As the facts have emerged in the case of Air India 171, which crashed while taking off from Ahmedabad, India on June 12, it’s become increasingly clear that in all probability it was a case of mass murder suicide on the part of the captain. Mass murder suicide by pilot is a rare phenomenon, but until now they have all followed a certain pattern. Air India does not fit that pattern. In today’s episode, I make the case that the plane’s captain figured out a way to kill himself that is faster, easier, and more difficult to thwart. I fear that other suicidally minded airline pilots might be inspired to copy him, putting the flying public at risk.Helping me to understand the phenomenon of pilot murder-suicide is Dr Alpo Vuorio of the University of Helsinki, who co-authored a 2023 paper in the journal "Safety" entitled "Commercial Aircraft-Assisted Suicide Accident Investigations Re-Visited—Agreeing to Disagree?" You can find the paper here: https://www.mdpi.com/2313-576X/9/1/17 Get full access to Finding MH370 at www.deepdivemh370.com/subscribe
So far we’ve been focused on the physical and electronic evidence left behind by whoever took MH370. But there’s also a lot we can infer about the psychology of those who did the deed based on the actions that they carried out. In today’s episode, we zoom in five segments of the disappearance and discuss how they can help us narrow down the list of possible perpetrators. Get full access to Finding MH370 at www.deepdivemh370.com/subscribe
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The Blind Spot [S2Ep36 audio]
As we wait for the seabed search for MH370’s wreckage to restart, it’s worth taking the time to reflect about what we’ve learned from the search thus far, and what future scanning will tell us about the plane’s likely fate. Under the principles of Bayesian inference, the more of the seabed is searched without the plane’s wreckage being discovered, the greater the probability becomes that the plane simply isn’t there at all. But there’s an escape hatch to this logic: according to an idea called Cromwell’s Rule, the probability will not change so long as we are 100 percent confidant in the proposition that the plane is somewhere in the ocean. In today’s episode whether such confidence is merited, or whether the widespread refusal to consider an alternative is due to a mental blockage or blind spot. I also discuss my new feature article in Vanity Fair magazine about mounting concerns about cyber attacks against airliners around the world — and now, for the first time, in the United States. Get full access to Finding MH370 at www.deepdivemh370.com/subscribe
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Seabed Search Suspended
Trying to understand what’s going on with the latest seabed search for MH370 is like reading tea leaves. Neither the Malaysian government, which is responsible for solving the mystery, nor Ocean Infinity, the marine survey company looking for the plane, has been very forthcoming about what they’re doing. So it was a nice change of pace when the Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke stood up at a press conference on April 2, 2025, and dropped two important pieces of information in quick succession. The good news was that Malaysia and Ocean Infinity has finally signed a contract for the search, under which Malaysia will pay $70 million if the plane’s wreckage is found. The bad news was that the search, which had been moving along at a brisk pace in previous weeks, would be suspended until the end of the year. To make sense of what is really going on, I turned to the person who has proven to be the best-sourced observer of the seabed search, Kevin Rupp, who shares marine tracking data and other insights on his Facebook page, Ocean Infinity News and Updates. In today’s episode Kevin reveals what was behind the decision to pause the search and what likely lies ahead. Get full access to Finding MH370 at www.deepdivemh370.com/subscribe
Ireland