Mystery deepens as Malaysia MH370 recalls earlier ‘ghost’ flights

Mar 13, 2013 (LBO) - The mystery over a missing Malaysia Airline flight has deepened with reports that it may have been airborne for hours, recalling earlier 'ghost flight' events with no communications.



In 2004, A Beechcraft 200 Super King Air left Perth on a 600 kilometre journey and eventually flew 2,840 kilometres before crashing in Queensland.

Ground control had communicated with the pilot for several minutes as his speech got slurred and eventually lost consciousness.

The flight MH370 was operated using a Boeing 777 aircraft which was 11 years old.

The US Federal Aviation Administration had issued a directive on September 2013 that Boeing 777 aircraft could develop on the fuselage skin, "which could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the airplane," agency reports said.

A final directive was issued March 5, three days before the Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared.

The FAA directive is to take effect April 9.

Aviation industry analysts had previously drawn parallels between MH370 and Air France AF447, a Airbus A330 which disappeared on route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, after it became known that the missing Malaysian plane had changed directio