KUALA LUMPUR: An aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly have called for a new search based on revelations about the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Australia's news site news.com.au reported that the pair have called on the Australian Transport Safety Authority, as well as the Malaysian government and exploration company Ocean Infinity to begin a new search.
During a lecture before the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAS), the pair reportedly said that the new search area could be canvassed in just 10 days in an open call for help.
"We have done our homework. We have a proposal … the area is small and considering new capabilities it will take 10 days.
"It could be a quick thing. Until the wreck of MH370 is found, nobody knows (what happened). But, this is a plausible trajectory," said Marchand, as quoted by the news site.
Both Marchand and Blelly also told the RAS the new search area was based on the belief the plane was purposefully hijacked and downed in the deep ocean.
Marchand reportedly described it as an "atrocious one-way journey", which he believed was likely carried out by an experienced aeroplane pilot.
"We think, and the study that we've done has shown us, that the hijacking was probably performed by an experienced pilot," he said.
The duo claimed that the MH370's cabin was depressurised.
"… and it was a soft control ditching to produce minimal debris. It was performed to not be trapped or found.
"Certainly, the aircraft was not visible except for the military. The guy knew that if search and rescue would be triggered it would be on the flight path."
The duo went on saying that the plane's transponder was turned off and that the "U-turn" it did away from the flight path could not have been autopilot.
They claimed the sudden change in direction occurred when the plane was in a "no man's land", between Thai, Indonesian, Indian, and Malay airspace.
"What would have been the intention of the hijackers? This is a very sensitive area. You have Thai and South Indian radar coverage, but they don't care.
"You have reached the war range, but also the radar, so this zone here is in no man's land. No control, and no visibility for Kuala Lumpur. So, the guy can do whatever he wants," Marchand.
The bold claim comes after a separate new report into the missing aeroplane posited a new search area off the Australian coast, sparking new interest in a search.
This year marks nine years since the tragedy of the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370.
The fate of the aeroplane carrying 239 people left Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for Beijing lingers on as the darkest hour in the folds of the country's aviation history, as it vanished from the radar screen about two hours after takeoff on March 8, 2014.
Several countries launched a large-scale search operation in the southern Indian Ocean but found no plane or wreckage.