It’s been a whole ten years since the Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane disappeared from screens, leaving families in tears not knowing what happened. People speculated wildly about the flight with some claiming it was shot down or landed on an island by accident.
Some think the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who was 52, might have crashed the plane to Beijing on purpose into the sea. Beverley Boden, an expert at Teesside University International Business, thinks this terrifying theory holds weight because of new rules for planes made after the attacks in America in 2001.
These new rules meant that if the pilot wanted to crash, no one else could get into the cockpit to stop them.
She said: “The knee-jerk reaction to the events of 9/11 with the ill-thought reinforced cockpit door has had catastrophic consequences, with crews unable to re-enter the cockpit should the sterile environment change.”
“Planes go up, and planes come down, but what they don’t do is vanish into thin air, and this is what happened. Was it terrorism, was it an act of war, was it a deliberate act, was it hijacking? Some family members think that airline officials intentionally placed washed-up debris from a Boeing 777 to divert attention from the flight crew.”
Speaking to The Mirror, she continued: “Nonetheless, the families of MH370 continue to hold onto hope for answers and closure as they patiently await any new developments or breakthroughs in the investigation.
“It remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history as lessons continue to be learned in how airlines respond to crisis management and crew resource management.”
A press release from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2002 said cockpit doors “required strengthening”.
It read: “The doors will be designed to resist intrusion by a person who attempts to enter using physical force. This includes the door, its means of attachment to the surrounding structure, and the attachment structure on the bulkhead itself.”
“All new doors must meet existing FAA safety requirements. Requires cockpit doors to remain locked. The door will be designed to prevent passengers from opening it without the pilot’s permission. An internal locking device will be designed so that it can only be unlocked from inside the cockpit.”
Airplane doors are also bulletproof and many planes have CCTV cameras so the crew in the cockpit can watch what’s happening in the main cabin.
