Australian scientist claims he has found the location of missing plane MH370

The Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared on March 8. (Representative image)

Years after its disappearance, an Australian scientist claims he has found the “perfect hiding place” for missing plane MH370. The Malaysian Airlines flight, carrying 239 people, disappeared from radar after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur in 2014. Its disappearance sparked the largest search operation in aviation history, and the whereabouts of the jet remain unknown. Now Tasmanian researcher Vincent Lyne has said he believes he has found where the plane is. In a LinkedIn post, Mr Lyne claimed the plane was deliberately pushed deep into the Broken Ridge – a 20,000ft deep hole in the Indian Ocean.

“This work changes the story of the MH370 disappearance from a case of no fault, where fuel starvation began in the aircraft’s 7th arc at high speed, to a case where there was a mastermind among the pilots who nearly engineered an incredible perfect disappearance in the southern Indian Ocean,” the researcher wrote.

“In fact, it would have worked if MH370 had not ploughed through a wave with its right wing and if Inmarsat had not discovered regular interrogation via satellite communications – a brilliant discovery also announced in the Journal of Navigation,” he added.

Mr Lyne, who works at the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, also said damage to the plane’s wings, flaps and flaperon suggested it had been involved in a “controlled ditching” similar to that of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger on the Hudson River in 2009.

“This clearly vindicates the original claim of the distinguished former Canadian air crash investigator Larry Vance, based on brilliant, expert and very careful analysis of the wreckage damage, that MH370 had fuel and engines running when it made a masterful ‘controlled ditching’, rather than a high-speed crash with no fuel available,” Lyne wrote.

The researcher stated that MH370 is located “where the longitude of Penang Airport (the runway, after all) intersects the track of the pilot in command’s home simulator, which was discovered by the FBI and authorities and discarded as ‘irrelevant.'”

Read also | Mysterious woman linked to Telegram CEO’s arrest, alleged Mossad agent: All about Yuli Vavilova

“This deliberately created, iconic site hosts a very deep, 6,000 metre deep hole at the eastern end of the Broken Ridge in a very rugged and dangerous marine environment known for its wild fishing grounds and new deep sea species. With narrow, steep sides surrounded by massive ridges and other deep holes, it is filled with fine sediment – a perfect ‘hiding place’,” Mr Lyne continued, adding that the “high priority” of the area needed to be confirmed.

“Whether to search for it or not is a matter for the authorities and search companies to decide, but as far as science is concerned, we know why the previous searches failed and science also clearly indicates where MH370 is. In short, the mystery of MH370 has been comprehensively solved by science!” he added.

Most notably, Flight MH370, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, disappeared on March 8, 2014, after leaving Kuala Lumpur Airport in southern Malaysia en route to Beijing, China. A search lasting nearly three years across 120,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean found little trace of the plane, except for some debris. Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane was never found and the operation was suspended in January 2017.