A new Netflix documentary has been released that recalls the events surrounding a commercial aircraft that vanished almost a decade ago. In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar mid-flight while on a routine red-eye from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Now, on the ninth anniversary of its disappearance, Netflix’s MH370: The Plane That Disappeared uses powerful archives to reconstruct the night of the disappearance and explore some of the theories about what happened. The plane’s wreckage has never been found, meaning what became of those on board remains a mystery.
There were more than 200 people on the plane when it disappeared, including 12 crew members. But who was piloting Flight MH370 when it went missing?
Who was the pilot flying MH370 when it went missing?
There were two pilots in the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 when it vanished. The pilot in command was Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah from Penang, a veteran pilot with more than 18,000 hours of flying experience.
The 53-year-old joined Malaysia Airlines as a cadet pilot in 1981, and was sent to the Philippines for training. He graduated and received his commercial pilot’s licence two years later and joined Malaysia Airlines as a second officer.
He was promoted to captain of Boeing 737-400 airliners in 1991, captain of Airbus A330-300 in 1996, and captain of Boeing 777-200 in 1998 until MH370’s disappearance. Zaharie’s good track record and seniority saw him made an instructor and examiner for the 777 fleet in November 2007.
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His flying record for the 72 hours before the flight and preceding 28 days cycle were well within the airline’s specified limits. His last flight as an operating Captain was to Denpasar, Bali, on March 3 2014, five days before the tragic event.
The father of three had been described as a passionate cook and keen fisherman, the BBC reported. He lived with his wife in an upmarket gated community in Kuala Lumpur.
Zaharie’s co-pilot during the flight was 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid. He joined the airline as a cadet pilot in 2007 and completed his training at a flight school on the Malaysian island of Langkawi the following year.
He became a second officer Boeing 737-400 airliners before being promoted to first officer in 2010. He was later promoted to first officer of the Airbus A330-300 in 2012, before a further promotion to the B777-200 the next year.
Flight MH370 was Fariq’s final training flight, and he was scheduled to be examined on his next flight. He had more than 2,800 hours of flying experience.
Friends had described Fariq as religious and serious about his career, the BBC reported. He was reportedly due to marry a fellow pilot from another airline.
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