Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 theory suggests ‘hero’ pilot of doomed jet ditched burning plane into the sea to avoid bustling cities
THE hero pilot of MH370 crashed his burning plane into the sea to avoid a densely-populated city, according to one investigator.
Aussie aviation expert Michael Gilbert reckons pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah sacrificed the missing jet after it was set ablaze mid flight.
And in a moment of extreme sacrifice, Gilbert claims he ditched the doomed Boeing 777 into the sea to avoid causing mass casualties on land.
The Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight has never been discovered and its plight has left investigators baffled since it disappeared from radar in March 2014 with 239 on board.
Search efforts have focused on radar 'pings' that suggest the plane diverted heavily off course into the southern Indian Ocean.
That theory has been backed up as dozens of pieces of debris continue to wash ashore in East Africa.
Now, far from accepting the theory that Shah ditched the plane in a suicidal plunge following a split from his wife three weeks earlier, Gilbert suggests he was acting to stop even more deaths in a new study.
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He said: "A windshield heater fire can explain both the loss of the transponder signal and the interruption to the satellite communications link.
“At the first sign of smoke, a burning smell or a fire, the crew's initial reaction would have been to don their oxygen masks.
“I suspect that the captain got out of his seat to retrieve the cockpit fire extinguisher and fight the fire.
"The pilot would have realised there was no reasonable chance of manually flying the plane.
“There were no instruments, it was night, there was no moon, he could only occupy the cockpit for short periods of time and oxygen supplies were dwindling.”
Australian search teams have focused their efforts around a stormy patch of ocean west of Perth.
Gilbert says his theory explains how they plane ended up in that remote area, many thousands of miles from its intended destination in China.
He added: "I believe that the pilot then elected to do what many pilots in stricken planes had done in the past - steer it clear of populated areas.
“Moving to the end of flight, I believe that MH370 ran out of fuel... and came down about 200 kilometres outside the current search area.”
One US aviation expert was quick to dismiss Gilbert's outlandish theory.
Safety consultant Captain John Cox said: "Like many theories, I think he has overrun the evidence.
"But it is worth considering because Mr Gilbert is meticulous in his research."
Only last week Malaysian authorities confirmed a piece of wing found on the island of Mauritius was confirmed to have come from the Malaysia Airlines jet.
The first piece of debris confirmed to have come from the plane was found on the French island of Reunion in July 2015 while the second was found on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania.
So far, none of the debris has helped to narrow down the precise location of the plane - with it hoped that the main wreckage will shed light on what happened to cause the plane to steer off course.
Search crews are now expected to finish their sweep of the 46,000 square mile search zone in the Indian Ocean by December.
But the search has been threatened by a lack of funding, with Malaysia, Australia and China saying that the hunt would be suspended unless new evidence emerged to pinpoint the aircraft's location.
Pieces of wreckage previously examined has suggested that the plane plunged into the sea in a "death dive".
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