MH370: Police examines pilot's flight simulator

Police has conducted a search in the houses of the two pilots on the missing airliner and were examining the captain’s home flight simulator, but warned against jumping to conclusions.

“Police searched the home of the pilot on Saturday, 15 March,” the statement by the transport ministry said, referring to Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53.

“Officers spoke to family members of the pilot and experts are examining the pilot’s flight simulator.

“On 15 March, the police also searched the home of the co-pilot,” the statement added.

Engineers who may have had contact with the missing aircraft before take-off have also been included in the probe.

“As per normal procedure, the Royal Malaysia Police are investigating all crew and passengers on board MH370, as well as engineers,” it said adding nothing that suggests a motive had yet surfaced.

The search came few hours after prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, said that based on new satellite information, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the East coast of peninsular Malaysia.

The aircraft's transponder was switched off shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control.

The search and rescue operations to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft will continue to be a multi-national effort, led by Malaysia.

As of today 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft are involved in the Search and Rescue (SAR) operations.

The Transport Ministry in a statement released today said Malaysian officials are also contacting countries along the northern and southern corridors for their assistance in locating flight MH370. These countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France.

Apart from that, authorities are currently discussing with all its partners on how best to deploy assets along the two corridors mentioned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday. India said on Sunday it has suspended its search around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal. It is now awaiting fresh instructions from Malaysia.

The Transport Ministry added Malaysia will also be seeking further assistance in term of satellite data and analysis, ground-search capabilities, radar data including maritime and air assets.

It said both the northern and southern corridors are being treated with equal importance.

Najib also said yesterday the plane appeared to have been deliberately diverted from its flight path after it dropped off radar. He said satellites continued to detect it for hours afterwards, an announcement which raised fears of a hijack or rogue action by pilots or crew.