In a separate investigation into whether a criminal offence
might have caused the crash, the Singapore Police CID
found no evidence that the pilot or anyone else on board
may have had suicidal tendencies or a motive to cause the
crash.
7 The Singapore accredited representative to the
investigation stated expressly that the wreckage of the
cockpit and circuit breaker panel had not been recovered.8
By May 2003, an emerging body of new evidence
suggested that Flight MI 185’s flight data recorder had not
stopped recording until shortly before the crash.
9 The
recorder also showed an unusual full rudder deflection.
Such a rudder position would have caused the jet to swerve
sharply and snap into a roll . In July 2004, a Los
Angeles court in the United States ruled that the Flight MI
185 crash had been caused by a defective servo valve in the
plane’s rudder.10 The rudder manufacturer was ordered to
pay the families of victims