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Malaysia Asks F.B.I. for Help in Plane Case Malaysia Asks F.B.I. for Help in Plane Case
(about 2 hours later)
SEPANG, Malaysia — The Malaysian authorities have asked the F.B.I. to help retrieve deleted computer data from a homemade flight simulator belonging to the captain of the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished 11 days ago, their first request for high-level American assistance in solving the mystery of the missing plane.SEPANG, Malaysia — The Malaysian authorities have asked the F.B.I. to help retrieve deleted computer data from a homemade flight simulator belonging to the captain of the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished 11 days ago, their first request for high-level American assistance in solving the mystery of the missing plane.
With few other clues, Malaysian and American investigators are homing in on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, though they have not excluded different possibilities. As that part of the inquiry unfolded, the authorities in Australia said on Thursday that satellites had spotted an object, or objects, that might be connected to the plane.
Malaysian and American investigators are homing in on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, though they have not excluded different possibilities.
“It’s all focused on the pilots,” said a senior American law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his access to information about the investigation. “We, and they, have done everything we could on the passengers and haven’t found a thing.”“It’s all focused on the pilots,” said a senior American law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his access to information about the investigation. “We, and they, have done everything we could on the passengers and haven’t found a thing.”
The F.B.I. will relay the contents of the simulator’s hard drive to agents and analysts in the United States who specialize in retrieving deleted computer files.The F.B.I. will relay the contents of the simulator’s hard drive to agents and analysts in the United States who specialize in retrieving deleted computer files.
“Right now, it’s the best chance we have of finding something,” the law enforcement official said. Unless the pilot used very sophisticated technology to erase files, he added, the F.B.I. will most likely be able to recover them.“Right now, it’s the best chance we have of finding something,” the law enforcement official said. Unless the pilot used very sophisticated technology to erase files, he added, the F.B.I. will most likely be able to recover them.
More than two dozen nations are searching for any trace of the missing airliner, a challenge that has seemed to grow more complicated and more contentious with each passing day.More than two dozen nations are searching for any trace of the missing airliner, a challenge that has seemed to grow more complicated and more contentious with each passing day.
As the geographic scope of the search has widened, China, India, Australia, France, the United States and other nations have offered naval ships, surveillance planes, satellites and experts to Malaysia, which is leading the effort. The investigators face a formidable set of mechanical, avionic and satellite communication puzzles. But early on Thursday, the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, told Parliament that satellites had detected something in the south Indian Ocean that might be related to the missing plane.
Flight 370 was about 40 minutes into a six-hour red-eye trip to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, early on March 8 when it suddenly stopped communicating with air traffic controllers and turned far off course, cutting back across peninsular Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca and toward the Indian Ocean. Military radar tracked it for a while, but the operators did not seek to identify the plane or alert anyone. A satellite over the ocean picked up automated signals for several more hours — facts not released publicly for days after the plane vanished. Lisa Martin, a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said: “There is imagery that suggests that there could be an object. At this stage it is an object in the southern part of the search area.
The satellite “pings” led investigators to conclude that the plane had made its way to some point along one of two long, arcing corridors that together embrace 2.24 million square nautical miles of sea and land, an area the size of Australia. “There are no details; it is literally an object,” Ms. Martin added. “It is based on satellite imagery. There is a plane en route to the area.”
Cmdr. William J. Marks, the spokesman for the United States Navy Seventh Fleet, which has helped oversee the American military contribution to the search for the missing plane, said in an email on Thursday that he had not heard word of finding any objects possibly from the aircraft.
“If suspect debris were spotted, the aircraft would more than likely use the EO/IR camera at close range to identify exactly what was detected,” he said Wednesday. He was referring to a camera with electro-optical and infrared functions that can discern objects much more sharply than a naked human eye. The aircraft, he added, “could provide the necessary information to lead salvage ships to the wreckage.”
As the geographic scope of the search has widened, Australia as well as China, India, France, the United States and other nations have offered naval ships, surveillance planes, satellites and experts to Malaysia, which is leading the effort. The investigators face a formidable set of mechanical, avionic and satellite communication puzzles.
Flight 370 was about 40 minutes into a six-hour trip to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, early on March 8 when it suddenly stopped communicating with air traffic controllers and turned far off course, cutting back across peninsular Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca and toward the Indian Ocean. Military radar tracked it for a while, but the operators did not seek to identify the plane or alert anyone. A satellite over the ocean picked up automated signals for several more hours — facts not released publicly for days after the plane vanished.
The satellite “pings” led investigators to conclude that the plane had made its way to some point along one of two long, arcing corridors that together embrace 2.24 million square nautical miles of sea and land.
On Wednesday, protesters who said they represented families of missing Chinese passengers raged against the confusion and missteps that have dogged the search effort. In the same hotel meeting room where Malaysian officials have tried each day to maintain a tone of calm resolve while briefing reporters, several protesters unfurled a banner that read: “We oppose the Malaysian government concealing the truth. Delaying time for saving lives.”On Wednesday, protesters who said they represented families of missing Chinese passengers raged against the confusion and missteps that have dogged the search effort. In the same hotel meeting room where Malaysian officials have tried each day to maintain a tone of calm resolve while briefing reporters, several protesters unfurled a banner that read: “We oppose the Malaysian government concealing the truth. Delaying time for saving lives.”
“All our feelings are the same: We demand to know the truth,” said Xu Dengwang, one of the protesters. “It’s not about compensation; it’s about the truth.” Security guards soon ejected them from the room. “All our feelings are the same: We demand to know the truth,” said Xu Dengwang, one of the protesters. Security guards soon ejected them from the room.
Investigators have said the plane’s extraordinary diversion from its intended course was probably carried out by someone who had aviation experience. The Malaysian police, who found that Mr. Zaharie had built a flight simulator at his home, said Wednesday that some data had been erased from the simulator on Feb. 3, more than a month before the ill-fated flight.Investigators have said the plane’s extraordinary diversion from its intended course was probably carried out by someone who had aviation experience. The Malaysian police, who found that Mr. Zaharie had built a flight simulator at his home, said Wednesday that some data had been erased from the simulator on Feb. 3, more than a month before the ill-fated flight.
Evidence suggests that whoever diverted the plane knew how to disable its communications systems and program course changes, and the data recorded in the pilot’s flight simulator may shed light on whether he was involved. But building and using flight simulators at home is a popular hobby among aviation enthusiasts, and the deletion of data from Mr. Zaharie’s simulator may have been routine housekeeping. Mr. Zaharie did not keep his simulator a secret: He posted a video on YouTube more than a year ago showing him sitting in front of it.Evidence suggests that whoever diverted the plane knew how to disable its communications systems and program course changes, and the data recorded in the pilot’s flight simulator may shed light on whether he was involved. But building and using flight simulators at home is a popular hobby among aviation enthusiasts, and the deletion of data from Mr. Zaharie’s simulator may have been routine housekeeping. Mr. Zaharie did not keep his simulator a secret: He posted a video on YouTube more than a year ago showing him sitting in front of it.
Mr. Zaharie appears to have completed the first stage of building in the fall of 2012, when he joined an online forum for simulator enthusiasts and described his newly completed setup, which included six high-definition video monitors, a center pedestal and an overhead panel, all running on a popular Microsoft program called FSX.Mr. Zaharie appears to have completed the first stage of building in the fall of 2012, when he joined an online forum for simulator enthusiasts and described his newly completed setup, which included six high-definition video monitors, a center pedestal and an overhead panel, all running on a popular Microsoft program called FSX.
He said he was looking to take his system to “the next level of simulation: Motion!” Installing a motion platform to enhance the physical realism of the cockpit simulator could have added thousands of dollars to an already sophisticated amateur project, according to hobbyists.He said he was looking to take his system to “the next level of simulation: Motion!” Installing a motion platform to enhance the physical realism of the cockpit simulator could have added thousands of dollars to an already sophisticated amateur project, according to hobbyists.
Ian Hopper, who sells motion equipment for flight simulators at his store in Glasgow, Scotland, said Mr. Zaharie had contacted him online with questions about adding a so-called six-degrees-of-freedom platform. Such a system could mimic just about any gyration experienced in flight.Ian Hopper, who sells motion equipment for flight simulators at his store in Glasgow, Scotland, said Mr. Zaharie had contacted him online with questions about adding a so-called six-degrees-of-freedom platform. Such a system could mimic just about any gyration experienced in flight.
In an email, Mr. Hopper said that while it was not unusual for professional pilots to have simulators at home, Mr. Zaharie’s plans to build a motion platform “would add nothing to the cockpit systems replication already there in his static cockpit, and do it in a fairly expensive manner.”In an email, Mr. Hopper said that while it was not unusual for professional pilots to have simulators at home, Mr. Zaharie’s plans to build a motion platform “would add nothing to the cockpit systems replication already there in his static cockpit, and do it in a fairly expensive manner.”
“A home-built sim, with or without a motion platform, would have taught him very little he didn’t already know,” he said. The computer search could reveal impulses or plans linked to the plane’s disappearance. But the investigators could also conclude that Mr. Zaharie deleted files just as the average person does to clean out a computer. Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defense minister and acting transportation minister, emphasized that “the passengers, the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise.”
Mr. Zaharie occasionally posted photographs of his simulator on his Facebook page, one of which showed a fellow pilot trying it out. He also posted pictures of upgraded computer hardware called Rampage Extreme, joking that he risked becoming a “sim extremist.”
By December, he had evidently tired of software that replicated the controls of a Boeing 777. In a profile he created for another online forum, he said he was “fed up” with the company that made the software. “They are thieves,” he wrote.
The computer search could reveal impulses or plans linked to the plane’s disappearance. But the investigators could also conclude that Mr. Zaharie deleted files just as the average person does to clean out a computer. Scott Phillips, head of marketing for Just Flight, a publisher of flight simulation software based in Britain, said the significance of the deletions was “impossible to know without knowing more about the logs, and even then it could simply come down to guesswork.”
“Flight simulation enthusiasts are renowned for tinkering with their settings, including all associated files and folders that get generated whilst they are flying ‘virtually,’ ” Mr. Phillips said in an email. “So there’s every chance this could have no significance whatsoever.”
Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defense minister and acting transportation minister, emphasized that “the passengers, the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise.”
Mr. Hishammuddin said the authorities had received background-check information from the home countries of all the passengers except Ukraine and Russia. “So far, no information of significance on any passengers has been found,” he said.