Report Says MH370 Plane In ‘increasing Rate of Descent’ When It Disappeared

A report by the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) on the missing Malaysia Airlines was released on Wednesday. The agency said the Australian safety investigator heading the search backs its assessment that the aircraft descended rapidly with no human intervention after it ran out of fuel.

Flight MH370 vanished in March 2014 on the way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers and crew aboard. It is currently one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The evaluation of wing flap debris indicated the aircraft was not aligned for a landing, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.

Further, it revealed that satellite communications from the aircraft were constant with it being in a “high and increasing rate of decent” when it disappeared, colloquially acknowledged as a death dive.

The 28-page report includes new end-of-flight and drift simulations that indicate experts believe the existing search area is the most likely to cover the crash site. It overlaps with the start of a three-day meeting of international experts to work out potential plans to resume the search.

That analysis of a wing flap had “enhanced certainty” at what had occurred, ATSB search director Peter Foley told media on Wednesday

“It was probably in a non-extended position which means the aircraft wasn’t configured for a landing or a ditching,” said Foley. He was referring to the practice of extending wing flaps to allow an aircraft to travel safely at slower speeds in preparation for a landing.

“You can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control or not.”

The issue of whether there was human intervention as the aircraft was descending is critical. If the aircraft glided, the wreckage could be beyond the 120,000 square km (46,330 square miles) search area. However, most of this expanse has already been thoroughly searched.

Authorities believe the plane was on auto-pilot and spiraled when it ran out of fuel. They assume it had no “inputs” during its final descent. This means there was no pilot or no conscious pilot.

But Fugro, the engineering group heading the search, has earlier raised the possibility that someone could have glided the aircraft. This is to rationalize why it hasn’t been located.

University of New South Wales head of aviation Jason Middleton said the wing flap analysis was of inadequate value.

Middleton said the analysis only meant the pilot was not awake, alert or planning a safe landing.

The new drift simulations only indicated that the aircraft was in that general area of the ocean that is being investigated. It did not aid in defining a new search area in the Indian Ocean, he said.

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