MH370 Report Finds Nothing Unusual About Crew, Aircraft

MH370 Report Finds Nothing Unusual About Crew, Aircraft

No red flags were raised in the interim report

By Gaurav Raghuvanshi And Jason Ng in the Wall Street Journal

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—An investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 one year ago has found nothing unusual about the crew or aircraft.

The 584-page report released on Sunday said Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, had valid licenses and showed no abnormal behavior.

The report, however, did note that the underwater locator beacon battery on the plane’s flight data recorder had expired in December 2012 and no record was available to show that it was replaced.

Contact with the Boeing 777-200 was lost less than an hour into the flight on March 8, 2014 and military radar had tracked the Beijing-bound plane deviating from its course. No signs of the plane have been found despite an intensive search over the past year.

The report said the sole objective of the investigation is to prevent future incidents and not to apportion blame or liability.

“The factual information that has been gathered to date and published is of an interim nature and new information that may become available may alter this information before the publication of the final report,” Kok Soo Chon, the investigation team’s chief, said in a televised speech.

Lost at Sea: Profiles from Flight 370

 “There were no behavioral signs of social isolation, change in habits or interest, self-neglect, drug or alcohol abuse of the captain, first officer and the cabin crew,” the report said.

The pilots and cabin crew had normal financial profiles and didn't have any major disciplinary records against them, it added.

The aircraft had reported no equipment trouble before it disappeared. The plane had been repaired by Boeing after its wing was damaged while taxiing in Shanghai in August 2012.

The plane was carrying enough fuel to fly for seven hours and 31 minutes, compared with the planned flight time of five hours and 34 minutes, the report said. No significant weather trouble was recorded along the plane’s flight path.

—Celine Fernandez contributed to this article.