The westward turn that diverted the missing Malaysia airplane from its original path toward Beijing was carried out by a computer that was most likely programmed by someone in the plane's cockpit, senior U.S. officials tell The New York Times.

To alter the plane's path, it presumed that someone would have had to type seven or eight keystrokes into the computer system that sits between the captain and the first officer. It's not clear whether the turn west was programmed before or after the plan took off.

These revelations has increased the investigation's focus on the pilot and the co-pilot.

American officials and aviation experts told the Times that it's unlikely a passenger could have reprogrammed the system to divert the plane from its planned course, contrary to warnings by one British anti-terrorism expert of a "cyber hijacking."



Flight 370 had 239 people on board and has been missing for more than a week. So far, investigators have found no trace of it.

The plane could be anywhere within a 2,350-mile radius. If it flew southwest and crashed into the Indian Ocean, as is thought to be the most likely scenario, it could be nearly impossible to find.