Egyptair chief engineer Ismail Hamad has shared his theory on the final resting place of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew members aboard. He claims the aircraft was hijacked and did not crash in the deep waters of the Broken Ridge plateau, but rather in shallower waters close to the western Australian coast.
Search History and Ongoing Efforts
The original search was initiated off the coast of Perth in 2018, with additional searches carried out in 2025 and earlier this year. Marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity is currently working on a "no find, no fee" arrangement, as families of the missing continue to await answers. The search was suspended in January and resumed in March.
Hamad's Analysis and Conclusion
Hamad told The Daily Star: "Because had the aircraft flown toward the southern Indian Ocean using the autopilot system reliant on Inertial Reference Systems (IRS) of navigation, it would have been located during the initial search off the coast of Perth, Australia."
He explained that his conclusion is based on "a simple integration of satellite data and fuel consumption rate calculations for the aircraft without even accounting for the other factors such as the weather conditions and the crosswinds. The effects of these are precisely corrected by the autopilot system and its laser gyroscope aids which are highly sensitive in determining direction and maintaining the aircraft’s orientation without being affected by any external factors."
Hamad believes the hijacker "relied on the aircraft’s standby magnetic compass," which would leave the "pilot himself uncertain of his exact landing location as a result of the impact of weather conditions and operational factors on the aircraft, not to mention the compass’ inherent deviation from the Earth’s magnetic north." He urged the search party to "at least do the right positive thing by taking into account the deviation of the plane’s standby magnetic compass to estimate the intended search area first."
Hijacker Theory and Final Location
Hamad remains convinced a "hijacker" was responsible for the incident. He said: "If the hijacker was looking for the perfect crime that would remain a mystery for a hundred years, he would have to land on one of the abandoned airstrips or lakes in the maze of the Philippine archipelago, which consists of 7,641 islands. Such airstrips are spread out and end in the sea, lakes or swamps, and not fly in a straight line to fall into the waters off the city of Perth, in an area that can be predicted by calculating the rate of the fuel consumption."
Using "logical analysis and the circumstantial evidence," Hamad concluded that the search should "study how the plane moved to its final resting place in order to save time and money for everyone." He believes the plane will be found "close to the western Australian coast" in more "shallow waters," away from the incredibly deep waters of the Broken Ridge plateau.
