Sydney: Flight MH370 was “highly likely” to have been on autopilot as it flew over the Indian Ocean, Australian officials said as they decided to focus further south to locate the plane that vanished over three months back.
After analysing data between the plane and a satellite, officials said MH370 was on autopilot before it disappeared on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.
“It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings,” Deputy PM Warren Truss said.
“We are confident that the aircraft was operating on autopilot until it ran out of fuel,” Martin Dolan of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
A map provided by the Australian government shows the new search area, marked in orange
