Missing MH370: Computer sent plane off path deliberately, foul play involved, NYT reports

WASHINGTON: Investigators are convinced that the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 was deliberately diverted and that foul play was involved.

It has also increased their focus on the plane’s captain and first officer, the New York Times reports.

The article stated that the fact that the turn away from Beijing was programmed into the computer has reinforced this belief first voiced by Malaysian officials.

According to the report quoting senior American officials, the first turn to the west that diverted the missing MH370 from its planned flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was carried out through a computer system that was likely programmed by someone in the plane’s cockpit who was knowledgeable about airplane systems.

Instead of manually operating the plane’s controls, whoever altered MH370’s path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer on a knee-high pedestal between the captain and the first officer, officials say.

The Flight Management System, as the computer is known, directs the plane from point to point specified in the flight plan submitted before each flight.

It is not clear whether the plane’s path was reprogrammed before or after it took off, the article added.