The whole thing is weird... but this is pretty hard to explain away (FSX route versus actual route).

 

I don't know why this fsx bit is in the news cycle again, but this was part of the initial noise from right after the crash. http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/malaysian-police-investigation-names-mh370-pilot-prime-suspect/news-story/db64b7716263e19bab93bd70b79f47e3 I think we should have learned by now to be wary of any kind of info put out by the Malaysian government, graphics from news interns, and a non aviation person's interpretation of anything aviation or flightsim related.

I think we should have learned by now to be wary of any kind of info put out by the Malaysian government

 

According to the article, it's rather the other way around:

 

"The newly unveiled documents, however, suggest Malaysian officials have suppressed at least one key piece of incriminating information. This is not entirely surprising: There is a history in aircraft investigations of national safety boards refusing to believe that their pilots could have intentionally crashed an aircraft full of passengers. After EgyptAir 990 went down near Martha’s Vineyard in 1999, for example, Egyptian officials angrily rejected the U.S. National Transport Safety Board finding that the pilot had deliberately steered the plane into the sea. Indonesian officials likewise rejected the NTSB finding that the 1997 crash of SilkAir 185 was an act of pilot suicide.

 

Previous press accounts suggest that Australian and U.S. officials involved in the MH370 investigation have long been more suspicious of Zaharie than their Malaysian counterparts. In January, Byron Bailey wrote in The Australian: “Several months after the MH370 disappearance I was told by a government source that the FBI had recovered from Zaharie’s home computer deleted information showing flight plan waypoints … my source ... left me with the impression that the FBI were of the opinion that Zaharie was responsible for the crash.”

What precisely should be the benefit an experienced professional pilot gains from exactly that route in FSX? Wouldn't he be better off studying RW charts and using different resources for flight planning and fuel calculations, for example?

 

On the other hand, considering the number of flights I've played on my computer, chances are one of them could be connected with a RW flight under investigation.

I saw that sentence as well. Which begs the question why the Malaysians would want to say that now. All of this 'news' is still speculation as far as I am concerned. None of us has actually seen the data that came out of his fsx. Just the interpretation of it from people that are likely non-pilots and have never touched msfs until they were assigned to this investigation. There is only one piece of actual concrete evidence we have actually seen that speaks to anything at all of what happened. That piece is the flap. And that flap has damage on its trailing edge that seems to indicate that edge scraped something. What could possibly happen to cause that kind of damage to just that edge of a flap? The only thing I can think of to make that piece of the airplane look like that is that it was extended for a belly landing on the water. Why would somebody who wanted to kill himself do that instead of nose diving into the water? It just seems way too hard to make the media's conjecture fit what that one piece of physical evidence seems to show. Maybe there is some completely different mechanism that made the flap look like it does. I can't think of what it could be. Can you? Or maybe somebody other than the two pilots was at the controls at the end. Until the recorders are found, I really don't think we will ever know what happened.

I saw that sentence as well. Which begs the question why the Malaysians would want to say that now. All of this 'news' is still speculation as far as I am concerned. None of us has actually seen the data that came out of his fsx. Just the interpretation of it from people that are likely non-pilots and have never touched msfs until they were assigned to this investigation. There is only one piece of actual concrete evidence we have actually seen that speaks to anything at all of what happened. That piece is the flap. And that flap has damage on its trailing edge that seems to indicate that edge scraped something. What could possibly happen to cause that kind of damage to just that edge of a flap? The only thing I can think of to make that piece of the airplane look like that is that it was extended for a belly landing on the water. Why would somebody who wanted to kill himself do that instead of nose diving into the water? It just seems way too hard to make the media's conjecture fit what that one piece of physical evidence seems to show. Maybe there is some completely different mechanism that made the flap look like it does. I can't think of what it could be. Can you? Or maybe somebody other than the two pilots was at the controls at the end. Until the recorders are found, I really don't think we will ever know what happened.

 

As I understood it, that "FSX suicide route" leaked in the news, but malaysians are not involved in the leaking.

 

I think the flap that has been found was the inboard flap, actually a flaperon, and from what I read on B777 flight control system, it provides roll control at high speed.

 

Now, having said that, of course I don't know what happened, maybe it's not pilot suicide, but IMHO that remains a possibility (I only see pilot suicide or pilot incapacitation/hypoxia as plausible possibilities).

 

Who knows, maybe he wanted to spare his surviving loved ones the pain or pressure resulting from his actions, so he made everything he could to cover the evidence that it was a suicide. Irrational? Far fetched? Maybe, but probably the mental processes of a person that wants to commit suicide are hardly linear, and maybe a mixture of very rational and very irrational thoughts.

Since when we should grant logic to the actions of a suicidal individual? The German kid didn't nose dived the plane in France but instead set a vertical speed down and wait. Why? Don't know and will never know.

Speculations might turn into theories and these one day into facts, maybe. Einstein comes to mind. We humans are good at that.

Speaking of which, someone went to great lengths to avoid being caught/detected to end up conveniently crashing in the middle of nowhere leaving no traces.

 

As for MSFS relation on this incident, why an active captain has such a helluva great computer rig? If someone has a plan with airplanes, can't think of better visual for it.

 

All points to a one man job for me. 

 

One thing is for sure, we are for a long haul on this one cause someone did a thorough job to cover all evidences.

 

Cheers,

 

I think the flap that has been found was the inboard flap, actually a flaperon, and from what I read on B777 flight control system, it provides roll control at high speed.

 .

The reason ot is called a flaperon is because it can perform both functions of aileron and flaps. It can move assymetrically with an opposing panel to effect roll and it also moves down together with the flaps as part of that system. Having done more googling around, I see there is also another opinion floating out there that the trailing edge damage is from high speed flutter. Which if it turns out true, would corroborate the captain suicide theories and point towards a high speed powered dive towards the ocean at the end.

so a 777 with years of experience had to practice his suicide route on a flight sim? why the hell would he need to do that?

so a 777 with years of experience had to practice his suicide route on a flight sim? why the hell would he need to do that?

 

To see in his mind what his death may look like. The ultimate control of ending your existence with the ability to replay it as many times as you'd like. Nothing to do with his experience, but it is the experience he wanted to feel.

To see in his mind what his death may look like. The ultimate control of ending your existence with the ability to replay it as many times as you'd like. Nothing to do with his experience, but it is the experience he wanted to feel.

I guess, I will have to say if true it's sick! it is a odd flight to simulate not much of a chance for that flight path to be a coincidence

Isn't it just possible he was doing a long haul flight and fell asleep on vatsim? Happens to me all the time lol.

I always felt the person responsible was trying to create the biggest aviation mystery since Amelia Earhart for whatever reason they had. They wanted to make it disappear and knew how to.

 

I remember discussing this earlier in this thread as well.

    Maybe he wanted to secure the insurance money for his family. Any evidence of him looking at an actual flight chart, or a path, out of his normal routine would raise suspicion during an investigation. So why not practice on the best simulator possible without drawing attention. Right now, all we know is that the plane has gone down, and suicide is only presumed. His family could still be eligible for any life insurance owing. As it stands, FSX is just a game, and alone, is not enough concrete evidence to prove anything sinister.

 

Just my .02c, on a very intriguing discussion.

Jazz

17 Years aviation experience here, and all of my friends and work colleagues agree on this..

 

hold fire due to batteries

fire consumes f/d

fire or smoke kills pilots and damages transponder and acars

loose a/c

 

done... and of course the NTSB and Boeing and Rolls Royce are going to put it on the company / crew... 

 

you guys have NO IDEA the way the USA litigation system and the aviation blame culture works.

 

If it was an a/c fault and Boeing have to ground all the 777s flying its a huge amount of money to be paid out to airlines in compensation for AOG aircraft.

 

If it comes out the Malaysians where carrying those lithium battery's as cargo (which is prohibited) and they went bang , the relatives can then sue to millions and millions.  They are lucky they are state owned, otherwise they'd be ######ed.

 

I can promise you this from 17 working for 4 different airlines, long,short,low cost and charter.  The number one rule of the game is make sure you always want to put the ###### on someone else, is it wrong, absolutely.  Is it the way things happen, absolutely.

 

Boeing, and The Airline dont want to tell shareholders they are paying MILLIONS and MILLIONS out due to negligence due to lithuium batteries or a smoke / detector or fire extinguisher that didn't work