MH370 Update: New Theory Suggests Flight Plunged into Andaman Sea, 3,500 Miles from Search Area
MH370 Update: New Theory Suggests Flight Plunged into Andaman Sea, 3,500 Miles from Search Area (Photo: ATSB, photo by ABIS Chris Beerens, RAN/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0))

A new theory proposed by Alan Diehl, a former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator with over 30 years of experience, suggests that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have plummeted into the Andaman Sea, nearly 3,500 miles north of the area where search efforts have been focused. Diehl believes that the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, wanted to make a political statement against the current regime by commandeering the plane and flying it to the U.S. military base in Diego Garcia, where he expected to broadcast his manifesto en route, land the plane, and release the passengers.

This theory, if proven true, would completely change the search efforts, which have largely focused on the southern part of the Indian Ocean near the southwestern coast of Australia. Despite countless theories with varying levels of plausibility, the governments involved have no definitive answers, leaving the families and friends of the 239 victims to cling to these theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem.

Diehl, a research psychologist who has dedicated his life's work to recreating the pilot and crew's possible actions by analyzing their mental states, believes that the bizarre and harsh turns made by the plane, as well as the electronics going dark, were intentional. He suggests that the pilot turned off the lights and flew the plane across Thailand and Malaysia, appearing as nothing more than a "little blip" to radar operators, "if they were awake and diligent enough to see it."

While some believe that the pilot was suicidal and intended to make the plane disappear in one of the world's most remote spots off Australia's southwest coast, Diehl argues that the information in the public domain doesn't suggest any motive for a suicide mission. Instead, he presents a fictional but plausible theory in his new book, "Best Laid Plans," where the first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, was purposely locked out of the flight deck to prevent his involvement in the pilot's conspiracy to make a political statement.

However, the first officer knew he could reopen the cockpit by going through a hidden trap door that leads to the electronics and equipment (E&E) bay. Diehl suggests that while in the E&E bay, the pilot may have made a sharp turn, causing the first officer to accidentally start a fire while trying to brace himself, potentially killing himself and causing an explosive decompression at 35,000 feet.

Diehl's theory is based on his analysis of the history of the Boeing 777, which he calls a "safe aircraft," but notes that there have been high-profile crashes involving fires in the E&E bay. If his theory is correct, and the plane was headed for the U.S. military base in Diego Garcia, the search should be focused on the Andaman Sea near Malaysia, along the eastern edge of the 2,500-mile "Seventh Arc."

Meanwhile, other investigators, such as Richard Godfrey, a retired British aerospace engineer, and Vincent Lyne, a former researcher from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, have their own theories about the precise location of MH370's wreckage. Godfrey believes the plane is resting 1,500 kilometers west of Perth, Australia, while Lyne maintains that it is in a deep 6,000-meter hole about 1,500 kilometers east of Perth, along the longitude of Penang.

Both Godfrey and Lyne have spent years studying various data sets, including radio signals, satellite images, and pilot simulator information, to support their theories. They believe that finding the wreckage is crucial to solving the mystery and determining who was flying the plane when it disappeared.

As the greatest air disaster mystery remains unsolved, the Malaysian government is reportedly discussing a new search operation with Ocean Infinity, a private contractor that has been analyzing data to narrow the search area. With new theories and potential search locations emerging, there is hope that the wreckage of MH370 may one day be found, providing answers to the countless questions surrounding its disappearance and bringing closure to the families of the victims.