[Brock McEwen]

(First post - please excuse any failure to respect the local customs!)

I could really use an expert view on this one - thanks in advance for all professional assessments:


Official explanation for Mar.8, 2014 Maldives eyewitness sighting (per CAA head Ibrahim Faisal, per scmp.com, July 4) is now that this was actually DQA149, Malé to Kaadedhdhoo, with a stop at Thimarafushi, and that Kudahuvadhooans saw this flight returning from a large course deviation. Faisal claims this flight wasn't identified earlier because Malaysian radar "doesn't reach that far".

Additional info:
- Sunrise Kuda Mar.8 was at 6:15 UTC, about same time as sighting
- Winds were blowing lightly  E-to-W (per earth.nullschool.net)
- Eyewitness consensus: very low altitude (could make out door, e.g.)
- DQA149 was a DHC-8 (50-seater)
- Flightstats.com has scheduled flight going opposite direction, with no stop
- CAA head claims ATC records document landing at Thimarafushi at 6:33 UTC
- airline can't corroborate: CAA claims records likely "don't go back that far"

One pilot has expressed to me the following concerns:

- 40nmi off course (& low enough for witnesses to see door, be annoyed by noise, etc.) is anomalous enough to trigger EXTRA paperwork
- yet paperwork that should be available for even a NORMAL flight (logbook, e.g.) are absent - doubly odd
- that flight would be N-to-S (with stop at Thimarafushi) when schedule was S-to-N (with no stop) is bizarre

My challenge to you is simple: do you agree with this pilot's assessment, or disagree - and why? Huge thanks in advance for your informed judgment.

(My own deepest concern is with Faisal's explanation for not flagging up this flight sooner: if Malaysian radar can't see the skies around Kuda, then why was Malaysian radar cited as definitively ruling out the presence of a large jet back in March, 2014?)

For the record: I am not trying to sell/endorse any particular speculation - merely trying to collect hard facts and clear thinking. In particular: I'd prefer to avoid heated debate over whether Kudans saw MH370, and stick to cold, scientific assessments of the claim that what they saw was DQA149.