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More questions than answers persist over the mysterious disappearance of Malyasian Airline Flight 370 with 239 people aboard. Among the many theories is one that suggests it possibly could have been brought down during a hijacking attempt with the hijackers being overpowered by passengers and crew, similar to the crash of United Flight 93 that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania the day terrorists struck the United States on September 11, 2001.
Aviation Attorney Dan Rose said nothing can be ruled out, and this scenario baffles him because the Malaysian plane turned sharply off course and flew low, below radar detection with its identifying transponders turned off.
As an armada of ships and planes crisscross a vast area in search of the plane, missing since Saturday, reports surfaced that military radar picked up what civilian radar did not–that the plane continued to fly more than an hour beyond the point authorities lost contact.
Perplexing are the questions of why the plane was flying in the opposite direction, some 1,000 miles off course, and why was it flying with its transponders turned off?
Dan Rose is among the multitudes puzzled. “The only explanation is that there was a complete electrical failure or structural damage,” he said. Unless someone deliberately turned off the transponder to disguise the route of the plane. Malaysian authorities are looking at four areas: hijacking, sabotage, psychological or personal problems with the passengers or crew.
Also being probed is whether airline officials were being lax in enforcing closure of cockpit doors on planes. The question was raised after an Australian woman claimed the co-pilot of the missing plane allowed her and a friend in the cockpit a couple of years ago and remained there during landing and takeoff.
As for the two passengers aboard the plane with stolen passports, authorities have identified them as Iranian nationals who were likely seeking asylum in Europe and had no ties to any known terror groups.
Eight nations are now involved in the massive search operation. China has re-positioned almost a dozen satellites in hope of uncovering that elusive clue.
Among other questions being raised is whether, in this digital age, the computer system aboard an airliner could be hacked. That possibility was the subject of an FAA alert last November. It cautioned that some planes computer systems could be compromised. Aviation attorney Rose said that while a hacker could possibly get into a planes navigation system, it most likely would be detected immediately by the pilot who would override that attempt. Rose does not believe a hacker could take control of a plane or bring it down.
As the mystery deepens…so does the search.
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