False News/MH370 Landed in Pakistan
False News: MH370 'Landed in Pakistan'
One of the factors that suggests that a false news item is credible, is the reputation of the person promoting it.
In this case, the belief that flight MH370 was diverted to, and landed safely in, Pakistan was promoted by retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney.
USAF Lt. General McInerney, a frequent guest on Fox News, based his belief on another credible source known as LIGNET - the Langley Intelligence Group Network.
LIGNET's analysis was initially an interpretation of an article published by The Independent (UK), supplemented by misinformation attributed to engineers at Boeing and statements made by Lt. Gen. McInerney.
Both Pakistan and Boeing refuted the inferences in the articles. McInerney presumable maintained his beliefs until a flaperon was discovered in July 2015 - the first tangible evidence that flight MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.
The Independent 16 March 2014
Extracts from an article published by The Independent (UK) are quoted below.
Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Did jetliner fly into area controlled by Taliban? Net widens after claims final satellite signal could have been sent from the ground Pilots’ homes searched as number of countries involved in search rises to 25
Sunday 16 March 2014 21:32 GMT
The missing Malaysian airlines flight MH370 may have been deliberately flown under the radar to Taliban-controlled bases on the border of Afghanistan, it has emerged, as authorities said that the final message sent from the cockpit came after one of the jet's communications systems had already been switched off.
Eight days after the Boeing 777 vanished, The Independent has learnt that Malaysian authorities are seeking diplomatic permission to investigate a theory that the plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the Afghan border in North West Pakistan.
. . .
At least 25 countries are now assisting in the search for the plane, intensifying challenges of co-ordinating ground, sea and aerial efforts. Countries known to be involved include Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, with special assistance regarding satellite data requested from the US, China and France.
. . .
Last night sources in Kuala Lumpur assisting with the investigation told The Independent that full diplomatic permissions were being sought in order to rule out the theory that the plane could have flown to areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan that are not under government control.
Large areas of the southern half of Afghanistan are ruled by the Afghan Taliban, while some areas of north-west Pakistan, adjacent to or near to the Afghan border, are controlled by the Pakistani Taliban.
A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines said: “These are matters for the jurisdiction of those regions and Malaysia’s armed forces and department of civil aviation. In regard to Pakistan and Afghanistan, we cannot explore those theories without permission. We hope to have that soon.”
For a commercial plane to pass undetected through these regions, which are highly militarised with robust air defence networks, many run by the US military, would require a combination of extremely sophisticated navigation, brazen audacity and security failure by those monitoring international airspace. However, with so little known about the fate of the plane, and the investigation growing in scale every day, it is yet another line of enquiry that remains impossible to rule out. On Sunday Pakistani civil aviation officials said they had checked their radar recordings and found no sign of the missing jet.
. . .
Officials urged reporters not to jump to conclusions on the pilot and co-pilot, who they said had not asked to work together that day, and had not requested additional fuel for the aircraft.
Reuters reported police had said their inquiries had found no links between Captain Shah and any militant group.
Source: The Independent, 16 March 2014 INDUK-009
Note: Pakistan officially stated that their radar did not detect the missing aircraft.
LIGNET 19 March 2014
The Langley Intelligence Group Network (LIGNET) published a version of The Independent story, adding 'confirmation' from an un-named source at Boeing, and quoted Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney (retired) who frequently stated his belief that the aircraft landed in Pakistan via media such as Fox News, together with his fear that it may be used as a WMD (weapon of mass destruction).
Boeing Source: Missing Plane in Pakistan
March 19, 2014|| Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa
The Malaysian government reportedly is investigating the possibility that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 avoided radar detection and landed in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border inside Taliban-controlled territory, according to the UK Independent . . . investigators confiscated a homemade flight simulator from the pilot’s home to see if it reveals any useful information . . . the Malaysian foreign minister told reporters that Malaysia asked several Asian countries for assistance in its investigation, including Pakistan . . . Pakistan dismissed the idea that a Boeing 777 could land undetected inside the country but promised to work with the Malaysian government in its search for the missing plane . . . Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority stood by the government’s denial that Flight 370 was in Pakistan, saying Tuesday that “we have checked the radar recording for the period but found no clue about the ill-fated flight” . . . retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday and again on Tuesday that his connections have led him to believe that Flight 370 landed in Pakistan with the help of the flight’s two pilots . . . McInerney said, “When the U.S. Navy quits their search, their ship search, they must know something in the Indian Ocean. When the Israeli Defense Forces, when they increase their defense alert, they must know something” . . . a LIGNET analyst received information from a source at Boeing that the company believes the plane did land in Pakistan . . . Boeing spokesman Sean McCormack denied that Wednesday, telling LIGNET that “the Boeing Company does not have information that substantiates your claim” . . . Israel is taking the possibility of a terrorist attack seriously by mobilizing air defenses and giving extra scrutiny to approaching civilian aircraft, according to the Times of Israel . . . a Boeing 777 requires a lengthy, 7,500-foot runway, and Pakistan has many of them, meaning Flight 370 could conceivably be hidden in a hangar inside the country . . . U.S. surveillance of the area may be able to shed light on the theory through satellite imagery or signal intelligence.
Source: Langley Intelligence Group Network (LIGNET), 19 March 2014
LIGNET-012
(Emphasis in original source changed from bold to italic)
Note: Although the headline claims that the 'Missing Plane [is] in Pakistan', the article content includes contrary data from both Pakistan and Boeing.
LIGNET 21 March 2014
LIGNET published a 'full analysis' on 21 March 2014 but that is not available. An archived summary or introduction is reproduced here:-
Why Some Insiders Think Missing Plane Landed in Pakistan
As the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 drags on without a trace of wreckage at sea, the likelihood of foul play looms larger. One country keeps rising to the top of the list of suspects: Pakistan.
Ten days after the flight vanished, LIGNET learned that engineers at Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, believed the missing aircraft was on the ground in Pakistan. For several reasons, including al-Qaeda’s presence there, historical attack patterns, corruption, weakness and terrorist sympathies at the highest levels inside Pakistan, that hunch may be right.
The absence of wreckage suggests a planned diversion, the kidnapping of 230 passengers and obvious ill intent. If Flight 370 has indeed fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement potentially are engaged in a race against time to find the aircraft before it is used in a terror attack to rival 9/11.
Source: Langley Intelligence Group Network (LIGNET), 21 March 2014 LIGNET-014
Notes: This article refers specifically to al-Qaeda; the previous articles refer only to Taliban-controlled areas. The possibility that MH370 landed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or any other country on the Northern Arc remained credible to people who did not accept Inmarsat's analysis and the Official belief that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. The discovery of a flaperon on Réunion Island on 29 July 2015 finally put an end to the 'northern arc' theories and false news stories.
Conclusion
This article illustrates how information can be interpreted and promoted with additional information that cannot be verified and publicised by a respected person to imply credibility. But it was clearly misinformation.
Unlike a similar claim that MH370 landed in Afghanistan, however, this story does not contain fabricated details generated as a fake news item.