MH370: Someone is hiding something, says Dr M

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad believed that 'somebody is hiding something' in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, fueling speculation of a conspiracy or cover-up by certain parties.

Dismissing current search efforts by international authorities as a "waste of time and money", the former prime minister also alleged that what happened to MAS Boeing 777-200ER was "most likely not an ordinary crash" when it ran out of petrol after vanishing from radar screens on March 8.

"It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for 'pings' from the black box," Mahathir wrote in his blog, Chedet.cc.

"This is most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted. The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings," he said.

In his posting today which ran 11 paragraphs long, Mahathir took aim at US airplane maker Boeing and the US government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), insinuating that foreign elements should be questioned instead of Malaysia.

"Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame."

In the post "Boeing Technology – What goes up must come down", Mahathir said "airplanes don't just disappear. Certainly not these days with all the powerful communication systems, radio and satellite tracking and filmless cameras which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities."

He repeated his theory that MH370's communication system as well as the signals for GPS "must have been disabled".

These systems, he said, "must have been installed by Boeing" and the company must know how it could have failed or have been disabled.

"Surely Boeing would ensure that they cannot be easily disabled as they are vital to the safety and operation of the plane."

Mahathir also shared that a search on the Internet reveals that Boeing in 2006 received a US patent for a system that, once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a pre-determined landing location.

He cites a Flightglobal.com article by John Croft, datelined Washington DC (Dec 1, 2006) which mentioned "The 'uninterruptible' autopilot would be activated – either by pilot, by on board sensors, or even remotely by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the CIA, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck".

"Clearly Boeing and certain agencies have the capacity to take over 'uninterruptible control' of commercial airliners of which MH370 B777 is one," argued Mahathir, urging for Boeing to explain this anti-terrorism auto-land system.

"Can it not be that the pilot of MH370 lost control of their aircraft after someone directly or remotely activated the equipment for seizure of control of the aircraft?" he asked.

On March 8 at12.41am, flight MH370 took off from the KL International Airport for Beijing, China before going off the radar less than an hour later.

There were 239 people on board of various nationalities.

The 72-day international search for the missing jetliner, is now focused in the southern Indian Ocean, off the west coast of Australia. But all efforts have been fruitless so far.