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Malaysian officials admit MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah DID plot flight course over Indian Ocean on his flight simulator

MALAYSIAN officials have admitted for the first time that the MH370 Captain had plotted a course on his home flight simulator over the area where the plane is believed to have crashed.

Last month Australian investigators revealed that the data on Captain Shah's simulator included a flight path to the Southern Indian Ocean, but Malaysian officials had refused to confirm this.

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Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah practised flying the route the vanished plane took on a simulator

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The route he practised was eerily similar to the one MH370 actually took before it disappeared

Today Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai told local journalists that the flight path had been found found on the simulator.

He said: “Until today, this theory is still under investigation. There is no evidence to prove that Captain Zaharie flew the plane into the southern Indian Ocean.

“Yes, there is the simulator but the (route) was one of thousands to many parts of the world. We cannot just base on that to confirm (he did it).”

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The troubled pilot had split from his wife three weeks before the plane went missing
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The troubled pilot had split from his wife three weeks before the plane went missingCredit: Enterprise News and Pictures

Liow didn't say when the Indian Ocean route was flown on the simulator. He stressed that international experts and Australian officials have agreed that the most likely scenario was 'uncontrolled ditching' of the plane.

Before the disappearance of flight MH370 Mr Shah had been described as desolate and distracted, following the breakdown of his marriage.

Speaking in 2014 about the mystery, his estranged wife said  the 53-year-old pilot refused pleas to attend marriage counselling sessions.

Three weeks after they split the plane went missing, with some investigators suggesting it was a deliberate and desperate ploy by Mr Shah.

The search for MH370 has been going on for more than two years and has been the most expensive in aviation history
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The search for MH370 has been going on for more than two years and has been the most expensive in aviation historyCredit: Aidan Ellis
Australian authorities had previously received satellite imagery that showed two large objects in the Indian Ocean that may be debris from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight
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Australian authorities had previously received satellite imagery that showed two large objects in the Indian Ocean that may be debris from the missing Malaysian Airlines flightCredit: Getty Images
The latest findings, which were kept from the public for months, suggest that the disappearance might have been planned by the pilot
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The latest findings, which were kept from the public for months, suggest that the disappearance might have been planned by the pilotCredit: Enterprise News and Pictures
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The Malaysian government continues to maintain that it does not know what caused the incident

Liow Tiong Lai insisted on Wednesday there was no evidence to prove that Mr Shah had plotted the same course as the doomed airliner into the machine.

Earlier this week, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to offer any details on what evidence had been found on the simulator.

He said: “I just note that even if the simulator information does show that it is possible or very likely that the captain planned this shocking event, it does not tell us the location of the aircraft.”

He stressed it was up to Malaysia to release any information about it.

But questions are now being asked about why the information about Shah practising on the simulator had been kept private
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But questions are now being asked about why the information about Shah practising on the simulator had been kept private

Officials from Malaysia, Australia and China announced that the underwater search will be suspended once the current search area has been completely scoured.

Crews have fewer than 3,900 square miles left to scan of the 46,300-square-mile search area, and should finish their sweep of the region by the end of the year.

Last week we revealed a study claims to have found 'most accurate' location of missing MH370, some 300 miles north of where current teams are searching.

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