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Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, was the pilot of the fateful Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, abbreviated as MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014.
MH370 was scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, but disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff. All 239 people on board were lost.
A decade later, the BBC recalled how the plane disappeared in its documentary Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt for MH370.
But what about your veteran pilot who had thousands of flying hours under his belt and lived a seemingly idyllic life?
Read more about Zaharie Ahmad Shah and the rumors that surfaced about him after the flight disappeared below.
Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured) was the pilot of the fateful Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, abbreviated as MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014.
MH370 was scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, but disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff. All 239 people on board were lost (file image of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777)
Who was Zaharie Amad Shah?
Zaharie Amad Shah was 53 years old when MH37 disappeared and came from a poor background in Malaysia’s Penang state.
He became a Malaysia Airlines cadet pilot in 1981 and was a second officer at the airline two years later.
His sister, Sakinab Shah, told the BBC in 2016 that becoming a commercial pilot was “a dream come true” given his background, and in 1991 Shah was promoted to captain of the Boeing 737-400.
Seven years later, he was captain of the Boeing 777-200, the type of aircraft he would fly for the last time on March 8, 2014.
Shah accumulated 8,659 hours in 777 and by 2014 was a highly respected and accomplished veteran.
By then he was also married and the father of three children, and enjoyed cooking and fishing along with his work and family life.
His family lived in a mansion in the Laman Seri complex, a luxury gated community in Kuala Lumpur, where he is said to have built his own flight simulator.
Shah and his family lived in a mansion in the Laman Seri complex (above), a luxury gated community in Kuala Lumpur.
What was discovered about Zaharie Amad Shah after the plane disappeared?
After MH370 disappeared, rumors circulated that Mr Shah’s wife had left home, prompting the pilot to crash the plane in a murder-suicide.
The Atlantic reported in 2019 that friends of the pilot claimed he was “lonely and sad,” even “clinically depressed,” at the time of the flight.
An anonymous friend and a fellow pilot suggested that Shah may have diverted his co-pilot out of the cockpit and closed the door before crashing the plane.
The Independent Group that worked on the case claims that he murdered those on board by flying at a staggering altitude of 40,000 feet to depress the cabin and suffocate the passengers.
Psychologists also claimed Shah was “self-destructive” after sending sexually suggestive messages to twin sisters Lan Qi Hui and Qi Min Lan, 26, begging them to come to the Malaysian capital.
He also used social media to attack his government, which owns the airline he worked for, calling Prime Minister Najib Razak an “imbecile.”
He also urged his followers: ‘There is a rebel in each and every one of us. Let it go!’
Aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey stated in a report in May 2021 that the path taken by Shah seemed “carefully planned.”
He said the changes in direction and speed were to avoid “giving a clear idea of ​​where he was going.”
The plane took an unexpected turn from its planned flight path and was instead tracked by military radar over the Strait of Malacca before losing contact completely.
Despite a four-year, $200 million international search effort spanning more than 120,000 square meters, the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane has never been found, unleashing the world’s biggest aviation mystery.
Although the plane has never been found, debris was pulled from the sea in Mauritius, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa, suggesting the crash site could be in the Indian Ocean, with currents carrying debris to Africa.
Aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey stated in a May 2021 report that the route taken by Shah appeared “carefully planned.”
Who was the co-pilot of Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s M370?
The co-pilot of MH370 was Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, who was on his first flight in a 777 as a fully approved first officer, but He had flown five times before with a “control co-pilot” supervising him.
He also had 2,763 hours of experience flying other aircraft before moving up to the larger aircraft.
It was revealed that Hamid was the last person to communicate from the cockpit after the communication system was cut.
Theorists have also suggested that Hamid could have been responsible for the accident, again citing personal issues, but on the other hand, Fariq was reportedly planning to marry his girlfriend.
He was engaged to Captain Nadira Ramli, a then 26-year-old pilot for another airline.