Pilots, passengers of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 under scrutiny
The cruel reality is that every one of the 239 people on board is both a possible victim and a possible suspect -- until proven otherwise. Already, some passengers and the pilots have fallen under increased scrutiny, and more are likely to come into focus as the search for answers continues. "You have to look at everybody that got onto that plane," Bill Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI in New York, told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" on Monday, Kazinform quotes CNN. "You can start peeling the onion there by eliminating some of the people immediately -- you know, like children, and maybe very elderly people, or infirmed people. You might be able to eliminate those folks. "But, by the same token, you really have to look through the whole category of people that are on the plane," he said. Here's what we have so far about some of the people investigators want to know more about: Malaysia's Prime Minister has said that somebody deliberately steered the plane off course. That means the pilots have become one obvious area of focus. On Saturday, Malaysian police searched Zaharie's home.The 53-year-old pilot and father of three lives in an upscale, gated community in Shah Alam, outside Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian police said Sunday they were still investigating a flight simulator seized from that house. It's somewhat common among aviation enthusiasts to use online flight simulator programs to replicate various situations. The pilot's political beliefs have also being questioned. Zaharie is a public supporter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Just hours before the flight took off, a court ordered Anwar to prison on charges of sodomy, a sentence the opposition leader says is a political vendetta. Despite the timing of the decision, there is no evidence to tie the plane's disappearance to the pilot or his politics. "He likely was upset at the verdict that had just been announced several hours before he boarded the aircraft, but to down an airline because of that I think at this point is pure conjecture. Again, I would take any of these accusations with a huge grain of salt," RAND Corporation's Seth Jones told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." Peter Chong, a friend of Zaharie's, similarly said it's unfair to imply the pilot had anything to do with what happened to the plane. He said he'd been to Zaharie's house and tried out the flight simulator. "It's a reflection of his love for people," Chong said, "because he wants to share the joy of flying with his friends." Zaharie joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and has more than 18,000 flying hours. Read more
