Investigators looking into various angles to unravel the mystery over the bizarre disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, have arrived at a conclusion that the jet could have been deliberately programmed to fly to three of the Australian cities or the Cocos Island.
Releasing a comprehensive 64-page report explaining the basis on which the new search area has been determined, the investigators said they believed that someone in the cockpit of the doomed airliner might have plotted the four different potential flight paths.
The report, that comes after the Joint Agency Coordination Centre announced a new search area further south of the 7th arc, theorizes that flight routes ending in Port Hedland, Adelaide and Perth could have been programmed into the Flight Management System (FMS).
The Cocos Island – located 2750 km north-west of Perth – could have been the fourth possible place where the jet was made to end its journey at, according to the new report.
The new theory, which outlines the most thorough details about what could have possibly happened to the flight, was put forward after comprehensive analysis of the plane's behavior. It's likely end point was based on the way it had initially turned away from its scheduled flight path.
After disappearing from the radar system, MH370 turned left before entering Vietnamese air space and flew along the Malacca Strait before turning its way towards the southern Indian Ocean at the north-west tip of Sumatra, Indonesia.
This pattern of flight path the jet tended to take, gave investigators a chance to analyze the air routes that MH370 may have intersected or traversed after deviating from its initial flight path.
"Air routes and waypoints were then examined to see if there was any correlation with the possible southern tracks for MH370 obtained from the analysis of the SATCOM (satellite communication) data," the report said.
"Relevant southern air routes that MH370 may have intersected/traversed were N509, N640, L894 and M641. Waypoints associated with these air routes were also considered as possible points on the MH370 flight path."
The report then lists the possible flight path the jet could have taken based on the projected routes which end in Port Hedland, Adelaide, Perth and Cocos island.
The report, however, cautions that there was insufficient evidence to support this theory.
