MH370: Co-pilot entertained women in cockpit on previous flight

KUALA LUMPUR — A teenage tourist from South Africa has come forward to reveal that the co-pilot of the missing flight MH370 invited her and a teenage girlfriend to hang out in the cockpit during a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur in 2011.

Ms Jonti Roos told Australia’s Channel Nine TV in an interview that aired yesterday (March 11) that she and her friend were spotted during check-in and were personally invited by Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, and the captain to spend the hour-long flight in the cockpit.

“We were standing in line at the boarding gate just with everybody else and the pilot and co-pilot walked past us and came back and asked us if we would like to sit with them in the cockpit during the flight. Obviously we said yes,” said Ms Roos, who studied at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and is now living in Melbourne.

“Throughout the whole flight they were talking to us. They were actually smoking, which I don’t think they are allowed to be doing. And they were taking photos of us in the cockpit while they were flying. I was just completely shocked, I couldn’t believe it.”

According to Ms Roos, she and her friend were in the cockpit for both take-off and landing, and that First Officer Fariq and the captain chatted with the girls, posed for photographs and smoked cigarettes.

Ms Roos added that the pilots tried to convince the girls to delay their flight back to Australia.

“At one stage they were pretty much turned around the whole time in their seats talking to us,” said Ms Roos. “They were so engaged in conversation that he took my friends hand and he was looking at her palm and said ‘your hand is very creased, that means you’re a very creative person’ and commented on her nail polish ...

“Possibly a little bit sleazy – they asked us if we couldn’t arrange our trip to stay in Kuala Lumpur for a few nights so they could take us out.”

NEVER FELT THREATENED

But Ms Roos said that she never felt threatened, or that the pilots were neglecting their duties in the cockpit.

“I don’t think there was one instance where I felt threatened or I felt that they didn’t know what they were doing,” she said. “They were very friendly, but I felt that they were very competent in what they were doing.

“We wished they would stop smoking because it is such a confined space. But you can’t exactly tell a pilot to stop smoking.”

She added that Fariq sent her a Facebook message after the flight to wish her a safe flight home. She was shocked when she learned that Fariq was on board flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 off the coast of Vietnam.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “When I saw all his friends and his family posting on his wall, obviously, my heart really broke for them and my heart broke for all the families of the passengers. It’s a really sad story.”

Asked why she had contacted the television programme, Roos said: “It seems like everybody’s completely in the dark and nobody has any information, so I thought the tiny bit that I have I just want to share and maybe it can help with something.”

MAS STATEMENT

Such a practice would be illegal on American airlines but not necessarily so on international ones, according to CNN Aviation Correspondent Richard Quest. Access to the cockpit is up to the discretion of the captain, though most airlines have tightened security in the wake of the Sept 11, 2011 attacks.

Malaysia Airlines told Channel 9 that “under no circumstances are passengers permitted in the cockpit, and certainly not during takeoff and landing”.

In a statement issued yesterday, MAS said that it was looking into the Channel 9 report.

“Malaysia Airlines has become aware of the allegations being made against First Officer Fariq Ab Hamid which we take very seriously. We are shocked by these allegations,” the airline said in a statement.

“We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident.”

The statement added: “We are in the midst of a crisis, and we do not want our attention to be diverted We also urge the media and general public to respect the privacy of the families of our colleagues and passengers. It has been a difficult time for them.

“The welfare of both the crew and passenger’s families remain our focus. At the same time, the security and safety of our passengers is of the utmost importance to us.”

In the absence of any concrete evidence to explain the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370, authorities have not ruled out anything.

Police have said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

“Maybe somebody on the flight has bought a huge sum of insurance, who wants family to gain from it or somebody who has owed somebody so much money, you know, we are looking at all possibilities,” Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at a news conference.

“We are looking very closely at the video footage taken at the KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), we are studying the behavioural pattern of all the passengers.” AGENCIES