the search area covers vast swaths of
land and water, stretching thousands of
miles, from Kazakhstan to the Indian
Ocean?
That's the question for Malaysian
officials and authorities from 24 other
nations as people search for a ninth day,
trying to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
and the 239 people on board.
As the search area grows bigger,
authorities are also increasing their
scrutiny of the pilots, searching their
homes in the quest for clues. That
includes a flight simulator from the
captain's home.
It also includes interviewing the
engineers who were in contact with
MH370 before it took off, according to a
statement from acting Transport
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun
Hussein to BERNAMA, Malaysia's official
news agency. The transport minister
characterized the interviews as "normal
procedure."
"Police are still working on it. … Nothing
conclusive yet," a senior police official
who has direct knowledge of the
investigation told CNN on Sunday night,
speaking on the condition of anonymity
because the official was not authorized
to speak to the press.
With news that the Boeing 777-200ER
might have flown for six and a half hours
after its transponder stopped sending
signals March 8, officials said the
expanding search area extends over 11
countries, stretching as far north as
Kazakhstan, a large nation in Central
Asia far from any ocean.
"This is a significant recalibration of the
search," Malaysia's acting Transportation
Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said
Sunday.
There are still more questions than
answers about the missing flight.
Figuring out the motive of whoever
apparently steered the plane off course
is key, analysts told CNN Sunday.
"I think they had an end game in mind
from the very beginning," CNN aviation
analyst Jim Tilmon said, "and they have
executed a lot of things that have led us
down a road. Are we going to the right
place? I'm not sure."
The plane disappeared on March 8, en
route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Airline CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said
Sunday the missing passenger jet took
off with its normal amount of fuel
needed for the roughly six-hour flight
and did not have extra fuel on board
that could have extended its range.
One of the nations involved in the
search, Pakistan, said Sunday that the
plane never showed up on its civilian
radars and would have been treated as a
threat if it had.
The Times of India reported that India's
military also said there was no way the
plane could have flown over India
without being picked up on radar.
A study of the flight's cargo manifest
showed there were no dangerous
materials on board that concerned
investigators, he told reporters.
Investigators are still looking into the
backgrounds of the passengers to see
whether any of them were trained
pilots.
"There are still a few countries who
have yet to respond to our request for a
background check," said Khalid Abu
Bakar, inspector general of the Royal
Malaysian Police Force. "But there are a
few … foreign intelligence agencies who
have cleared all the(ir) passengers."
U.S. intelligence officials are leaning
toward the theory that "those in the
cockpit" — the captain and co-pilot —
were responsible for the mysterious
disappearance, a U.S. official with direct
knowledge of the latest thinking told
CNN.
The official emphasized no final
conclusions have been drawn and all the
internal intelligence discussions are
based on preliminary assessments of
what is known to date.
Other scenarios could still emerge. The
notion of a hijacking has not been ruled
out, the official said Saturday.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak
told reporters on Saturday that the
plane veered off course due to apparent
deliberate action taken by somebody on
board.
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