Captain of Missing Malaysian Aircraft Studied in Philippines

A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 52, trained for a brief period of time in the Philippines.

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According to a source at the Civil Aviation Authority, Zaharie studied briefly at the Philippine Airlines Aviation School in Pasay City from 1980 to 1981. He reportedly studied there just prior to joining Malaysia Airlines as a pilot in 1981. Zaharie later earned the rank of Captain in the early 1990's.

The flying school was then conducting flight training at the periphery of what was previously known as the Manila International Airport. Philippine Airlines used to hold a monopoly on commercial air travel in the country being government-controlled from the late 1970's to 1992.

Although official records of Zaharie have yet to be located, information about his training in the Philippines came from members of the local aviation community that were familiar with Zaharie and Malaysia Airlines pilots. It is believed that the school likely still maintains the pilot's records. However, government records of pilot licenses that would have been maintained by the Air Transportation Office, the predecessor of CAAP, were likely shredded as records were not computerized at that time. 

Zaharie was in control of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing past midnight on Saturday, March 8. The aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. 

In 33 years of service with Malaysia Airlines, Zaharie accumulated more than 18,360 hours of flying experience and supervised pilot trainings and operations of Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 737 fleet. He was certified by Malaysia's civil aviation regular as an examiner enabling him to conduct simulator tests for pilots.

Colleagues described Zaharie as "very professional" and "jovial." According to the Wall Street Journal, he was a remote control aircraft hobbyist that enjoyed working with model planes and helicopters in his spare time. Zaharie reportedly built a Boeing 777 flight simulator in his Malaysian home using computer parts and software that he purchased with savings.

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Australian authorities have identified an area of the southern Indian Ocean off Western Australia where debris may have been spotted by satellite. The images captured four days ago in one of the most remote places in the world include one piece measuring 24 metres long and another measuring about 5 metres in length.

More than twenty five countries have now joined the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet with military aircraft and ships. Four aircraft are searching the 23,000 square kilometre area where the satellite images were captured that are believed to be the "best lead yet." Australian and US aircraft dispatched to the region were not able to find the objects as experts warned strong currents and poor weather conditions in the southern Indian Ocean would likely make the search an arduous and long process.