Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 in 1977 seems to be history repeating itself with MH370. Three weeks into the search, and still NOTHING from the Boeing 777 has been found, and no cause for the disappearance has been determined. 37 years ago, in 1977 Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 was hijacked between Penang and Kuala Lumpur. To this day, the hijackers still haven’t been identified, even though the black box on that plane reveals the cockpit breach, to the sound of gunshots that killed both pilots. The two pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 were killed by the terrorists gun shots, as the plane crashed into a mangrove swam. Now in 2014, we have Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, with no answers, no way to determine (if who) hijacked the plane and where it crashed. Sometimes history does repeat itself as Malaysia Airlines shows. I don’t know if the Malaysia government was as incompetent 37 years ago as they are today about getting to the bottom of the crash.
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| Remember Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 hijack and crash in 1977? |
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The families of those on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have been waiting for answers for 20 days. The loved ones of those who were passengers on Malaysia Airlines 653 have been waiting for 37 years.
Flight 653 was hijacked in 1977 en route from the northern Malaysian city of Penang to Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital. The airliner — a Boeing 737-200 — crashed into a mangrove swamp as it descended, killing all 100 on board. Before Flight 370, it was the deadliest incident in Malaysian aviation history.
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“Thirty-seven years down the line, we still don’t really know the truth,” said Ruth Parr, who was 19 when her father, Thomas, died in the crash.The hijacker or hijackers of MH653 have never been identified, despite cockpit voice recordings that captured everything from the breach of the cockpit, to the sound of gunshots that killed both pilots. According to the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department’s report into the crash, the aircraft was hijacked as it approached Kuala Lumpur.
Amid confusion over whether it was to land there or not, it proceeded towards neighboring Singapore. As it descended, the crew was shot and the aircraft “carried out some unusual pitch up and pitch down terminal maneuvers before finally impacting into swampy ground at some 450 knots.” The report concluded that the crash was caused by the crew being fatally incapacitated, leaving the aircraft “professionally uncontrolled.”