Scientist reveals new theory on what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic and mysterious MH370 crash. Months after its anniversary, an Australian scientist has published a manuscript claiming to have solved the case through science. Photo / 123rf

This article was one of Herald Travel’s top stories of 2024.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Ten years on, an Australian scientist has come forward with a new theory.

Malaysia Airlines successfully operated thousands of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing before the MH370 incident in 2014.

There were no recorded signs or suspicions that the flight was on an ill-fated path. Reports recall that nothing unusual happened on the day of the flight. By all accounts, the flight was on track to Beijing without issue.

However, at 2.22am, the aircraft disappeared from Malaysian military radar, without a single distress call. Never to be seen again.

The official search which covered 120,000-square-kilometres of the Indian Ocean was suspended in 2017. However, theories and conspiracies continue to circulate.

As little to no evidence was found during the search period, the truth behind the missing MH370 flight has remained unknown for more than 10 years, often subject to countless investigations, none of which have definitively explained what happened to the aircraft and its 239 passengers.

However, in the latest instalment of unearthing the mystery of flight MH370, Australian scientist Vincent Lyne has revealed a new theory, alleging that the plane’s pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, deliberately flew the plane into a remote underwater terrain.

An adjunct researcher from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Vincent Lyne announced his findings on LinkedIn, in a post titled “Mystery of MH370 Solved by Science”, claiming that the MH370’s vanishing was no accident, but rather an almost-perfectly executed disappearance.

His theory centres around a 600-metre-deep hole at the eastern end of the Broken Ridge – an oceanic plateau found in the south-eastern Indian Ocean.

Broken Ridge is considered one of the most dangerous areas in the Indian Ocean, distinguished by its steep ridges and extensive ravines.

Lyne claims it is the “perfect hiding place” for the lost plane.

Map showing the location of the proposed MH370 site at the “Penang Longitude” location marked by the red dot. Photo / Vincent Lyne LinkedIn

When the plane’s disappearance was first reported, a team of experts conducted a deep-ocean search of the area to see if they could find any evidence of a crash. During this search, they found aircraft debris consistent with the MH370 model along the shores of the western Indian Ocean.

Because the area is very rugged and dangerous, Lyne claims the environment makes it the ideal place to conceal the MH370 aircraft.

Lyne also alleges that the plane’s final moments were not a result of a fuel-starved crash.

His research challenges the widely accepted “7th-arc theory,” which speculates the plane ran out of fuel and crashed at high speed somewhere along the 7th arc in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Lyne counteracts this explanation. He suggests that the damage to MH370’s wings, flap, and flaperon is strikingly similar to that of the “controlled ditching” performed by Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger on the Hudson River in 2009, following a bird strike on US Airways Flight 1549.

Lyne’s findings support the ex-chief Canadian air crash investigator Larry Vance’s original claim, which states that the aircraft had fuel and running engines when it crashed.

Lyne says the location can be determined by where the longitude line of Penang Airport intersects with a flight path found on the pilot’s home flight simulator, which was initially discovered and dismissed by the FBI and other officials as “irrelevant”.

However, Lyne is convinced that “science unmistakably points to where MH370 lies”.

Whether Lyne’s claims will prompt further exploration of the Southern Indian Ocean is yet to be seen.

Read the Herald’s comprehensive story covering the MH370 case here: What happened to MH370? Disturbing theories, twists, latest search 10 years on

This story was originally published in New Zealand Herald Travel on August 29, 2024 and has been updated.