Investigators probing the disappearance of Flight MH370 have discovered possible new evidence of tampering with the plane’s cockpit equipment which experts believe could be part of an attempt to avoid radar detection.

A report released by Australian air crash investigators shows that the missing Boeing 777 suffered a mysterious power outage during the early stages of its flight, The Telegraph reported.

The plane’s satellite data unit made an unexpected “log-on” request to a satellite less than 90 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, according to the report.

The report says the log—on request — known as a “handshake” — appears likely to have been caused by an interruption of electrical power on board the plane, which experts believe could be part of an attempt to avoid radar detection.

David Gleave, an aviation safety expert from Loughborough University, said the interruption to the power supply appeared to be the result of someone in the cockpit attempting to minimise the use of the aircraft’s systems.

The action, he said, was consistent with an attempt to turn the plane’s communications and other systems off in an attempt to avoid radar detection.

“A person could be messing around in the cockpit which would lead to a power interruption,” he was quoted as saying.

“It could be a deliberate act to switch off both engines for some time. By messing about within the cockpit you could switch off the power temporarily and switch it on again when you need the other systems to fly the aeroplane,” Gleave said.

Inmarsat, the company that officially analysed flight data from MH370, has confirmed the assessment but says it does not know why the aircraft experienced a power failure. .

“It does appear there was a power failure on those two occasions,” Chris McLaughlin, from Inmarsat, told the daily.

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