar, South Africa, Mauritius and off the coast of Tanzania. But it’s likely the mystery around MH37’s disappearance will never be solved.
