New analysis indicates MH370 spiralled out of control

KUALA LUMPUR - Simulators have shown that the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have spiralled out of control into the Indian Ocean as its engines ran out of fuel.

The latest update on the fate of the doomed Boeing 777 aircraft which disappeared in March has provided a glimpse into the possible last moments of the 239 passengers and crew on board.

“The simulator activities involved fuel exhaustion of the right engine followed by flameout of the left engine with no control inputs,” the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report released yesterday stated.

Quoting ATSB, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, “This scenario resulted in the aircraft entering a descending spiralling low bank angle left turn and entering the water in a relatively short distance after the last engine flameout.”

Investigators have also confirmed that they are now refocusing their search efforts following refined analysis of flight and satellite data.

From early in the search, analysis has indicated “a very high probability” of finding the aircraft along a defined arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

The seventh arc – or the final satellite “handshake” from the plane – is believed to be where the aircraft ran out of fuel and went into descent.

An ATSB report in June had put the priority search zone above an underwater feature named Broken Ridge, more than 2,000km west of Perth.

While investigators believe the plane “may be located within relatively close proximity to the arc”, their priority search area has shifted further south.

“The latest analysis indicates that the underwater search should be prioritised further south within the wide search area for the next phase of the search,” it said.

The report stressed that this new search area could still change. “Although relatively large, this area does not contain all the possible derived paths,” the report stated.

“The ongoing refinement may result in changes to search asset deployment.”

The analysis of communications and flight data has been used to determine the first underwater areas to be scoured, with the first ship starting its scan of the ocean depths this week.

The Malaysia-contracted GO Phoenix arrived in the search area on Monday. It uses sophisticated sonar technology that experts hope will detect large pieces of debris such as engine parts or fuselage.

A second vessel, Fugro Discovery, is expected to leave Fremantle Port for the assigned search area this weekend, and a third vessel, Fugro Equator, will also be used to survey the search area and should join the search at the end of the month.

Despite an extensive hunt for the plane, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it mysteriously turned southwards on March 8, no sign of it has been detected.