Vance - MH370: mystery solved

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To all the professional aircraft accident investigators I have had the pleasure to work with over these many years

The aviation accident investigation expertise that made this book possible comes from the combined experience of three individuals who work together as independent consultants, based in Ottawa, Canada. None of us has any connection to the ; nor do we have any business connection to the case. Our only objective is to provide our investigation expertise so that the truth about what happened to MH370 can be known.

All three of us had previous careers with what is now called the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), Canadas official government agency responsible for aircraft accident investigation. We now provide independent accident investigation services to clients around the world.

Terry Heaslip, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., has been investigating accidents since 1964. He has vast experience in all facets of the investigation process. Terrys expertise is evident throughout this book, but particularly in the interpretations of evidence on the recovered wreckage pieces.

Elaine Summers, who is an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, started her investigation career with the TSB in 1988. She is a specialist in both on-site wreckage inspection, and laboratory wreckage analysis. In determining what led to the loss of an airplane, there is no substitute for years of actual on-site, hands-on accident investigation experience.

My accident investigation career started with the TSB in 1984, as an on-site field investigator. I have been investigator-in-charge for more than two hundred investigations, and have been directly involved in countless others. I have investigated high-profile cases around the world, and have benefited from interacting with, and learning from, some of the worlds top investigation experts.

Ted Parisee, who did the graphics work for this book, has been involved in accident investigation since 1999. He specializes in the study of crash dynamics, and in presenting his findings in both graphic, and animated forms. Teds son, Andrew Parisee, assisted him in preparing some of these graphics.

Collectively, we have well over one hundred years of continuous service in professional aviation accident investigation. We have investigated many aviation accidents that involved impact with water. In constructing this book, it was a tremendous advantage for me to have this collective wealth of experience to draw upon.

My motivation for writing this book was a long time coming. As I finish writing this in 2018, it has been four years since MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014. It is now approaching three years since the first piece of wreckage from MH370 (the ) was discovered in July 2015.

In August 2016, I provided my opinions about MH370 to 60 Minutes Australia, and those opinions went worldwide in the media. If you have interest, you can check that out on my website.

As I stated in that 60 Minutes interview, and have stated in other media, I firmly believed that the evidence on the recovered flaperon would guide the official investigators to what caused the disappearance of MH370. I thought they would examine the evidence on that recovered flaperon, and on the subsequently discovered section of outboard . Clearly, it was an MH370 pilot who caused MH370 to disappear.

To my great surprise, and I must admit professional disappointment, the official investigation did not come to that conclusion. Instead, they continued to support their theory of an unpiloted airplane. Their belief is that MH370 entered the ocean unpiloted, while in a . That belief is simply not true, and the evidence against it is overwhelming.

As a sideline to our investigation work, we also teach accident investigation courses. In our courses, we use the evidence from MH370 to explain how to find and interpret evidence on wreckage pieces. We teach investigators how to apply basic investigation logic, and to reach conclusions based on solid evidence.

The physical evidence you will be exposed to about MH370 is not new. It has been available for a long time, to those who are capable of seeing and understanding it. Through the media, and some unofficial contacts, I have encouraged the official investigation to open their eyes to the obvious evidence on the recovered wreckage pieces. Those initiatives have not succeeded.

In the past months, I have come to realize that it is unlikely the physical evidence presented here will come to public knowledge through any source other than directly from me. In particular, I am now convinced it will not come from the official investigation. They have had ample opportunity, but have remained steadfast in their inaccurate thinking. I expect they will modify their opinions soon after they see and understand the irrefutable evidence presented here.

I was also motivated by a desire to counter other accounts of what happened to MH370. Much of what has been written in books and articles and other accounts is inaccurate. Some of it is outright shameful, and an insult to those who perished in this tragic event, and to their families and loved ones.

It is bad enough when people with no particular investigation expertise publicly present unsupported and illogical theories. It is even worse when people who have an actual aviation connection put forth ill-informed analysis. I believe that when you have finished reading this account of what actually happened, you will be able to make your own good judgement as to who provided valid and helpful information.

Prior to writing this, my public writing experience has been in the production of professional accident investigation reports. That work involves technical writing that can be very detailed and focused. To fully understand the complexities of such technical writing might require some related technical knowledge.

Here, I have tried my best to write for a much wider audience. Fortunately, the physical evidence that is necessary to understand what happened to MH370 is not overly complicated. As you will see, it can be explained in relatively simple terms, and supported by photos of the actual wreckage pieces that are clear and very demonstrative.

The physical evidence revealed here is believable and convincing because you can clearly see it for yourself. Hopefully, I have met my objective to explain this evidence using plain language that anyone can understand.

To understand the full MH370 event, we must address not only what happened, but also why it happened. Why would the pilot intentionally take the airplane to a place where he knew there could be no survival? I will offer my thoughts on what the evidence reveals about the pilots motivation, and where specialists in human behaviour should look for more answers.