"In September, aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly called for a new search based on revelations about the fate of the flight. During a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society..."<p>So these are comments made in an obscure lecture over 3 months ago, but first reported in mainstream publications on Christmas Day, presumably to fill otherwise empty pages?<p>Doesn't seem like much of a story.
The story doesn't provide any information about where the new proposed search area is in relation to areas already search. That seems like it should be near the lead.<p>A bit more detail here: <a href="https://theaviationist.com/2023/09/15/new-theory-mh-370/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://theaviationist.com/2023/09/15/new-theory-mh-370/</a> but it still lacks a really clear illustration of where they want to search compared to where has already been searched.
> Importantly, the pair told the RAS the new search area was based on the belief the plane was purposefully hijacked and downed in deep ocean<p>The questions that remain for this theory is the why and the who. Terrorists always have a goal in mind and making a plane simply disappear doesn't further their goals in any way. They normally want to make it clear to the world what happened and what they're angry about. So that they and their cause go down in the history books. A mysterious disappearance doesn't fit with that.<p>And the who, if it needed an experienced pilot, do any of the passengers even qualify? You really need to know the 787 inside out and time it to the second to make it disappear just like this during the ATC handover and somehow enter the cockpit at the exact right time without the pilots (or even a passenger with a satphone near the window) having a chance to send a warning out. I still think Zaharie is the most plausible culprit and this seems to be the most probable and common consensus now. The hijacking theory is very far-fetched. Germanwings sadly showed that the suicidal pilot scenario is a real possibility.<p>The WSPR data is interesting indeed but it's important to realise that its data is captured by ham radio enthusiasts like myself with experimental and often home built equipment. The timing is very exact because that's part of the protocol but the signal strengths aren't calibrated against anything. And the timing is not exact enough to measure small deviations on the order of kilometres. And even then very hard to attribute to a single plane.<p>I hope they find it but I doubt this is it. Nevertheless if a search is restarted this should be included. They might well be right but I think it's still a long shot.<p>Ps even if we find the thing and the black boxes are intact they only have the last 2 hours of the flight, sadly. Which aren't the most interesting ones by far to determine what happened in the early stages when the deviation was initiated.
In many countries the circumstantial evidence is more than enough to convict that pilot. What you need to ask is, are there any evidence that exonerated Captain Zaharie. Just go watch <a href="https://youtu.be/MhkTo9Rk6_4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/MhkTo9Rk6_4</a>