Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

=== Murder/suicide by pilot ===
Malaysian police searched the homes of the pilots and seized financial records for all 12 crew members. The preliminary report issued by Malaysia in March 2015 stated that there was "no evidence of recent or imminent significant financial transactions carried out" by any of the pilots or crew, and that analysis of the behaviour of the pilots on CCTV showed "no significant behavioural changes".<ref name="Interim report-March 2015" />{{Rp|20, 21}}

However, US officials believe the most likely explanation to be that someone in the cockpit of Flight 370 re-programmed the aircraft's autopilot to travel south across the Indian Ocean.<ref name="AutoVQ-45"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/mh370-deputy-pm-warren-truss-announces-underwater-search-for-missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-will-begin-in-august/story-fnizu68q-1226967783002|title=Deputy PM Warren Truss announces underwater search for missing plane will begin in August|website=NewsComAu|access-date=28 September 2014|archive-date=27 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627001802/http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/mh370-deputy-pm-warren-truss-announces-underwater-search-for-missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-will-begin-in-august/story-fnizu68q-1226967783002|url-status=dead}}</ref> Media reports claimed that Malaysian police had identified Captain Zaharie as the prime suspect, if human intervention were eventually proven to be the cause of Flight 370's disappearance.<ref name="Australian-pilot behaviour">{{cite web|last1=Sheridan|first1=Michael|title=Suspicion falls again on Malaysia Airlines flight 370's captain Zaharie Shah|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/suspicion-falls-again-on-malaysia-airlines-flight-370s-captain-zaharie-shah/story-e6frg95x-1226962734150|website=The Australian|access-date=3 July 2014|date=22 June 2014|archive-date=5 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705053302/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/suspicion-falls-again-on-malaysia-airlines-flight-370s-captain-zaharie-shah/story-e6frg95x-1226962734150|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Sheridan|first1=Michael|title=MH370 pilot 'chief suspect'|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Asia/article1425492.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622143549/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Asia/article1425492.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 June 2014|website=The Sunday Times|access-date=3 July 2014|date=22 June 2014}}</ref><ref name="Pilot behaviour">{{cite web|title=Malaysian police investigation names MH370 pilot 'prime suspect'|url=http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/malaysian-police-investigation-names-mh370-pilot-prime-suspect/story-fnizu68q-1226962811653|publisher=[[News Corp Australia]]|website=[[News.com.au]]|first1=Jenni|last1=Ryall|author2=Staff writers|name-list-style=amp|access-date=3 July 2014|date=23 June 2014|archive-date=2 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702153926/http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/malaysian-police-investigation-names-mh370-pilot-prime-suspect/story-fnizu68q-1226962811653|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- Note: Articles discussing the flight simulator revelation all reference the The Sunday Times article, which is behind a pay wall. The ST article is listed as a reference, but the editor who added it was unable to verify that article's claims, only assuming that other new source's claims citing that article are accurate. The "Australian (newspaper)" article lists "Michael Sheridan" (author of TST article) and "The Times" at top and may be identical to the ST article. --> In 2020, [[Tony Abbott]], the Prime Minister of Australia when MH370 disappeared, disclosed in a Sky News documentary: "My very clear understanding, from the very top levels of the Malaysian government, is that from very, very early on, they thought it was murder-suicide by the pilot."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lavalette |first=Tristan |date=19 February 2020 |title=Abbott says top Malaysian leaders suspected pilot of MH370 |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-3feb92bc2b2105c4bce97d06316e9e8c |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225082433/https://apnews.com/general-news-3feb92bc2b2105c4bce97d06316e9e8c |archive-date=25 December 2023 |access-date= |website=AP News}}</ref>

The murder/suicide theory is consistent with the suggestion, by retired British aviation engineer Richard Godfrey, that the flight path of the aircraft could be plotted by analysis of the disruption to [[WSPR (amateur radio software)|Weak Signal Propagation Reporter]] (WSPR) signals on the day in question. It was reported, in March 2024, that scientists at the [[University of Liverpool]] were undertaking a major new study to verify how viable the technology is, and what this could mean for locating the aircraft.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt for MH370 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001x0yh/why-planes-vanish-the-hunt-for-mh370 |publisher=BBC iPlayer |date=6 March 2024 |access-date=7 March 2024 |archive-date=6 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240306110244/https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001x0yh/why-planes-vanish-the-hunt-for-mh370 |url-status=live }}</ref> However the creator of WSPR, Nobel Prize laureate [[Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr.]], has stated: "I do not believe that historical data from the WSPR network can provide any information useful for aircraft tracking". Specifically relating to MH370, Taylor stated: "It's crazy to think that historical WSPR data could be used to track the course of ill-fated flight MH370. Or, for that matter, any other aircraft flight".<ref>{{cite web |title=WSPR Can't Find MH370 |url=https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2021/12/19/wspr-cant-find-mh370/ |date=19 December 2021 |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-date=17 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317052641/https://mh370.radiantphysics.com/2021/12/19/wspr-cant-find-mh370/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Pilot's flight simulator ====
In 2016, [[New York (magazine)|''New York'']] magazine wrote that a confidential document from the Malaysian police investigation showed an [[FBI|FBI analysis]] of the flight simulator's computer hard drive found a route on Captain Zaharie's home flight simulator that closely matched the projected flight over the Indian Ocean and that this evidence had been withheld from the publicly released investigative report.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wise|first1=Jeff|title=Exclusive: MH370 Pilot Flew a Suicide Route on His Home Simulator Closely Matching Final Flight|url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/mh370-pilot-flew-suicide-route-on-home-simulator.html|website=New York Magazine|publisher=New York Media|date=22 July 2016|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-date=23 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723005940/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/mh370-pilot-flew-suicide-route-on-home-simulator.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ''New York'' wrote as follows:
{{cquote|''New York'' has obtained a confidential document from the Malaysian police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that shows that the plane's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, conducted a simulated flight deep into the remote southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished under uncannily similar circumstances. The revelation, which Malaysia withheld from a lengthy public report on the investigation, is the strongest evidence yet that Zaharie made off with the plane in a [[Suicide by pilot|premeditated act of mass murder-suicide]].<p> [...] The newly unveiled documents [...] 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.</p>}}

The FBI's findings about the flight simulation were confirmed by the ATSB.<ref>{{cite web|title=MH370 pilot's flight simulator plotted course over southern Indian Ocean|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/28/mh370-pilot-flight-simulator-plot-course-southern-indian-ocean|last=Hunt|first=Elle|work=The Guardian|location=Sydney|date=28 July 2016|access-date=28 July 2016|url-access=registration|archive-date=28 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728123158/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/28/mh370-pilot-flight-simulator-plot-course-southern-indian-ocean|url-status=live}}</ref> News of the simulation was also confirmed by the Malaysian government,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-confirms-flight-370-pilot-plotted-fatal-route/ |website=CBS News |title=Malaysia confirms Flight 370 pilot plotted fatal route |date=5 August 2016 |access-date=15 May 2018 |archive-date=15 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515044258/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-confirms-flight-370-pilot-plotted-fatal-route/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but reported as "nothing sinister".<ref name="ABCus_2014-04-02"/><ref name="BBC_2014-03-29"/>

==== Power interruption ====
The SATCOM link functioned normally from pre-flight (beginning at 00:00 MYT<!-- exactly -->) until it responded to a ground-to-air ACARS message with an acknowledge message at 01:07. At some time between 01:07 and 02:03, power was lost to the Satellite Data Unit (SDU). The final report stated "it is likely that the loss of communication prior to the diversion is due to the systems being manually turned off or power interrupted to them." Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, said it was clear that the radar transponders and the flight data transmission system were turned off deliberately by someone trying to hide the plane's position and heading.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marks |first=Paul |date=15 March 2014 |title=Data transmission system on MH370 deliberately disabled |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25232-data-transmission-system-on-mh370-deliberately-disabled/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240115072035/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25232-data-transmission-system-on-mh370-deliberately-disabled/ |archive-date=15 January 2024 |access-date= |website=New Scientist}}</ref> At 02:25, the aircraft's SDU rebooted itself and sent a log-on request.<ref name=ATSB />{{rp|22}}<ref name="Ground log" />{{Rp|36–39}}