Zaharie Ahmad Shah was the pilot on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing; Fariq Abdul Hamid was the co-pilot.
Who are these two men?
Shah
Shah joined the airline in 1981 and has 18,365 hours of flight experience. He’s a 53-year-old Malaysian resident.
He was described as an aviation geek by a Malaysian Airlines co-pilot who flew with him in the past.
“He was an aviation tech geek. You could ask him anything and he would help you. That is the kind of guy he is,” the pilot told Reuters. Shah had a Boeing 777 simulator at his home in a suburb on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, with easy access to the airport. The simulator, which Shah showed off in photos posted on Facebook, had three computer monitors among other equipment.
“We used to tease him. We would ask him, why are you bringing your work home,” said a pilot who knew Shah for 20 years.
Shah also collects remote-controlled, miniature aircraft, a sign of his passion for aviation.
Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation certified Shah to conduct simulator tests for pilots, several officials from the airline said. They said that he couldn’t have been behind whatever happened to the plane.
“He knew everything about the Boeing 777. Something significant would have had to happen for Zaharie and the plane to go missing. It would have to be total electrical failure,” said another Malaysia Airlines pilot who knew Shah.
The theory of of a dive into the sea from a high altitude was dispelled from a former Malaysia Airlines pilot that now works for another airline. “The Boeing 777 doesn’t just stall like that,” he said. “It is one of the safest planes out there. It doesn’t just fall out of the sky like that.”
