South African link in missing

South African link in missing Malaysian Airlines investigation

The investigation into the whereabouts of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 continues, as the co-pilot’s character assessment leaves a trail leading to South Africa

South African link in missing
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Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid (right) pictured with the two South African tourists from the 2011 flight

THE co-pilot of the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft, which is assumed to have crashed into the Gulf of Thailand last week, was exposed for previously having broken several aviation security guidelines and rules – according to a statement made by a South African tourist, who travelled on one of his flights in 2011.

Jonti Roos told a television programme that she and her friend Jaan Maree were travelling from the island of Phuket to Kuala Lumpur in December that year, when co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid broke airline protocol and invited the two teenage girls over to spend the entire flight with him and the captain in the cockpit. International aviation guidelines have strictly been prohibiting passengers from entering the cockpit since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Roos also shared that then-25-year-old Mr Hamid was smoking cigarettes for the entire duration of the one-hour journey along with the captain, leaving the bulk of the flight to be completed by autopilot and contravening aviation standards with regard to smoking prohibitions. Photographs taken inside the cockpit with the two tourists and Mr Hamid implicate the co-pilot’s lax attitude toward security measures.

“Throughout the entire flight they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight which I don’t think they’re allowed to do. At one stage they were pretty much turned around the whole time in their seats talking to us,” Roos shared on an Australian television show.

Malaysian Airlines issued a statement in response to Roos’s claims, saying that the airline “has become aware of the allegations being made against First Officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, which we take very seriously. We are shocked by these allegations. We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident.”

The search for the missing jet-liner continues, as investigators are assessing potential causes for the incident ranging from terrorism to pilot suicide. The revelations about Hamid’s personality may be helpful when assessing whether psychological disturbances on part of any crew member may have led to any kind of foul play causing a crash.

Fariq Abdul Hamid is reported to have been employed by Malaysian Airlines since 2007, having clocked over 2,700 flight hours with the country’s flag carrier. The captain, under whom Hamid was serving on-board flight MH370, had been with the airline for 32 years, having completed more than 18,000 hours of flight experience.

By Sertan Sanderson, 2014