Hijacking MH370

Hijacking MH370

"Without the benefit of the examination of the aircraft wreckage and recorded flight data information, the investigation was unable to identify any plausible aircraft or systems failure mode that would lead to the observed systems deactivation, diversion from the filed flight plan route and the subsequent flight path taken by the aircraft. However, the same lack of evidence precluded the investigation from definitely eliminating that possibility. The possibility of intervention by a third party cannot be excluded either."

Source: Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018 SECTION 3.2 – Conclusion (Emphasis added)

This Section accepts the possibility that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was hijacked, and explores how it could have been done.

Hijacking an aircraft is a terrorist act and a crime. In Malaysia that could lead to a death penalty; in other jurisdictions up to life in prison.

Hijacking any commercial passenger jet since the events of September 11, 2001 would not be easy. Prior to 9/11 the cockpit was often easily accessed and airline policy was generally to comply with a hijacker's demands. But all that has since changed.

So, if a Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777 were the target of a hijacking attempt in 2014 what would be involved? There is no revealed plan, there are no informants, there were no named suspects, there is nothing substantial on which to build a case. So everything in this Section is like reverse-engineering: assume a hijack was attempted and, knowing that MH370 headed north-west over the Andaman Sea instead of going to China, devise a possible method.

This Section is divided into sub-pages each with a Topic representing a Stage in the planning and execution process. Each Topic is summarised below. The navigation buttons on the right link to relevant sub-pages.

Security Weaknesses

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The Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018 was released by the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 in July 2018. More Info