MH370 Yet another news outlet has put the spotlight on missing jet pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, this time, quoting a "high ranking" Malaysian police officer involved in the investigation.

The unnamed source in the USA Today report says there was no evidence of mechanical failure or hijacking, and Zaharie was the only one on board MH370 who could have made the "deliberate" turnings.

With so few facts available in the MH370 tragedy, the media has turned criminal investigators to answer the second big question in the most baffling mystery in modern aviation history: what happened on board the flight?

The first big question of where the plane is was answered on the night of last Monday (March 24) by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who told the world the flight "ended" in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean, far from any possible landing site.

Najib’s other statements on the tragedy were on March 15, when he announced that new satellite information from the West opened the search for MH370 on two new corridors, a northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and, or a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Last Saturday, Najib announced that investigators had determined that whatever happened on board the plane was a deliberate act, likely by someone with advanced knowledge of the Boeing 777-200ER and commercial aviation.

With scant information available, media focus turned to scrutinise the lives of the pilot and co-pilot.

But for all the accusations levelled at Zaharie and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, nothing has turned up in background investigations to incriminated either of them.

Ex-MAS staff: Our pilots the best

A former Malaysia Airlines crew member, whose husband still works for the airline as a pilot, said wild theories and speculation flying around were “blurry and flawed”, and only made the tragic situation harder for the families of the crew members.

“While I don't work with Malaysia Airlines anymore, I just need to say our pilots have always been the best.

“Our cabin crew overall are superb and dedicated. We have had good training and would even be prepared for unforeseen situations.”

Their job was a matter of intense responsibility, and crew members took great pride in their work, she said.

“So, I can never disregard the efforts of our crew, and in my heart I do believe this isn't anything to do with the crew.

“Everywhere in the world there will be personal flaws but when it comes to work, it is responsibility, integrity, pride and our caring ways that we live by.”

Even though she has never flown with Zaharie or Fariq ( left ), both are considered family, she said.

“With the crew in Malaysia Airlines, we have always considered everyone flying as colleagues, for that is the way we are.

“We, the Malaysia Airlines crew, remain still as a family, as we have always been.”

Hisham: Consider all on board innocent until...

Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, has urged the people to consider all those on board innocent until proven otherwise, including the pilots.

The law operates on a presumption that anyone charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty - because it is seen as better that 10 guilty men go free, rather than one innocent man suffers.

The same principle has not been afforded to the two men charged with the safety of the other 237 people on board flight MH370, who have undergone a trial-by-media over the last three weeks, with every aspect of their personal lives pored over in an effort to find a hint of something sinister.

With new radar data showing the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, suggesting it flew until it ran out of fuel, some sort of mechanical failure has not been discounted by investigators as the reason one of the pilots redirected the plane from its planned route to Beijing.

Investigators may still turn up evidence of wrongdoing on the part of one of the crew members; but, equally, they may not.

Until then, it must be remembered, it is all too easy to accuse someone of something when they are not present to defend themselves.

And for the families of Zaharie and Fariq, they are burdened not only with the loss of a loved one, but the largely baseless accusation that their loved ones caused the anguish being suffered by 237 other families.

AIMEE GULLIVER is a New Zealand journalist interning with Malaysiakini for six weeks, courtesy of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.