Online tributes in Malaysia portray a man so fond of flying that he assembled his own flight simulator so that he could indulge his passion at home.
The webpage, which has garnered more than 400 comments largely from well-wishers, shows pictures of the complex set-up including Zaharie posing in front of it.
Zaharie also has a YouTube channel to which he has uploaded videos showing him cheerfully explaining how to fix an air-conditioner, patch damaged windows, and other DIY projects.
Malaysian media reports have quoted colleagues as calling Zaharie a “superb pilot”, who also served as an examiner, authorised by the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department, to conduct simulator tests for pilots.
Malaysia Airlines has declined to offer details on the two men, and no other red flags have emerged publicly. Authorities have denied media reports that investigators raided their homes .
– Shadow of suspicion –
The near-total lack of information pointing to the plane’s fate necessarily means that authorities need to examine the spectre of possible wrongdoing by those who could have held its fate in their hands, analysts said.
The mysterious disappearance of the plane from radar has led to speculation over whether its communications were deliberately shut down by someone on board, one of many theories bandied about.
In three of the four flights used for the 9/11 attacks, hijackers who seized control of the aircraft are believed to have manually turned off each plane’s transponder, which sends flight data back to air-traffic control.
Terence Fan, an aviation expert at Singapore Management University, cited the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 in October 1999 in the Atlantic Ocean — which killed 217 people — as an example of a crash allegedly deliberately caused by a pilot.
A US investigation said the first officer crashed the jet when the captain went on a break, findings disputed by Egyptian officials.
“I am not saying such a scenario happened here, we don’t have any evidence at all, but this is one possible scenario,” he said.
“Certainly, the pilots play a very crucial role.”
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