Zaharie Ahmad Shah was the pilot on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing; Fariq Abdul Hamid was the co-pilot.

Who are these two men?

Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah
Shah joined the airline in 1981 and has 18,365 hours of flight experience. He’s a 53-year-old Malaysian resident.

He was described as an aviation geek by a Malaysian Airlines co-pilot who flew with him in the past.
“He was an aviation tech geek. You could ask him anything and he would help you. That is the kind of guy he is,” the pilot told Reuters. Shah had a Boeing 77 simulator at his home in a suburb on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, with easy access to the airport. The simulator, which Shah showed off in photos posted on Facebook, had three computer monitors among other equipment.

Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation certified Shah to conduct simulator tests for pilots, several officials from the airline said. They said that he couldn’t have been behind whatever happened to the plane.
“He knew everything about the Boeing 777. Something significant would have had to happen for Zaharie and the plane to go missing. It would have to be total electrical failure,” said another Malaysia Airlines pilot who knew Shah.

Fariq Abdul Hamid

Hamid is also a Malaysian. The 27-year-old joined the airline in 2007. He has 2,763 hours of flight experience.

Fariq is the the youngest son of Selangor Public Works Department deputy director Abdul Hamid Mad Daud, reported the New Straits Times.

Not much is known about Hamid with the focus more on Zaharie, but a shocking revelation emerged this week as a tourist recounted how she and a teenage girlfriend spent an entire flight in the cockpit with Hamid and another pilot in 2011.
“Throughout the entire flight they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight which I don’t think they’re allowed to do,” Jonti Roos told Channel 9.
Roos, a South African who is traveling around Australia, posed for pictures with her friend Jaan Maree and the two pilots.

Jonti Roos, in pink, with Fariq Hamid, far right, in a file photo. (Channel 9)