'All right, good night' : Last words from Malaysia Airlines jet came after transmission system was disabled

An investigation into the pilots of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 intensified today after officials confirmed that the last words spoken from the cockpit came after a key signalling system was manually disabled.



US intelligence efforts were also focusing on Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, according to chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McMaul.

He told Fox News that according to briefings he had been involved in, that "something was going on with the pilot".

Malaysia’s transport minister confirmed Sunday that an apparently relaxed final voice communication from the cockpit -- “All right, good night” -- came after the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) had  been deliberately shut down. ACARS transmits to the ground key information on a plane’s condition.

Pilots Zaharie Ahmad Shah (left) and Fariq Abdul Hamid were described as respectable, community-minded men.

Fourteen minutes laterthe plane's transponder, which relays radar information on the plane's location, was also switched off.

It is not yet confirmed who relayed the message.

Shortly afterwards the plane disappeared from civilian radar, but Malaysia has since confirmed that the air force tracked it for hours on military radar  -- without taking action.

The plane went missing early in the morning of March 8 with 239 passengers and crew aboard, spawning a massive international search across Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean that has turned up no trace of wreckage.

The number of countries involved in the search operation increased from 14 to 25 after Saturday's announcement that investigators believed the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 was deliberately diverted from its flight path.

Journalists stand outside the home of Fariq Abdul Hamid, the co-pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: AP

The vast search area was focusing on two corridors: one stretching from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and the other from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Countries assisting in the search range from the former Soviet central Asian republics in the north to Australia in the south, along with France, which administers a scattering of islands.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia had requested further satellite data from the United States, China, France and other countries.


Police searched the homes of the pilots on Saturday and dismantled and reassembled a flight simulator belonging to the captain, the country's police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said.

Khalid stressed the probe was covering "all" the 239 passengers and crew, as well as engineers who may have had contact with the aircraft before take-off.

With no clear motive established as to why someone diverted the plane, all possibilities - hijack, sabotage or personal or psychological problems of someone on board - were being investigated.

Hishammuddin said authorities had not received any ransom or other demand.

Background checks of passengers on the flight have not found anything suspicious, but not every country whose nationals were on board has responded to requests for information, Khalid said.

scmp.com