MH 370: By Accident or Design

by Peter Lee

8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur and flies into oblivion. Wild theories and impossible solutions have been offered by unqualified and ill-informed writers. This book provides neither. It analyses the facts and provides the only explanation that makes any sense. If you read no other book about this mystery, read this one.The author is a former military pilot and air traffic control officer. He analyses and breaks down the exact sequence of events that took place on the night of 8 March 2014 when flight MH 370 vanished from the face of the Earth. He looks only at the facts and has worked out the only possible and believable explanation that covers everything we know about this flight from take-off to its ultimate fate. He explains the crucial significance of the position where the aircraft vanished from Malaysia’s radar screens, and why that precise location was chosen by the perpetrator of this disappearance. And he shows why the route that the aircraft subsequently followed was not accidental, but entirely deliberate, and chosen for one very specific reason.He also analyses some of the alternative explanations that have been offered, including the conspiracy theories, and looks at the latest information from the Far East. Some books on this subject were rushed into print before the few indisputable facts were known, and many have been based on little more than the author's personal opinion, almost irrespective of these facts, or have been founded on apparently factual information that has since been discredited.This book starts off with no preconceptions at all. The author looks only at the facts of the matter. He explains exactly how the aircraft systems - things like SSR, ACARS and ADS-B - work, and provides an overview of the satellite communications system that was able to provide basic tracking data for the aircraft long after voice communications ceased. He explains the crucial significance of the position where the aircraft vanished from Malaysia's radar screens, and why the route that the aircraft subsequently followed was not accidental, but entirely deliberate, and chosen for one very specific reason. He concludes his analysis by explaining approximately where the aircraft is now, and why no confirmed wreckage from the aircraft has been found anywhere.As a military controller, Peter Lee has previously been involved in aircraft accident and investigation procedures as apart of his job. He was solely responsible for deducing the precise reason, and the specific sequence of events, that led to the loss of a Royal Navy Sea Harrier in the North Irish Sea some years ago, an event that at first sight appeared completely inexplicable, and was the principal expert witness at the subsequent Board of Inquiry. In the case of flight MH 370, he has turned that same critical eye on this disappearance, and his explanation for what happened is both logical and believable.

Genres: Nonfiction

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ionia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can appreciate a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person, but this book surprised me in that it delved into the proven aspects of this tragedy just as much as any theoretical ideas that the author brought forth.

Although this is not a long book, it has a lot of information contained within it and as the author pointed out, he intends to keep it updated with any new relevant information.

At first I figured this was just going to be a random outsider's opinion on this event with some basic theories on what might have happened, but Peter Lee really knows what he is talking about. He is familiar with flight procedures and radar, and that became immediately clear when reading this book. I found this fascinating and would agree that the portion of the book where he gave a fictionalised account of what may have happened could have been very close to the truth.

Overall I thought this was a well researched, well written and interesting book by someone who knows what he is talking about. I would recommend it to anyone curious about the missing flight.

[Chris Shepheard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well explained theories

Amongst the myriad if theories expounded after MH370's mysterious disappearance it was often difficult to sort fact from rumour and surmise.

The author leads us through thus made and presents his own version of what probably happened.

Most interestingly he is keeping his e-book updated as more information and evidence emerges so the theory may evolve into the future.

[Melanie Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Malaysian jet takes off and heads for Beijing Capital International Airport. People on vacation or business settle in for the routine flight. Suddenly, the flight is anything but routine. One moment the plane is on radar and the next it's gone. Lets examine the facts as we have them. Look over all the information we've been given and see exactly where it takes us. Our guide is an experienced pilot who knows what is and is not possible.

Peter Lee does a fantastic job of sorting through all the information available. He helps us understand how the plane works and what is possible. This book is analytical and comprehensive. Mr. Lee helps us make sense of what we do know. I found the book fascinating. So many statements made and then changed, it was hard to keep track of it all. Now in this book, we can logically work through it all. You'll really dig into this book.

I found no issues with this book.

I gave this one 5 cheers out of 5 because it really helps sort out the true from the untrue. ~Copy of book provided by author in exchange for a fair review~

[Vidar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a piece of shit.

The author has evidently not checked what he claims in the book, with frequent technical mistakes. This makes the conclusion totally worthless.

[Joanne Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!
What an amazing book. I enjoyed every moment that I read this very short and fascinating dissection of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines flight in March 2014.

A little about Peter Lee:
Peter Lee is an alias.
The book begins with a short author bio, which is a must not be skipped. The reader begins the book with an understanding that this book is not written by a plane watcher, bereaved relative, or conspiracy fanatic. It’s written by an aviation expert with a professional background in aviation. Or rather, this is what the book states. And I do believe that if the reader is to enjoy the book as intended, the writer’s professional expertise needs to be taken as a given.
The first paragraph of the bio follows:
Peter Lee has a military and intelligence background. He trained first as a pilot and then became a military air traffic controller, holding licenses for both terminal (airfield) and area (transit) duties. He was a fully qualified controller holding every possible military ATC licence. He worked at the three principal Royal Navy air stations in England, at Shetland Radar at RAF Saxa Vord on the island of Unst, the northern-most of the Shetland Islands, and at the London Military Air Traffic Control Centre (LATCC (Mil)) then based at RAF West Drayton, as both a radar controller and as an allocator, as well as on various warships.
About MH370 - By accident or design?
I opened this book just before bed, intending to read for five minutes and get a bit of a handle on the style of the book then go off to sleep. I couldn’t put it down.
I approached it with suspicion and distrust, almost sure I’d dislike it. I don’t read non-fiction for fun, and I’m not much into conspiracy theories.
But let’s be clear from the start: this book isn’t a conspiracy theory (although some of the more entertaining conspiracy theories were mentioned in the book, and provided some levity on an otherwise fairly sombre subject). The book is one man’s theories about the disappearance of an entire Boeing 777 aircraft - something which most of the world cannot believe is possible in this modern era of internet, satellites, and mobile phones.
And I found it absolutely mesmerising.
Lee starts with the basics - the facts. What we know happened. He also adds in the conflicting reports from different countries, adding a political element to the story and giving his opinions about why they, at times, are completely at loggerheads to each other. And then he adds his own embellishments to flesh out the story, based on his experience in air traffic control and his knowledge of satellites and aircraft equipment.
Lee makes clear distinction between what is accepted as fact, and where he has added detail, completing the picture for interested readers in a way that is entirely plausible. He does not present his theory as the only one, instead giving many alternate scenarios and inspecting each in turn.
I think that this very short book is a must-read for all those who are interested in knowing - or at least surmising - what might have happened to the Malaysian flight.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

From those first tragic news reports to witnessing the raw pain of the friends and families seeking closure, still hoping against hope that the passengers and crew of Malaysian flight MH 370 would be found, the mystery of what happened to this plane and the souls aboard has baffled the world. Many books have sprung up to explain theories, share thoughts, point fingers, but MH 370: by Accident or Design by Peter Lee, an experienced military pilot and air traffic controller is a dissection of the events, the questions and the possibilities that are easy to understand. Mr. Lee sites his knowledge of flying, planes and working in the tower as he re-hashes events and separates facts from fancy, the probable from the improbable with hard evidence to back his thoughts. Does he answer every question known? No one can, but he takes the time line from take-off to discovery that the plane was missing and explains away many of the wrongful finger pointing going on while questioning other actions that were taken, or NOT taken that have hindered finding MH 370.

Peter Lee's sound reasoning and well-written text helps to bring the “mystery” of flying, and of the inability of authorities to “easily” find MH 370 into context. If you have wondered about the events, not understood canned press explanations, this should clear up much of what you’ve heard or read.

I received a review copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: Postscript Editions
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Postscript Editions
Available from: Amazon

[Gayle Pace · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW

This book is extremely amazing. The entire world is wanting answers as to what happened and where the plane went. The plane had aboard 239 passengers. Mr. Lee has gone into deep investigating of the unexplained disappearance of Malaysian airlines Boeing 777. He

goes into some of the deep speculations and possible reasons as what happened to the plane. It was like experiments, if this happened what would happen to the plane? If this was or wasn't done, what would happen? One moment when those 239 passengers were boarding and one moment when tragedy struck. All it took was one moment. And yet, the answer to what happened and where the plane is, is taking longer than a moment. Was it just fate? 239 people vanished, actually vanished into the air. The author has put in the book a huge amount of information about the aviation industry.

Is it possible this was a conspiracy of some kind? It's unimaginable that a Boeing 777 with 239 passengers would just disappear. How often has something like this happened.? The author gives an array of facts that allows the reader to go through. Did the media do it's best with covering this event? Some say, what more could they do? Others say they did a poor job. Was this coverage or non coverage of the media on purpose or just a bad job of journalism?

The author has written a book full of information that comes from his knowledge. This is one book that everyone should read. Everyone should be concerned about what happened to the plane and most of all, where are those 239 people? Is it even possible to understand the grief, the frustration and pain that the families and loved ones are experiencing.?



I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author for my view of the book. No other compensation took place

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this from Library Thing to read and review. During all the hubbub a few months ago, I became engrossed in the search for this plane, watching CNN night after night to see the newest developments. This book provides an excellent overview of the incident, with several good arguments for and against the many conspiracies and theories of what exactly happened that day. There was one bit of information on the pilot’s personal life and how it may have influenced the flight that I found interesting and had not heard much about before this. I am not so sure about the author’s suggestions about what did happen, but, then, I am not the expert as he claims to be. One thing about his credentials that Id wonder about, however. The book states he has a good intelligence background, but I just did not see that in his bio. Perhaps I missed something or perhaps that was just glossed over, but there really was no mention of any intelligence background or work, unless doing the investigative work is the intelligence background listed. However, based on my experience, doing investigative work does not necessarily mean one has extensive intelligence experience or a background. This book is not all that long and has a great deal of pertinent information. It provides a good overview of the sequence of events that occurred, with good, solid technical explanations. Some reviewers stated there was a lot of technical mombo jumbo, but I thought the author, while he does go into some technical aspects (I do not think he could have avoided this if he wanted to fully explain things), the book is easy enough for a layman to read. If you are interested or fascinated by this modern day mystery, I recommend this book to you. It is short but definitely informative and interesting.

[Terrance Zepke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some good information (some of it was well known from all the news coverage but there was some additional information that I hadn't seen and some interesting theories brought forth). However, it could have been better organized. For instance, the author gave a fictionalized account at the end of how he believes events transpired. I would have opened with this and then said, "But we'll probably never know for sure. However, what we do know is this..." I would have organized and combined some of the sections better as there was some redundancy and too many mini-sections (and I would have left out the section near the end about other wreckage being found after publication but no signs pointing to any relation to the missing aircraft. If that is true, then this discussion is irrelevant and adds nothing to this book). But most importantly, I would have stuck to standard font size and style. The font was too small and hard to read. When I tapped on my kindle to enlarge text it then ran off the screen making reading more impossible than when it was all on the page but in size 8 or 9 font. Some images might have been helpful too. These are all fixable problems and ones I hope the author will address because I think he has a good idea here.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Library Thing to read and review. There have been so many conspiracy theories and I am glad that this book did not provide yet another "out there" theory. The author appears to have the relevant background and training to be able to piece together a more plausible scenario using logic and his own experience. He does briefly delve into the more outlandish theories but explains why they are not reasonable. He is able to put together a possible explanation with what little evidence there is and also is honest in admitting that as more is known about this mystery, the book may be updated. I found the book technical but not too technical and I appreciate how he has tried to explain aircraft procedures and technology in a way that lay people can understand. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the mystery of MH 370.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many people around the world know of the tragedy surrounding Flight MH-370. Many stories and theories about what happened while trying to cope with this sad news. I found this book to be fascinating and informative on many levels. I was impressed with the amount of information offered and present about procedures, policies, and strategies surrounding airports and air traffic controllers. Honestly will we ever know what happened to Flight MH-370 probably not but I can certainly hope that answers will be found for the families of this tragedy. If you want to read an engaging account about MH-370 then look no further than this book. The author says that he will update this book as more evidence comes to light. Don't miss out on this read.

[Kurt Springs · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of the summer of 2014, MH 370 seemed to dominate the news. I remember watching many of the accounts, listening to expert analysis. Peter Lee lays out the evidence that is currently known about the aircraft's disappearance and tackles the various conjectures about the unfortunate aircraft's fate. He also lays out what he considers a likely scenario that fits the facts we do have, while conceding he will have to change the scenario once more facts become available.

The expertise with which he examines the evidence seems professional. If you have been following events, this would be a good book to add to your To Be Read List.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written analysis that proposes a supportable theory of what happened.