INVESTIGATORS believe someone in the cockpit of MH370 turned on the plane’s autopilot before it disappeared, as Australian search chiefs announced a new phase in the hunt for the missing airliner.

Transport Minister Warren Truss said it was “highly, highly likely” the missing Malaysian Airlines flight was on autopilot when it crashed into the southern Indian Ocean on March 8, becoming the “greatest aviation mystery in global history”.



The revelation that autopilot was activated raises further suspicion the plane’s disappearance was a mass atrocity committed by either the captain or copilot of the plane.

And investigators had yet another revelation, telling reporters it is believed the missing jet likely plunged into the ocean further south than the current search area.

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The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan explained that MH370’s “highest probability flight path” was a straight course such as one flown by an aircraft on autopilot.

Mr Dolan said there were several possible scenarios but the “basic assumption” was that autopilot had to be switched on.

“It’s generally expected that if the autopilot is operational that’s a result of it being made operational,” he said.

The theory is consistent with reports that an official police investigation into the mystery identified the captain as the prime suspect if it is proven human intervention was involved.

Reports this month said Captain Zaharie Shah had become the focus of the special investigation in Malaysia after all other passengers were cleared of any suspicious motives.

Authorities have not been able to assess the exact point at which autopilot was turned on, but believe the Boeing 777 was operating on autopilot from the 1st arc — shortly after MH370 turned south past the tip of Sumatra — to the 7th arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

This came as Mr Truss announced the hunt for MH370 would return to the original search area, but would this time scour underwater.

An expert satellite working group has reviewed all existing information in order to define a search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres along the arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

“The new priority area is still focused on the seventh arc where the aircraft last communicated with satellites,” Mr Truss said.

“We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc based on these calculations.”

The new area is around 1,800 kilometres west of Perth and had previously been subject to an aerial search, which found no debris.

Until now, the most intensive search had been with a mini-submarine in an area further north, where pings believed to be from the plane’s black box were detected.

The area has now been ruled out as the final resting place of MH370. The source of the noises is unknown.

Flight MH370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

The Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, is believed to have veered far off course and crashed into the southern Indian Ocean but an extensive search in a remote stretch of ocean off Western Australia has found no trace.

A bathymetric survey — or mapping of the ocean floor — continues and will be followed by a comprehensive search of the sea floor from August, which could take up to 12 months.

Meanwhile Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has replaced Hishammuddin Hussein as transport minister.

Hishammuddin led the nation’s search effort which was plagued by misinformation, false leads and expensive mistakes.

Mr Razak said in a widely-expected announcement that Liow Tiong Lai, a former health minister and president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), would helm the transport ministry.

Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, provisionally held the transport portfolio after the post was left vacant following elections a year ago.

Angry relatives of those aboard have accused Malaysia’s national carrier and the government of doing too little and of hiding information.