Lost jet’s suspected path on simulator

SYDNEY — Australian officials confirmed Thursday that data recovered from a home flight simulator owned by the captain of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 showed that someone had used the device to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, where the jet that disappeared in March 2014 is believed to have crashed.

There has been confusion over exactly what was found on Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s flight simulator since New York magazine reported last week that an FBI analysis of the device showed Zaharie had conducted a simulated flight to the southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished along a similar route.

The magazine cited the discovery as strong evidence that the disappearance was a premeditated act of mass murder- suicide at the hands of the captain.

Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Center — which is overseeing the search for the plane off Australia’s west coast — confirmed in an email that the captain’s simulator showed that “someone had plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean.”