ATSB
details MH370 captain's simulation of Indian Ocean route
The
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has published details about data
gleaned from the personal flight simulator of MH370 captain Zaharie
Shah.
"Six
weeks before the accident flight the [pilot-in-command] had used his simulator
to fly a route, initially similar to part of the route flown by MH370 up the
Straits of Malacca, with a left-hand turn and track into the southern Indian
Ocean. There were enough similarities to the flight path of MH370 for the ATSB
to carefully consider the possible implications for the underwater search
area."
In
the weeks after the 8 March 2014 disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER with 239
on-board, unsourced media reports emerged stated that Shah had used his home
flight simulator to simulate a course resembling that taken by
MH370.
In
was only in August 2016, over two years after the jet's disappearance, that news
of Shah's simulator activity was confirmed by Malaysia's transport minister Low
Tiong Lai. This was in response to widespread media reports that the US Federal
Bureau of Invesitagation had recovered allegedly deleted home simulator data
from one of Shah's hard drives.
At
that time, Liow downplayed the data, saying that the simulator had contained
"thousands of simulations to many destinations."
The
ATSB, for its part, says it received the simulator data on 19 April 2014, five
weeks after the aircraft's disappearance.
"The
simulator data was a partial reconstruction of a flight simulator session from 2
February 2014," says ATSB.
"It
comprised four complete and two partial data captures of various aircraft and
simulator parameters at discrete points during the simulation. The aircraft
simulated was a 777-200LR."
The
initial data point shows the simulated aircraft at Kuala Lumpur International
airport. No useful location data was available from the second data
point.
The
next two data points show that the aircraft had flown north up the Straits of
Malacca. By the fourth data point the simulated aircraft had reached 40,000ft,
was in a 20° left bank, 4° nose down, and had a southwest heading of
255°.
Data
points five and six were in the far reaches of the Indian Ocean, 820nm southwest
of Australia's, Cape Leeuwin, with the simulated aircraft having exhausted its
fuel.
Data
point five has the simulated 777 at 37,651ft, at an 11° right bank, and almost
due south heading of 178°.
The
sixth, and final, data point was incomplete. "It was 2.5nm from the previous
data point and the aircraft right bank had reduced to 3°.The aircraft was
pitched nose down 5° and was on a heading of 193°. At this time there was also a
user input of an altitude of 4,000ft."
"By
the last data point the aircraft had flown approximately 4,200nm," says ATSB.
"This was further than was possible with the fuel loaded on board the aircraft
for flight MH370. Similarly, the simulated aircraft track was not consistent
with the aircraft tracks modelled using the MH370 satellite communications
metadata."
The
simulator revelations are part of the ATSB's 440-page final report into the
disaster, which claimed the lives of all on-board.
The
ATSB adds that until the wreckage is located, it is impossible to ascertain the
cause of the MH370 disaster.
