In Episode 5, we discussed how MH370's captain might have planned an elaborate murder/suicide in a way that would create the body of evidence we have today. In this episode, we re-run the exercise from a different perspective, guessing at the methods and motivations of a Advanced Persistant Threat actor.

In 2011, the US was flying one of its most advanced drones over Iran when they lost control. To their shock and embarrassment, they came to realize that the Iranians had used Russian electronic warfare technology to take over control of its navigation system. They seized the drone, decrypted its secrets, and reverse-engineered its technology to build their own version. It was a painful lesson — but have we learned it well enough to avoid such catastrophes in the future?

A new paper published by a researcher at Cardiff University in the UK explores whether the hydrophone network maintained by a nuclear test-ban monitor should have detected the ocean crash of MH370, and analyses the signal that seems to be the most likely to have come from the missing plane.

Whoever took MH370 did so in a lightning coup de main that showed decisiveness and a sophisticated knowledge of airspace, air traffic control procedure, and avionics. Formulating the plan would have required substantial planning. In today's episode, we explore how the plane's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, might have laid the groundwork for such an operation. (In a future episode we'll look at how hijackers outside the cockpit might have laid their plans.) I'm extremely fortunate to be joined by the experienced 777 captain and prolific YouTuber Ron Rogers, who makes videos about a wide range of aviation topics, including classic aircraft and his own contemporary flying adventure.

This is the audio version of the episode 4 of the Finding MH370 podcast

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An interview with foreign affairs journalist Melik Kaylan

Who was Nikolai Brodsky, and why was he on MH370?

Welcome to the new season of the world’s only in-depth podcast about the disappearance of MH370. For the full show notes, click here.