Highjack, terrorism, pilot suicide, depressurisation and other causes, external or deliberate, have also been mooted, as conjecture mounts on the whereabouts of the Boeing 777 passenger jet. A third sighting of possible debris from the lost plane has recently been spotted, this time in the Indian Ocean.
A Google+ post by Canadian pilot Chris Goodfellow suggested that a fire, caused perhaps by an overheated landing gear tyre or electrical short-circuit, could have produced smoke that incapacitated the pilots.
Autopilot
Goodfellow argued that a panicked crew may have disconnected the communications system as they tried to isolate the cause, with the fire then disabling the whole system.
This would explain why the plane lost all contact account for the sudden change of course, the pilot probably making an abrupt turn to reach the nearest suitable landing place before the crew were overcome with fumes. Meanwhile, the jet would have continued on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
US website the Daily Kos aired the theory that MH370 suffered a catastrophic cockpit fire similar to one that caused extensive damage to the cockpit and fuselage of an EgyptAir Boeing 777 within minutes while it sat on the runway in July 2011.
The blaze, which started as the jet prepared to depart for Jeddah, caused extensive damage to the cockpit and fuselage. Although the 291 passengers and crew evacuated safely, investigators suggested that a short-circuit caused electrically-conductive cockpit hoses, used to provide oxygen for the crew in the event of decompression, to ignite.
Lithium batteries
Another fire theory pins the blame on the lithium ion batteries carried in MH370’s hold, echoing similar fires on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft at Boston airport and in Japan.
Fire theory questioned
However, the fire theory has been dismissed from several quarters, including a former air accident investigator who believes a criminal act is more likely to be to blame and other experts questioning why air traffic control would have not been alerted to a fire.
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