Flight-crew diversion
Manual inputs from the cockpit — who, and why, unproven
The 2018 report says the turn-back likely resulted from manual inputs. It does not identify a crew member as perpetrator and did not treat the home simulator as a plan.
A navigationally coherent reverse course plus simultaneous comms dropout is easier to tell as a cockpit story than as a random failure. That is an inference from the radar/SATCOM picture, not a finding of motive. Simulator files are circumstantial and officially unconverted into intent. Treat “the captain did it” as a hypothesis the official report refused to sign.
Sources
- Malaysian Safety Investigation Report 2018
Related
The diversion likely resulted from manual inputs
Captain’s home flight-simulator files
Imaged by RMP · restored coordinates mapped by commentators
Zaharie Ahmad Shah
Pilot in command · MH370
Who was flying after IGARI?
Turn back across the Malay Peninsula
17:21–17:52 UTC
Capt. John Cox
Accident investigator · former US Airways
Home-simulator coordinates are not an official finding of planning
Capt. John Cox: preponderance is a deliberate act, high likelihood the captain
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
Netflix · three episodes · March 2023