How Was MH370 Hijacked by a Third Party?
Last Updated Nov. 1st, 2023
On July 30th, 2018 the Malaysian Investigative team, looking into the disappearance of MH370, released their report on MH370 and their findings into it's disappearance.
In the press conference the lead investigator, Kok Soo Chon , said that investigators were "not of the opinion" the pilots did this and yet they seemed convinced that the most likely reason for the plane's diversion from it's flight path was the result of manual inputs, meaning this was a deliberate act and not the result of a system failure. Investigators also said they could not find any plausible system failure that would explain this diversion.
Although the investigators did not find any evidence that someone else was controlling the aircraft other than the pilots they could not rule out the possibility of an unlawful intervention by a "third party".
Investigators dismissed the possibility of a remote takeover of the aircraft because the autopilot on MH370 did not have the necessary technology update that would have allowed the plane to have been remotely controlled. So the only realistic way a third party could have taken control of that plane is if they were on-board the plane.
If this was a third party intervention then this is a baffling and puzzling possibility because there appeared to be no one else on the manifest who would have had the training and background to fly a B777 aircraft. So if no one else on the manifest could have done this then this leads to the possibility that maybe someone else on that aircraft, who's name is not listed on the manifest may have hijacked that plane. Possibly a stowaway, or passenger using a false passport, and identity of someone else, to get on-board that plane.
False Passports
We know that there were 2 Iranians who were on-board that plane traveling with false passports but they were thoroughly investigated by Interpol and found to be just migrants looking for work.
There was also a report that a man in Fujian, China ( surnamed Yu) passport's number matched that of MH370 passenger Zhao Qiwei who boarded the flight. It is not clear as to why Qiwei's passport number matched that of another Chinese citizen but this may indicate that he too may have been traveling with a false passport or someone may have used his identity to create a false passport and boarded the plane in his place.
Was the hijacker a stowaway?
Another possibility is that the hijacker(s) may have been stowaways who managed to get on-board that plane and bypassed all airport security.
In an article in the French magazine "Society" by Pierre Boisson tells of the story about an informant who's wife was on-board MH370 and he managed to get his hands on the CCTV security camera video of passengers boarding MH370 via a source within the Malaysian police. In the video it shows two men, one man in a KLIA ground crew uniform, and one wearing black shirt, both managed to bypass security and were not checked by any employees doing the screening. How is this possible?
Here is a link to the documentary "MH370 : One-way trip for the unknown" by France 2.
You can see this person in the CCTV security cam video at the 21:49 min mark in the program.
According to the informant in Pierre Boisson article the police were not able to identify this person in the video and his identity to date is still unknown. If he was just an airport employee the police should have had no problem identifying him by interviewing other employees at KLIA airport.
Another possibility is the hijackers may have been able to gain access to that plane by simply walking out to the tarmac, disguised as maintenance workers, and simply walked up to the plane and got on-board by accessing the external hatch for the Main Equipment Compartment (MEC or E/E bay) located beneath the aircraft.
Many airports do not have any security that would prevent passengers from going down one flight of stairs from the boarding area and walking out doors that lead straight onto the tarmac.
I imagine that a sophisticated hijackers may have exploited this lack of security and were able to gain access to MH370 by simply walking out onto the tarmac, disguised as a maintenance workers, and went straight up to the plane then climbed on-board via the E/E bay external access door beneath the aircraft. I believe no one else on the tarmac would have even taken notice them. If these were state actors they may have helped within airport security to do this.
The MEC (E/E bay) is also pressurized and temperature controlled because of all the electronic equipment in this compartment so a stowaway hiding in this part of the aircraft would be able to survive the flight in this compartment.
If multiple hijackers were involved it's possible some may have gotten on-board using fake passports, or bypassing security disguised as ground crew employees, while others may have got on board via the tarmac by accessing this external hatch.
How exactly could stowaway hijackers have hijacked MH370?
I believe the hijackers on-board MH370 were stowaways hiding in the Main Equipment Center (MEC) compartment (also called avionics bay) of the plane and I also believe that all 239 passengers and crew on-board this plane were completely innocent, with regards to the hijacking, and could not have possibly pulled off such a sophisticated hijacking like this with decoys. Someone else had to be on-board that plane and in this MEC compartment to disable those systems.
It's possible there may have been a team of 2 to 4 hijackers hiding in there. This may be the most plausible method in this case if we consider a third party hijacking scenario like mine with sophisticated state actors as the hijackers. They would have been a highly trained team to do such a type of hijacking of a plane and to disable it's systems and at least one was a trained pilot who could fly the plane as well.
This compartment is easily accessible through an external hatch below the aircraft and is pressurized as well as climate controlled during flight because of the equipment. I believe the hijackers were able to get on-board this plane before take-off, possibly disguised as maintenance technicians, and were able to first disable the ACARS system (17:07 UTC) then the VHF/HF coms, after Captain Shaw's last signoff message (17:19 UTC), from within this maintenance compartment by pulling circuit breakers on the maintenance CB panel in this MEC compartment.
I believe they initiated the hijacking from this compartment and then entered the cockpit by pulling the circuit breaker for the cockpit's electronic door lock (located also in MEC compartment) and then they entered the flight deck through the upper hatch and opened the cockpit door which is right next to this hatch. Assuming these hijackers were armed they may have taken control of the cockpit this way and immediately switched off the transponder (17:21 UTC) from the cockpit. This would have happened within two minutes of Captain Shaw's last sign off message "Good Night Malaysia 3-7-0". They may have coerced the pilots into doing what they wanted or took complete control of the plane themselves and locked the pilots out of the cockpit or disabled them.
After storming the cockpit and taking control of the plane they then went to the overhead locker in the aft cabin compartment where the Satellite Data Unit (SDU) is located and disabled it from there (18:05UTC) . Once that was done the plane flew radio silent for the rest of it's flight and the hijackers were in complete control of the plane. The may have also used an Electronic Warfare (EW) jamming device to jam all cell phone signals as well.
I envision that the third party hijacker(s) of MH370 were highly trained aviation experts who, possibly a team of two, with one being a fully certified B777 pilot and other being licensed aero mechanical engineer (LAME).
After 30 seconds the hijackers pulled the circuit breaker for the cockpit electronics door lock, unlocking the cockpit door, and then made their way up through the flight deck hatch in the E/E bay and walked right into cockpit and neutralize the pilots.
It may have also been possible that the hijacker(s) may have been able to smuggle a gun on-board to give them insurance in case the pilot(s) weren't cooperative and posed any threat, or resistance, to their take-over plan.
The hijackers then locked the cockpit door from the inside using the mechanical lock, and immediately turned off the transponder @17:20:30 UTC then disengage the autopilot banking plane to the right under manual control and flew the plane manually taking less than one minute to do this and then banked the plane right and did a rapid nose dive down to low altitudes to evade radar and then flew west towards the Maldives evading radar as they flew.
In theory this may be how this BUAP system works and if this is the case then it's maybe possible that this software upgrade may have been installed on MH370's AIMS computer prior to flight. I am not saying this was done but I am just throwing it out there as a possibility.
Ken S
Twitter @kstaubin
Interesting Footnote:
On July 30th, 2018 the Malaysian Investigative team, looking into the disappearance of MH370, released their report on MH370 and their findings into it's disappearance.
In the press conference the lead investigator, Kok Soo Chon , said that investigators were "not of the opinion" the pilots did this and yet they seemed convinced that the most likely reason for the plane's diversion from it's flight path was the result of manual inputs, meaning this was a deliberate act and not the result of a system failure. Investigators also said they could not find any plausible system failure that would explain this diversion.
Although the investigators did not find any evidence that someone else was controlling the aircraft other than the pilots they could not rule out the possibility of an unlawful intervention by a "third party".
Investigators dismissed the possibility of a remote takeover of the aircraft because the autopilot on MH370 did not have the necessary technology update that would have allowed the plane to have been remotely controlled. So the only realistic way a third party could have taken control of that plane is if they were on-board the plane.
False Passports
We know that there were 2 Iranians who were on-board that plane traveling with false passports but they were thoroughly investigated by Interpol and found to be just migrants looking for work.
There was also a report that a man in Fujian, China ( surnamed Yu) passport's number matched that of MH370 passenger Zhao Qiwei who boarded the flight. It is not clear as to why Qiwei's passport number matched that of another Chinese citizen but this may indicate that he too may have been traveling with a false passport or someone may have used his identity to create a false passport and boarded the plane in his place.
Another possibility is that the hijacker(s) may have been stowaways who managed to get on-board that plane and bypassed all airport security.
In an article in the French magazine "Society" by Pierre Boisson tells of the story about an informant who's wife was on-board MH370 and he managed to get his hands on the CCTV security camera video of passengers boarding MH370 via a source within the Malaysian police. In the video it shows two men, one man in a KLIA ground crew uniform, and one wearing black shirt, both managed to bypass security and were not checked by any employees doing the screening. How is this possible?
Here is a link to the documentary "MH370 : One-way trip for the unknown" by France 2.
According to the informant in Pierre Boisson article the police were not able to identify this person in the video and his identity to date is still unknown. If he was just an airport employee the police should have had no problem identifying him by interviewing other employees at KLIA airport.
Another possibility is the hijackers may have been able to gain access to that plane by simply walking out to the tarmac, disguised as maintenance workers, and simply walked up to the plane and got on-board by accessing the external hatch for the Main Equipment Compartment (MEC or E/E bay) located beneath the aircraft.
Many airports do not have any security that would prevent passengers from going down one flight of stairs from the boarding area and walking out doors that lead straight onto the tarmac.
I imagine that a sophisticated hijackers may have exploited this lack of security and were able to gain access to MH370 by simply walking out onto the tarmac, disguised as a maintenance workers, and went straight up to the plane then climbed on-board via the E/E bay external access door beneath the aircraft. I believe no one else on the tarmac would have even taken notice them. If these were state actors they may have helped within airport security to do this.
The MEC (E/E bay) is also pressurized and temperature controlled because of all the electronic equipment in this compartment so a stowaway hiding in this part of the aircraft would be able to survive the flight in this compartment.
If multiple hijackers were involved it's possible some may have gotten on-board using fake passports, or bypassing security disguised as ground crew employees, while others may have got on board via the tarmac by accessing this external hatch.
I believe the hijackers on-board MH370 were stowaways hiding in the Main Equipment Center (MEC) compartment (also called avionics bay) of the plane and I also believe that all 239 passengers and crew on-board this plane were completely innocent, with regards to the hijacking, and could not have possibly pulled off such a sophisticated hijacking like this with decoys. Someone else had to be on-board that plane and in this MEC compartment to disable those systems.
It's possible there may have been a team of 2 to 4 hijackers hiding in there. This may be the most plausible method in this case if we consider a third party hijacking scenario like mine with sophisticated state actors as the hijackers. They would have been a highly trained team to do such a type of hijacking of a plane and to disable it's systems and at least one was a trained pilot who could fly the plane as well.
This compartment is easily accessible through an external hatch below the aircraft and is pressurized as well as climate controlled during flight because of the equipment. I believe the hijackers were able to get on-board this plane before take-off, possibly disguised as maintenance technicians, and were able to first disable the ACARS system (17:07 UTC) then the VHF/HF coms, after Captain Shaw's last signoff message (17:19 UTC), from within this maintenance compartment by pulling circuit breakers on the maintenance CB panel in this MEC compartment.
I believe they initiated the hijacking from this compartment and then entered the cockpit by pulling the circuit breaker for the cockpit's electronic door lock (located also in MEC compartment) and then they entered the flight deck through the upper hatch and opened the cockpit door which is right next to this hatch. Assuming these hijackers were armed they may have taken control of the cockpit this way and immediately switched off the transponder (17:21 UTC) from the cockpit. This would have happened within two minutes of Captain Shaw's last sign off message "Good Night Malaysia 3-7-0". They may have coerced the pilots into doing what they wanted or took complete control of the plane themselves and locked the pilots out of the cockpit or disabled them.
After storming the cockpit and taking control of the plane they then went to the overhead locker in the aft cabin compartment where the Satellite Data Unit (SDU) is located and disabled it from there (18:05UTC) . Once that was done the plane flew radio silent for the rest of it's flight and the hijackers were in complete control of the plane. The may have also used an Electronic Warfare (EW) jamming device to jam all cell phone signals as well.
I envision that the third party hijacker(s) of MH370 were highly trained aviation experts who, possibly a team of two, with one being a fully certified B777 pilot and other being licensed aero mechanical engineer (LAME).
After 30 seconds the hijackers pulled the circuit breaker for the cockpit electronics door lock, unlocking the cockpit door, and then made their way up through the flight deck hatch in the E/E bay and walked right into cockpit and neutralize the pilots.
It may have also been possible that the hijacker(s) may have been able to smuggle a gun on-board to give them insurance in case the pilot(s) weren't cooperative and posed any threat, or resistance, to their take-over plan.
The hijackers then locked the cockpit door from the inside using the mechanical lock, and immediately turned off the transponder @17:20:30 UTC then disengage the autopilot banking plane to the right under manual control and flew the plane manually taking less than one minute to do this and then banked the plane right and did a rapid nose dive down to low altitudes to evade radar and then flew west towards the Maldives evading radar as they flew.
Boeing Uninterruptable Auto-Pilot (BUAP)
The Boeing Uninterruptable Auto-Pilot (BUAP) was patented by the Boeing Company after 9/11 to give the US Government a means to take remote control of a hijacked plane via a remote control link. This technology would make all pilot controls from the cockpit useless and the plane could be flown by a remote pilot via a satellite link. I have no idea if this technology was on-board MH370 but if it was installed sometime prior to flight this may explain how MH370 may have been hijacked as well and controlled by a remote pilot.
From my understanding of this patent the operation of this system requires that there are command codes stored on-board the vehicle which can be activated through a remote satellite link that will cause the "vehicle", in this case an aircraft, to operate in a different mode of operation ignoring pilot controls and commands from the cockpit and overriding these controls via a remote link controlled by a remote pilot.
In other words a BUAP system may just be a software upgrade done on the Airplane Information and Management System (AIMS) which is the brain of the B777. It's this system that is actually flying the aircraft and if it's operating system is modified with these commend codes then in theory you can make this system run in a different mode of operation through software. This is how a B777 could be remotely hijacked according to my understanding of this patent and it may just be a simple software upgrade to the AIMS computer to do this.
Of course any modification like this to the AIMS OS software would have to have been developed and tested by Boeing and Honeywell (the manufacture of the AIMS system) before it could ever be implemented and tested on a passenger aircraft. Assuming they developed and tested this technology after 9/11 then maybe all that is required to do a remote hijacking on an aircraft is a simple software upgrade to the AIMS OS software with these command codes embedded in the program, and no special hardware is required, everything can be done through software.
The Boeing Uninterruptable Auto-Pilot (BUAP) was patented by the Boeing Company after 9/11 to give the US Government a means to take remote control of a hijacked plane via a remote control link. This technology would make all pilot controls from the cockpit useless and the plane could be flown by a remote pilot via a satellite link. I have no idea if this technology was on-board MH370 but if it was installed sometime prior to flight this may explain how MH370 may have been hijacked as well and controlled by a remote pilot.
From my understanding of this patent the operation of this system requires that there are command codes stored on-board the vehicle which can be activated through a remote satellite link that will cause the "vehicle", in this case an aircraft, to operate in a different mode of operation ignoring pilot controls and commands from the cockpit and overriding these controls via a remote link controlled by a remote pilot.
In other words a BUAP system may just be a software upgrade done on the Airplane Information and Management System (AIMS) which is the brain of the B777. It's this system that is actually flying the aircraft and if it's operating system is modified with these commend codes then in theory you can make this system run in a different mode of operation through software. This is how a B777 could be remotely hijacked according to my understanding of this patent and it may just be a simple software upgrade to the AIMS computer to do this.
Of course any modification like this to the AIMS OS software would have to have been developed and tested by Boeing and Honeywell (the manufacture of the AIMS system) before it could ever be implemented and tested on a passenger aircraft. Assuming they developed and tested this technology after 9/11 then maybe all that is required to do a remote hijacking on an aircraft is a simple software upgrade to the AIMS OS software with these command codes embedded in the program, and no special hardware is required, everything can be done through software.
All the necessary hardware to do this is already installed on a fly-by-wire aircraft like the B777 all you need to do is modify the AIMS operating system (OS) software and embed these commands into it's operating system. When a certain command is sent to the aircraft the AIMS computer switch's operation mode through software and makes the B777 fly like an R/C airplane via it's satcom link controlled by a remote pilot and ignores all pilot commands from the cockpit.
Simply put if you can control the AIMS computer through the satcom link you can control the aircraft. Anyone who has worked in electronics, avionic systems, or programming, as I have, will understand this is probably the easiest and most practical way to do this remote control method by simply modifying and adding code and making the AIMS system run in a different mode of operation (remote control) that it was never originally designed to do.
Simply put if you can control the AIMS computer through the satcom link you can control the aircraft. Anyone who has worked in electronics, avionic systems, or programming, as I have, will understand this is probably the easiest and most practical way to do this remote control method by simply modifying and adding code and making the AIMS system run in a different mode of operation (remote control) that it was never originally designed to do.
In theory this may be how this BUAP system works and if this is the case then it's maybe possible that this software upgrade may have been installed on MH370's AIMS computer prior to flight. I am not saying this was done but I am just throwing it out there as a possibility.
Twitter @kstaubin
Surface access to the EE bay is certainly credible, but requires too many people not to notice to be foolproof, and also risks the possibility of the need for genuine MAS ground maintenance crew needing to access the bay, if there was any problem during pre-flight. There is also a hatch from the forward cargo bay into the EE bay. It would be less complicated to stow away in a container if you had an accomplice on the loading staff, to make sure "your" container was loaded in the right spot.
ReplyDeleteYes that is a very interesting possibility they may have been stowaways in a container and when plane was in flight exited the container and go into the E/E bay via the forward cargo bay door. I believe this compartment would have been pressurized and temperature controlled because of the Mangosteens on-board.
DeleteIt's also possible this may have been an inside job with possible Government involvement and someone in authority gave them access and covered up for them.