MH370 Crew/Zaharie Bin Ahmad Shah

Zaharie Bin Ahmad Shah
Zaharie Bin Ahmad Shah joined Malaysia Airlines as a Cadet Pilot in 1981.
Zaharie had 33 years flying experience on various aircraft: Fokker F27 and F50, Airbus A300 and A330, and Boeing 737 and 777. In total he had 18423 hours experience of which 8659 hours were on the Boeing 777.
Captain Shah's good record and seniority led to his appointment as a Type Rating Instructor (TRI) and Type Rating Examiner (TRE) on the Boeing 777. On flight MH370 Captain Shah was conducting the last phase of the Co-pilot’s training as a Boeing 777 First Officer, in the capacity of a TRE.
Zaharie Shah was married with three children.
Profile
1) Personal Profile of Pilot-in-Command
Sex | Male |
Age | 53 years |
Marital Status | Married with 3 children |
Date of joining MAS | 15 June 1981 |
Licence country of issues | Malaysia |
Licence type | Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) |
Licence number | A751 |
Validity Period of Licence | 14 May 2014 |
Ratings | Boeing B777 |
Medical Certificate | First Class (valid until 30 June 2014) |
Aeronautical experience | 18423:40 hours |
Experience on type | 8659:40 hours |
Last 24 hours | 0:00:00 hours |
Last 72 hours | 07:00:00 hours |
Last 07 days | 20:39:00 hours |
Last 28 days | 91:04:00 hours |
Last 90 days | 303:09:00 hours |
Last line check | 08 April 2013 |
Instrument rating check | 15 November 2013 |
Last proficiency | 15 November 2013 |
Last promotion | B777 Captain (22 September 1998) |
Source: Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018 1.5.3 Pilot-in-Command
Notes
The following notes are based on Section 1.5.3 Pilot-in-Command from the Safety Investigation Report MH370/01/2018.
Zaharie Shah was born in the Island of Penang. He completed his Malaysian Certificate of Education (MCE) - the equivalent of the United Kingdom Ordinary (UK ‘O’) Level - at the Penang Free School, where he sat for his MCE Examination in 1978. In 1981 he was accepted as a Cadet Pilot with MAS under the sponsorship of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), a People’s Trust Council of the Malaysian Government.
Zaharie was sent to Manila in the Philippines to be provided ab-initio pilot training and graduated 2 years later with a Commercial Pilot Licence & Instrument Rating (CPL & IR). He joined Malaysia Airlines as a Second Officer in 1983 and was posted on the Fokker F27 where he obtained his initial airline flying experience. He was then posted to the Boeing 737-200 in 1985, thereafter the Airbus A300B4, and stayed on as First Officer (FO) until March 1990. In July 1990 he was promoted to Captain and took his first command on the Fokker F50 aircraft.
By the end of 1991 he was promoted to Captain on the Boeing 737-400 until December 1996. His next promotion was to the Airbus A330-300 and stayed on the fleet until September 1998 when he was promoted to the Boeing 777-200-ER fleet until the day of the event [Flight MH370]. By virtue of his good track record and seniority he was made a Type Rating Instructor (TRI) and Type Rating Examiner (TRE) on this present fleet effective November 2007.
Captain Shah's flying record for the last 72 hours and preceding 28 days’ cycle were well within the Company’s specified limits. His last flight as an operating Pilot-in-Command was to Denpasar, Bali, in the Republic of Indonesia on 03 March 2014. This was a daily return flight with a sector time of approximately 3 hours. On the day of the event, he was conducting training for the First Officer, Fariq Bin Ab Hamid, who was functionally checked out.