Plane captain an engineering buff

The captain of the missing Malaysia Airlines 370, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, is an engineering buff who assembled his own flight simulator. A pilot with 18,365 flight hours, he is said to be also a flight instructor. According to CNN, he has given tips on tinkering with a refrigerator and an air conditioner on social media. Police have searched his home and were examining the flight simulator he built at home. Colleagues have described him to be a “superb pilot.” His flight partner Fariq Abdul Hamid, meanwhile, is said to be a mild-mannered “good boy.” His landing technique was “textbook-perfect” when he flew CNN correspondent Richard Quest in February 2014 from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. Authorities have started to check on the plane’s crew and passengers, following reports of deliberate switching off of communications systems.


Read the full story on Rappler.

A related story is on CNN.