The doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was taken on an emotional ‘ last farewell ’ fly-past of the pilot ’ s home island of Penang before being deliberately landed on the water and sinking intact thousands of miles away , according to a British pilot who claims to have identified its final resting place . The unusual overflying of Penang is ‘ perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator ’ he says . The theory of Simon Hardy , a senior Boeing 777 captain with a major commercial airline , has gained support from one of Britain ’ s top flight safety specialists , David Learmount of the respected Flight International magazine and flightglobal website . Scroll down for video . Missing : MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am on March 8 2014 for an approximate six-hour flight to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew . The unusual overflying of Penang , pictured , where the captain of the lost Boeing is from , is ‘ perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator ’ Captain Hardy spent six months analysing the flight data of the stricken aircraft , which disappeared almost a year ago with 239 people on board , in a bid to solve the mystery . He has concluded that the search in the vast Indian ocean being conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Board ( ATSB ) is about 100 nautical miles away from the where the aircraft actually is . He also believes the riddle of the aircraft ’ s odd dog-leg flight path immediately after take-off from Kuala Lumpar is down to the aircraft performing a final ‘ fly-past ’ of Malaysia ’ s Penang island to allow someone to have ‘ a last emotional look. ’ Captain Hardy notes from his research that the captain of the lost Boeing 777-200 , Zaharie Ahmad Shah , came from Penang , while First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was from Selangor . Details are reported in the Sunday Times . Captain Hardy says that after taking off from Kuala Lumpur at 16.41 GMT on March 7 last year , flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control at a point over the China Sea where four flight information regions intersect . The last verbal contact had been at 19.19 and the captain ’ s was the last voice heard . Captain Hardy said the flight did something ‘ quite remarkable ’ by flying in and out of the airspace of Malaysia and Thailand eight times noting : ’ I ’ ve never seen anything like that but it is a good way to cause confusion between the controllers. ’ The captain of the lost Boeing 777-200 , Zaharie Ahmad Shah , left , came from Penang , while First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was from Selangor , right . Missing : Searchers scouring huge swathes of the world 's oceans for the jet have so far found no sign of it . After flying along the border the passenger jet performed a sharp u-turn towards Penang , one of three turns made in quick succession . 'It took me months to work out what this was . 'The clue was Ayers Rock , ’ he said referring to the giant natural feature and landmark in the heart of Australia . ' I have done the same manoeuvre there , to look down and get a great view . Somebody was taking a last emotional look at Penang. ’ He explained : ’ I thought of this at 5am , went downstairs and researched where the air crew were from. ’ Noting that pilot Shah was from Penang while co-pilot Hamid was from Selangor , he said : ‘ Someone did a nice long turn and looked down on Penang . It ’ s perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator. ’ Military radar gave the last fix of the flight at 18.22 GMT heading South towards the navigation waypoint Anoko . It then flew straight for thousands of miles before , it is believed , ending up at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Australia . Australian investigators believe the plane crashed . But Captain Hardy believes it was deliberately landed on the water and then sank intact close to a trench in the sea – explaining why no wreckage has ever been found . Australian investigators said they had been in touch with Captain Hardy and described his theory as ‘ credible. ’ Flight magazine ’ s Mr Learmount said : ‘ Since Capt Simon Hardy revealed in Flightglobal/Flight International his calculations about where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is likely to have come to rest , the Australian Transport Safety Bureau – leading the MH370 search team – has spoken at length to him . ‘ Despite worldwide interest in his work , nobody – yet – has suggested his calculations are anything but logical and mathematically sound . ’
Theory of Simon Hardy , a senior Boeing 777 captain , has gained support from one of Britain ’ s top flight safety specialists . Overflying of Penang is ‘ perhaps the only clue to the perpetrator ’ he says . Captain Hardy spent six months analysing flight data of stricken aircraft . Concludes search in the Indian ocean being conducted is about 100 nautical miles away from the where the aircraft actually is .