New MH370 theories

KUALA LUMPUR: Ten weeks after the mysterious disappearance of MH370 while headed for Beijing, new theories are still emerging.
A book about the missing flight suggests it may have been shot down during a military exercise and the accident is being covered up, while former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad believes the plane did not crash but "is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings".
Flight MH370 – the Mystery, written by Anglo-American author Nigel Cawthorne, cites anonymous sources to suggest that misinformation was released so the search would concentrate on the wrong area, The Sun-Herald newspaper in Sydney reported today.
The book, the first to be published about MH370 and which goes on sale today, cites a claim by New Zealander Mike McKay that he saw a burning plane from the oil rig he was working on in the Gulf of Thailand on March 8, the day the plane went missing.
Cawthorne links McKay's supposed sighting to joint-US military exercises in the region at the time, saying if MH370 was accidentally shot down during live fire exercises, "those involved would have every reason to keep quiet about it".
He even suggests that if the flight black box is found, it could be a fake planted by those involved in the cover-up but he added: "I'm not saying that's what happened."
Meanwhile, Mahathir commented on the missing MH370 in his blog today, saying "someone is hiding something".
"What goes up must come down. Airplanes can go up and stay up for long periods of time but even they must come down, eventually. They can land safely or they may crash. But airplanes don't just disappear ... Certainly not, these days with all the powerful communication systems, radio and satellite tracking and filmless cameras which operate almost indefinitely and possess huge storage capacities," he said.
Mahathir said MH370 is a Boeing 777 aircraft built and equipped by Boeing. All the communications and GPS equipment must have been installed by Boeing, so if they failed or had been disabled, Boeing must know how it can be done.
He said a search on the Internet revealed that in 2006, Boeing received a US patent for a system that, "once activated, removes all control from pilots to automatically return a commercial airliner to a pre-determined landing location".
The Flightglobal.com article by John Croft, datelined Washington DC (Dec 1, 2006) further mentioned: "The 'uninterruptible' autopilot would be activated – either by pilot, by on board sensors, or even remotely by radio or satellite links by government agencies like the Central Intelligence Agency, if terrorists attempt to gain control of the flight deck", he added.
"Clearly Boeing and certain agencies have the capacity to take over "uninterruptible control" of commercial airliners of which MH370 B777 is one. Can it not be that the pilot of MH370 lost control of their aircraft after someone directly or remotely activated the equipment for seizure of control of the aircraft ?" asked Mahathir.
He said it is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for "pings" from the black box.
"This is most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted. The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS markings," he said, calling on Boeing to explain about the so-called anti-terrorism auto-land system.
"I cannot imagine the pilots made a soft-landing in rough seas and then quietly drown with the aircraft.
"Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame," he added.