A fresh analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 suggests no one was controlling the plane when it plunged into the ocean, according to a report released by investigators on Wednesday, as experts hunting for the aircraft gathered in Australia's capital to discuss the fading search effort.

A technical report released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which leads the search, seems to support the theory investigators have long favored: that no one was at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel and dove at high speed into a remote patch of the Indian Ocean off western Australia in 2014.

In recent months, critics have increasingly been pushing the alternate theory that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the aircraft could have glided much farther, tripling in size the possible area where it could have crashed and further complicating the already hugely complex effort to find it.

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But Wednesday's report shows that the latest analysis of satellite data is consistent with the plane being in a "high and increasing rate of descent" in its final moments. The report also said that an analysis of a wing flap that washed ashore in Tanzania indicates the flap was likely not deployed when it broke off the plane. A pilot would typically extend the flaps during a controlled ditching.

Peter Foley, the bureau's director of Flight 370 search operations, has previously said that if the flap was not deployed, it would almost certainly rule out the theory that the plane entered the water in a controlled ditch and would effectively validate that searchers are looking in the right place for the wreckage.

"(It) means the aircraft wasn't configured for a landing or a ditching — you can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control," Foley told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "You can never be 100 percent. We are very reluctant to express absolute certainty."

The report's release comes as a team of international and Australian experts begin a three-day summit in Canberra to re-examine all the data associated with the hunt for the plane, which vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

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More than 20 items of debris suspected or confirmed to be from the plane have washed ashore on coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean. But a deep-sea sonar search for the main underwater wreckage has found nothing. Crews are expect to complete their sweep of the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone by early next year and officials have said there are no plans to extend the hunt unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said experts involved in this week's summit will be working on guidance for any potential future search operations.

Experts have been preemptively trying to define a new search area by studying where in the Indian Ocean the first piece of wreckage recovered from the plane — a wing flap known as a flaperon — most likely drifted from after the plane crashed.

Several replica flaperons were set adrift to see whether it is the wind or the currents that primarily affect how they move across the water. The results of that experiment have been factored into a fresh drift analysis of the debris. The preliminary results of that analysis, published in Wednesday's report, suggest the debris may have originated in the current search area, or to its north. The transport bureau cautioned that the analysis is ongoing and those results are likely to be refined.</s>SYDNEY, Australia — A fresh analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 suggests no one was controlling the plane when it plane plunged into the ocean.

The new analysis comes in a technical report released Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The report seems to support the theory investigators have long — that no one was at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel and plunged at high speed into a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast in 2014.

In recent months, critics have increasingly been pushing the alternate theory that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the aircraft could have glided much farther.</s>(CNN) Missing plane Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was plunging toward the sea with no one in control when it made its last satellite communication, new analysis reveals.

A report released Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau provided the clearest picture yet of the plane's final moments in March 2014.

"Additional analysis (of) the final satellite communications to and from the aircraft is consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent at that time," the report said.

"Additionally, the wing flap debris analysis reduced the likelihood of end-of-flight scenarios involving flap deployment."

According to end of flight simulations run by the Australian bureau, the plane was spiraling in its final moments, descending at up to 25,000 feet per minute (284 mph).

"Therefore there was no way this airplane was being flown by anyone. It was out of control, ran out of fuel and spiraled into the sea at high speed."

The magazine quoted a leaked document from an FBI investigation that showed deleted files had been recovered from Zaharie's home-built flight simulator.

They reportedly revealed he had plotted a course into the deep southern Indian Ocean -- a course that closely matched the final flight MH370 is thought to have taken. Investigators said the simulator files had been created just weeks before the jet disappeared, according to the document.

The confidential document, whose contents were not independently confirmed by CNN, summarized the Malaysian police investigation into Zaharie.

In an email to CNN that same month, Joint Agency Coordination Center spokesman Scott Mashford said, "The MH370 captain's flight simulator showed someone had plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean." The Australian agency is directing the search for MH370.

Mashford did not elaborate on who may have plotted the route.

In August, Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that Zaharie's personal flight simulator had practiced routes over the Indian Ocean, according to Malaysia's Bernama state news agency.

But the minister added there was no evidence to prove that Zaharie had piloted the aircraft to the southern Indian Ocean, Bernama reported, saying "the simulator was used by the pilot for trial and error in many areas. There are thousands of simulations to many destinations."

So far, 110,000 square kilometers (42,000 square miles) have been covered as part of the underwater search for MH370, with the hunt currently due to conclude at 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles).

"Where they're looking is still the area where everyone agrees that's where the plane is," aviation expert Thomas said, adding there were slight disagreements in opinion.

"(But) we're only talking about small increments -- just variations as to exactly, precisely where it could be."

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said at a press conference Wednesday the new report confirmed that search crews had been combing the right area.

"To have not found the aircraft at this stage is frustrating for everyone involved and particularly for the families of the passengers and crew," Chester said.

The report came as officials from Malaysia, China and Australia and experts from the United States and United Kingdom met in Canberra, Australia, to discuss the ongoing search.

"They are reviewing all the available data and associated analysis, assumptions and modeling undertaken to inform the definition of the search area," Australian Transport Safety Bureau communication officer Dan O'Malley told CNN on Wednesday.

Thomas said there had been suggestions the meeting may decide to extend the search for MH370 beyond the current search zone.

"It's an opportunity to gather the experts from around the world to look at the available information, to exchange ideas," Chester said. "It's an opportunity for just a full assessment of how the underwater search is being carried out and a reassessment."

The meeting is due to run until Friday.</s>SYDNEY: Missing Malaysian Air flight MH370 appeared to be out of control when it plunged into the ocean, with the wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said yesterday.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the plane’s final satellite communications were “consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent” when it vanished.

Analysis of the right outboard flap – which was found off Tanzania – showed it was “most likely in the retracted position at the time it separated from the wing”, suggesting the plane was not configured for landing before it smashed into the ocean.

The bureau noted that the width of the defined search area was appropriate “to encompass all uncontrolled descent scenarios from the simulations”.

“This report contains important new information on what we believe happened at the end of MH370’s flight,” Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said at the start of a three-day meeting in Canberra where experts will plan the final stages of the search.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Despite a massive underwater hunt far off Western Australia’s coast, no trace of the jet has been found.

Investigators have however confirmed that three pieces of debris recovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines came from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometres of a 120,000-square-kilometre search arc have been scoured so far and the operation is due to wrap up in early 2017.

The findings of the ATSB’s new report, which analysed satellite data, end-of-flight simulations, recovered sections of the plane and debris drift modelling, confirm extensive testing by US manufacturer Boeing and the Australian defence department.

Experts at the meeting will “review all the available data and analysis associated with the search to date”, Chester said in a statement.

Their findings will “inform the remainder of the search effort, and develop guidance for any future search operations.” — AFP

“There are currently more than 20 items of debris of interest to the investigation team which have been located on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, the island of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues,” he added.

Ongoing drift analysis also suggested the search was in the right place, the ATSB said, noting it was “unlikely debris originated south of the current search area.

“The northernmost regions were also found to be less likely,” it added.

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China, where most of the passengers were from, this year agreed to pull the plug on the operation once the search area was fully scoured unless “credible new information” emerged. – AFP</s>A report into missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by the Australian safety investigator leading the search supports its view that the aircraft descended rapidly after running out of fuel with no human intervention, the agency said on Wednesday.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers and crew onboard in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report released on Wednesday said analysis of wing flap debris showed the aircraft was not configured for a landing.

It also said satellite communications from the aircraft were consistent with it being in a “high and increasing rate of descent” when it vanished, colloquially known as a death dive.

The 28-page report contains new end-of-flight and drift simulations that suggests experts believe the current search area is the most likely to contain the crash site. It coincides with the start of a three-day meeting of international experts to develop potential plans to continue the search.

ATSB search director Peter Foley told media on Wednesday that analysis of a wing flap had “enhanced certainty” at what had happened.

“It was probably in a non-extended position which means the aircraft wasn’t configured for a landing or a ditching,” said Foley, referring to the practice of extending wing flaps to allow an aircraft to travel safely at slower speeds in preparation for a landing.

“You can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control or not.”

The question of whether there was human intervention during the descent is crucial because if the aircraft glided, the debris field could be outside the 120,000 sq km (46,330 sq mile) search zone which has almost been exhausted.

Authorities assume the plane had no “inputs” during its final descent, meaning there was no pilot or no conscious pilot. They believe it was on auto-pilot and spiralled when it ran out of fuel.

But the engineering group leading the search, Fugro, has previously raised the prospect someone could have glided the aircraft to explain why it hasn’t been found.

Jason Middleton, head of aviation at the University of New South Wales, said the wing flap analysis was of limited benefit.

“It meant the pilot was not alert, awake or planning a safe landing – that’s all it means,” Middleton told Reuters.

He said the new drift simulations only showed the aircraft was “in that generic part of the ocean” that is being searched and did not help define a new search area in the Indian Ocean.

In a separate development, a lawyer for the families of four Australian victims told Reuters that Malaysia Airlines had agreed to release information about the missing plane as part of a compensation case.

John Dawson, a partner at Carneys Lawyers, said he had been advised he would receive the information by the end of the month. The information is to include the most recent medical certificates held by the flight crew. – AFP</s>SYDNEY: Flight MH370 was likely out of control when it plunged into the ocean with its wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said Wednesday, casting doubt on theories a pilot was still in charge.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the plane’s final satellite communications were “consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent” when it vanished.

Analysis of the right outboard flap—which was found off Tanzania—showed it was “most likely in the retracted position”, suggesting the plane was not configured for landing before it smashed into the ocean.

The new finding casts doubt on theories proposed by some analysts that a pilot had been flying the plane when it landed in the sea.

“You can draw your own conclusions,” the ATSB’s head of MH370 search operations Peter Foley told reporters, adding that the new findings showed “we’re looking for an aircraft that’s actually quite close to the seventh arc.”

The search zone—defined under the “most likely” scenario that no one was at the controls as the jet ran out of fuel—is a thin, long stretch of water within the so-called seventh arc, where the plane was calculated to have emitted a final satellite “handshake” showing its location.

“This report contains important new information on what we believe happened at the end of MH370’s flight,” Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said at the start of a three-day meeting in Canberra where experts will plan the final stages of the search.

Despite a massive underwater hunt far off Western Australia’s coast, no trace of the jet has been found.

Investigators have however confirmed that three pieces of debris recovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines came from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometers (42,470 square miles) of a 120,000-square-kilometer search arc have been scoured so far and the operation is due to wrap up in early 2017.

Experts at this week’s meeting will “review all the available data and analysis associated with the search to date,” Chester said in a statement.

Their findings will “inform the remainder of the search effort, and develop guidance for any future search operations.”

“There are currently more than 20 items of debris of interest to the investigation team which have been located on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, the islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues,” he added.

Ongoing drift analysis also suggested the search focused on the right place, the ATSB said, noting it was “unlikely debris originated south of the current search area.

“The northernmost regions were also found to be less likely,” it added.

Chester said he remained hopeful the vanished jet would be found within the current search area, but he added that the challenging hunt has “tested the limits of human engineering excellence and technical capacity, and it has been an historic effort.”

“We are searching in the right area, but the degree of difficulty is something we all need to understand,” the minister told reporters.

“We’re talking about searching sections of the ocean which are four to six kilometers deep, with canyons and ravines. It is an extremely difficult and complex search.”

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China, where most of the passengers were from, this year agreed to pull the plug on the operation once the search area was fully scoured unless “credible new information” emerged. AFP</s>The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the search for MH370, said additional analysis of wing flap debris found the aircraft was not configured for a landing.

Both pieces of information support the agency's long-held view that an unpiloted MH370 descended rapidly after running out of fuel with no human intervention.

The 28-page report released on Wednesday, containing new end-of-flight and drift simulations, coincides with the start of a three-day meeting of international experts to develop potential plans to continue the search for MH370.

The Boeing 777 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, sparking a two-and-a-half year search that has focused on the Indian Ocean.

Authorities from Malaysia, Australia and China initially expected to finish searching a 120,000 sq km (46,000 sq mile) target area by the end of 2016, but bad weather has delayed the probe by another two months.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester, who is chairing the Canberra meeting of experts, said the group would review all available data and analysis associated with the search.

"The experts will also inform the remainder of the search effort and develop guidance for any future search operations," Chester said in a statement.

The ATSB report suggests that experts believe the current search area is the most likely to contain the crash site.

In a separate development, a lawyer for the families of four Australian victims told Reuters that Malaysia Airlines has agreed to release information about the missing plane as part of a compensation case.

John Dawson, a partner at Carneys Lawyers, said he had been advised he would receive the information by the end of the month. The information is to include medical certificates held by the flight crew.
New analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau suggests that no-one was controlling Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as it plunged into the southern Indian Ocean in 2014.