Fariq Abdul Hamid

Some Lesser Known Facts About Fariq Abdul Hamid

• Fariq Abdul Hamid was a Malaysian pilot who disappeared along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March 2014. The flight was scheduled to travel from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport, however, it failed to reach its intended destination.

• After completing his aviation training at a flying training centre in Langkawi, Malaysia, Fariq joined Malaysia Airlines as a cadet pilot on 23 July 2007. He was later promoted to the position of Second Officer and was assigned to fly the Boeing 737-400 airliner as his first fleet posting. Fariq served the post until May 2010 and completed his type rating training.

• Fariq Abdul Hamid was promoted to First Officer in May 2010. He served as the First Officer of Boeing 737-400 till August 2012. Following this, he was transferred to the Airbus A330-300 and continued serving as a First Officer till November 2013. Fariq was assigned to Boeing 777-200, which became his final training flight.

• On 7 March 2014, Fariq Abdul Hamid signed in for duty at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. He was on board MH370 as the First Officer along with Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who was the Pilot-in-Command (PIC), on 8 March 2014. The flight was scheduled to travel to Beijing Capital International Airport, China; however, it never landed. Despite various attempts by the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre (KL ATCC) and Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control Centre (HCM ATCC), the aircraft could not be tracked, making the authorities speculate that it had disappeared.

• A search and rescue mission was launched in Southeast Asia shortly after the disappearance of MH370; however, when the communication between Flight 370 and the Inmarsat satellite was analysed, the search team was relocated to the Southern Indian Ocean.

• The search operation spanned across the Gulf of Thailand, where the plane’s radar was last detected, and the Andaman Sea, where the military signal last picked it up. Despite repeated search missions and an enormous expenditure of resources, the location of the plane and its passengers remained a mystery. The search for Flight MH370 and its 239 passengers on board, including 12 crew members, was one of the most expensive searches in aviation history.

• On 29 January 2015, the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was declared to be an accident and its 239 passengers, including 12 crew members, were declared to be presumed dead by the Government of Malaysia. The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Director-General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman announced this at a media conference and said,
  

  It is therefore, with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that, on behalf of the Government of Malaysia, we officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident in accordance with the Standards of Annexes 12 and 13 to the Chicago Convention and that all 239 of the passengers and crew on board MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives.” ^[4]CNN

  

• On 29 July 2015, some pieces of marine debris (also known as marine litter), believed to be remains of the missing flight, were discovered on the African coast and nearby Indian Ocean islands.
  

  

  The key pieces of the debris of MH370 were displayed during a ‘Day of Remembrance for MH370’ event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2019.

  

• Fariq had a passion for sports cars. He owned a BMW and Golf GTI.

• As claimed, Fariq was active on the WhatsApp Messenger application on 7 March 2014 at around 11:30 pm, just two hours before he boarded Flight 370. According to a report, he tried to make a call during the flight, but the call was disconnected as the plane was moving fast and the cell phone network was unable to connect to the telecommunication company’s tower. The report read,
  

  The telco’s (telecommunications company’s) tower established the call that he was trying to make. On why the call was cut off, it was likely because the aircraft was fast moving away from the tower and had not come under the coverage of the next one.” ^[5]Deccan Herald

• The inquiry into the disappearance of Flight 370 persisted for several years until it veered in a different direction as law enforcement authorities started to suspect unlawful activity in connection to this incident. Sources suggest that the investigation shifted its focus towards the crew members of the aircraft, especially  Zaharie Ahmad Shah and Fariq Abdul Hamid. As per reports, the police officials subsequently absolved all 239 passengers, along with the 12 crew members, of any complicity in the matter as no concrete evidence was found against them.

• A docuseries titled ‘MH370: The Plane That Disappeared 2023 ‘ was released on Netflix in 2023, shedding light on the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The documentary series was premiered on the disappearance of the flight, i.e., on 8 March 2023.

  

11 April 2014 – Captain Flt. Lt. Tim McAlevey of the Royal New Zealand Air Force while flying a P-3 Orion in search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 over the Indian Ocean