The only trace of MH370 has been a flaperon found on the French island of Réunion last July

The Australian team leading the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is preparing to revive the theory that the plane was deliberately brought down by a rogue pilot if, as feared, its search in the Indian Ocean ends in failure.

The move would send shockwaves through the aviation industry because until now the searchers, supported by Boeing, the manufacturer, and Britain’s Inmarsat satellite communication company, have been working on the hypothesis that MH370 became a ghost flight, its pilots incapacitated or dead and that the 777 flew on on autopilot, crashing only when its fuel ran out.

Searchers from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) have spent almost a year scouring a 46,000-square mile area of the Indian Ocean floor where they calculate