Experts say MH370 likely nosedived into ocean
KUALA LUMPUR — A team of American academics say that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 likely nosedived into the ocean, entering the water cleanly with the fuselage still intact, explaining the lack of debris or spilled oil in the search area.
Dr Goong Chen and his team say that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 probably entered the water at a steep angle, which would have preserved the integrity of the fuselage. Photo: The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR — A team of American academics say that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 likely nosedived into the ocean, entering the water cleanly with the fuselage still intact, explaining the lack of debris or spilled oil in the search area.
The team, comprising experts from Texas A&M, Penn State, Virginia Tech, MIT and the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, was led by Dr Goong Chen, who said in a report by UK daily Express that based on all available evidence, the Boeing 777 had most probably entered the water at a steep angle.
According to the report, Dr Chen, an applied mathematician at Texas A&M, led the group to simulate five different scenarios using a series of forensic calculations based on MH370’s last known location.
Test results showed that a vertical crash into the ocean would have put only limited pressure on the fuselage, allowing it to remain intact before sinking to the ocean floor, the report said.
Meanwhile, the wings of the aircraft would have broken off “almost immediately” and sunk along with other pieces of heavy wreckage.
Dr Chen and his team said this was the most likely explanation for the lack of debris, as the vertical water entry would have seen “only a small bending moment in contrast with other angles of entry”.
“Forensics strongly support that MH370 plunged into the ocean in a nosedive,” he was quoted as saying.
Flight MH370 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace of the aircraft has been found despite the most extensive search operation in aviation history. All 227 passengers and 12 crew members are presumed dead after the government in January declared the aircraft missing in an accident.
On June 3, the Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in a statement that the hunt for MH370 would not be expanded beyond its current search area unless there were specific new leads.
However, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai later denied that the search would be called off, adding that Malaysia, China and Australia would refer the matter to experts for further action in the absence of any new leads. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
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