The westward turn that diverted the missing Malaysia airplane from its original path toward Beijing was programmed into a computer system, not made manually at the plane's controls, senior U.S. officials tell The New York Times.
The command is thought to have most likely been entered by someone in the cockpit and by someone with intimate knowledge about the airplane systems.
These revelations has increased the investigation's focus on the pilot and the co-pilot.
To alter the plane's path, someone would have had to type seven or eight keystrokes into the computer system that sits between the captain and the first officer, according to the Times. It's not clear whether the turn west was programmed before or after the plan took off.
American officials and aviation experts told the Times that it's unlikely a passenger could have reprogrammed the system to divert the plane from its planned course, contrary to what one British anti-terrorism expert said.
Flight 370 had 239 people on board and has been missing for more than a week. So far, investigators have found no trace of it.
The plane could be anywhere within a 2,350-mile radius.
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