Efforts by marine robotics company Ocean Infinity were unexpectedly suspended, after fresh hope that the notorious Boeing 777 would finally be found.
An aviation expert and engineer revealed one “powerful move” that could put an end to the mystery of missing flight MH370 for good.
Following the devastating suspension of the search for the aircraft, Ismail Hamad, told The Mirror: “I have a strong sense that it will be a powerful step for everyone concerned to put an end to this tragedy.”
Recent attempts by marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity have been abruptly ended in April, with Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, telling AFP: “Right now, it’s not the season.” The search is yet to resume.
The infamous Boeing 777, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members disappeared on March 8, 2014, whilst travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The craft remains at the centre of aviation’s greatest mystery and represents the most fatal single incident involving a vanished plane.
Mr Loke said: “They have stopped the operation for the time being, they will resume the search at the end of this year.”
Nevertheless, Ismail Hammad, Chief Engineer at Egyptair, believes he holds the key to saving everyone “money and time” and finally locating the aircraft that has caused chaos for authorities and families.
Casting doubt on images of the plane’s debris emerging from the ocean Ismail alleged that “the condition of the plane’s paint is not consistent with what would happen if it had been lying in salt water for as long as it had.”
Despite hundreds of conspiracy theories Ismail remains convinced this is the handiwork of a “hijacker” – the question is where it plummeted when their scheme went awry.
He said: “If the hijacker was looking for the perfect crime that would remain a mystery for a hundred years, he would have to land on one of the abandoned airstrips or lakes in the maze of the Philippine archipelago, which consists of 7,641 islands.
“Such airstrips are spread out and end in the sea, lakes or swamps, and not fly in a straight line to fall into the waters off the city of Perth , in an area that can be predicted by calculating the rate of the fuel consumption.”
Ismail added: “Whatever the pilot’s experience he would not be able to fly easily and accurately in a straight line on such a long straight route, above an open area of water, at night for such long hours”.
The engineer explained navigation from the Malaysian coastline to the southern Indian Ocean would suggest it crashed near Perth.
But if the pilot did have a GPS system, they would have been able to navigate themselves over the Philippines islands “if they knew them and their cities’ lights well”.
Ismail explained that programming the autopilot computer with just coordinates of a point in space is a challenging task.
He explained: “Likewise, a pilot alone would not be able to continue flying a big aircraft like B777-200 for nine hours since take-off until vanishing, including the three hours on average it takes to check the condition of the aircraft and its documentations before the taking off according to the aviation regulations.”
Ismail concluded that without the autopilot system or navigation aids, using the aircraft’s magnetic compass, the search area should be narrowed down to the Malacca strait to the Perth coast considering “all those stresses”.