The Case of the Missing Flight (Continued)

Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200ER

If you’ve been paying attention, I promised you last Wednesday that I would tell you how I found out about the Malaysian Airlines hoax from last month. So, here’s the story. You’ll remember that halfway to Malaysia, I realized that Rick had given me a one-way ticket at about the same time I remembered a relatively secret airline policy. Naturally, my reaction caused quite a scene on the plane and I was detained as soon as we landed. I swear it wasn’t my fault. After everything I’ve seen since coming to work for Rick, I really do qualify for PTSD. So then, after the very large man with the very thick fingers and the oversized ring made sure I didn’t have any dangerous materials on or in my person, I was released to investigate the disappearance of flight 370.

My first stop was at the Malaysian Airlines counter where a friendly young woman instructed me to speak with their corporate offices concerning the missing plane. I had planned to do that anyway, but I continued to walk around the airport for a while, trying to get someone to talk to me about it. Now I know that many of you are not investigators or reporters, but all of you should know that when something this major happens, it is human nature for at least one person to gossip about it. I couldn’t get anyone to even venture a theory or rumor. Yeah, that’s what I though too, a big red flag.

The truth is I couldn’t get anyone to answer a question about the flight that wasn’t already plastered on mainstream news outlets all over the world. That is, until I got to Malaysian Airlines corporate office on the third floor of Administration Building A at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor, in Kuala Lumpur. After getting the pull press packet and basic bum rush from the administrators of the airline, I ran into a charming young man who was just coming to work. Apparently his house was underground somewhere because when I asked him what he thought about the missing airliner, he looked at me like I sprouted a second head.

The young man, it turned out was Yusuf Yahiya, the son of managing director Ahmad Yahiya. He asked me which of their planes disappeared and I told him. His relief was palpable.

“I was worried,” he said. “I thought you meant one of our planes had gone missing.”

“Oh?” I asked. “You don’t work for Malaysian Airlines?”

“Of course I do,” he said. “But we don’t have a plane designated 370.” I figured that I might have gotten the numbers wrong, so I asked about 307. “No,” he said. “What kind of plane was it?”

“A B-777,” I answered, meaning Boeing 777.

“Well, that’s impossible,” he said. “All of our 777s are grounded pending safety inspections. We’re about to phase them out and if they meet criteria, we’re going to be selling all 13 of them.”

Ah-ha. I convinced the young Mr. Yahiya to allow me to accompany him to his office before he reported to his father and we looked up the suspect plane’s pertinent information. According to Yusuf’s records Malaysian Airlines only had 13 Boeing 777s and all were indeed grounded. They had one scheduled flight out of Kuala Lumpor on the 8^th heading to Beijing. It was their 747 cargo jet. Interesting. It landed on schedule with no problems. Very interesting.

He did a quick search and found all kinds of information about the presumed missing flight and was flabbergasted that the world thought that this was one of his planes. We looked over the details of the proposed flight plan and the route the missing plane appeared to have taken. Yusuf couldn’t figure out why a flight that should have been direct north by northeast was reported as being last seen almost directly west of where it allegedly took off.

I had an idea and thanked Yusuf for his help. I made sure that if he found anything, he should call me as soon as possible. I left Administration Building A and headed back to the airport. It took some work, and not just a little of Rick’s budget for me to talk myself into the tower to talk to the pros. It took me even more of Rick’s budget to get just one of the pros to talk to me.

I found out that the flight that disappeared really was flight 370 from Malaysian Airlines, but it didn’t actually disappear. The guy I talked to, who shall remain anonymous per his request, told me that someone from a television production company asked for the records to be altered to show the flight had disappeared. He showed me the original records and then the modified ones. After I bought the name of the producer that hired him, I left the tower.

I followed my little trail until I got to the offices of ABNxess, a Malaysian television network. They somehow got the impression that I was an intelligence officer from the CIA and their concern for their own safety got me the whole story. I confirmed that ABNxess and the television producers Andaman Television, from Malaysia and T.K. Watson from Australia actually leased one of the soon to be phased out 777s from Malaysian Airlines to transport cast and crew of a new television program which will film semi-live once a week for the next 25 weeks.

The television show is what ABNxess refers to as a cross between Survivor and Lost, which is where they got the title of the show, Malay Lost. The film crew will follow the cast members in an unscripted journey of survival on an uninhabited island just off the coast of Australia. The premise is that the cast of 20 are survivors of a plane crash and must use their wits and each other to survive the elements. Of course the plane never really crashed but according to Andaman, everything that happens afterward is real.

In the weeks since Bloid News broke the story, we have repeatedly attempted to contact producers to see if the show will ever air in the United States, but as yet, we have had no response. Malaysian viewers have enjoyed two episodes so far and Australian viewers will begin seeing it on their own televisions in mid-May.