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The captain of a missing Malaysian jet is an engineering buff who assembled his own
home flight simulator, while friends of the co-pilot have defended his reputation after
one report portrayed him as a cockpit Casanova. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, joined Malaysia
Airlines in 1981 and is praised as a passionate pilot who has logged 18,365 hours of flying
time at work and still more at home on his sophisticated simulator.
A tribute page that has garnered more than 400 comments largely from well-wishers, shows
pictures of the complex set-up including Zaharie posing in front of it.
His YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/catalinapby1 features videos showing him cheerfully explaining
how to fix an air-conditioner, patch damaged windows, and other DIY projects.
Among the channels he subscribes to are ones on making balloon animals, Comedy Central
and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
Malaysian media reports have quoted colleagues as calling Zaharie a "superb pilot", who also
served as an examiner, authorised by the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department, to conduct simulator
tests for pilots. Authorities said police had searched the pilots'
homes and were examining the flight simulator the captain had built at home, although aviation
commentators have said this is not uncommon.