MH370 Update: Pilot Practiced Suicide Route On Home Simulator, Report Says

Evidence surfaced Friday in a new report that suggests the pilot of the disappeared Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 might have taken the plane on a premeditated suicidal flight. The plane vanished in March 2014 with 239 people aboard.

The report from New York Magazine claims to have obtained information from the Malaysian investigation into the incident that was previously unknown to the public.

"New York has obtained a confidential document from the Malaysian police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that shows that the plane’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, conducted a simulated flight deep into the remote southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished under uncannily similar circumstances. The revelation, which Malaysia withheld from a lengthy public report on the investigation, is the strongest evidence yet that Zaharie made off with the plane in a premeditated act of mass murder-suicide."

Flight simulator data documents handed over to the FBI reportedly showed that Zaharie practiced a flight path similar to the route search officials believe MH370 took.

The report from New York Magazine comes just after officials announced they were set to suspend the search for MH370 with fewer than 10,000 square kilometers left in the search area. If it wasn't found soon, they would halt the search, officials said. The search area was large and there have been some doubts if officials have been looking for it in the correct places.

"This does not mean we have given up on looking for MH370," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at a press conference Friday, via CNN.

The search for the plan has been the most expensive in aviation history, estimated at some $135 million. Liow said at the press conference that it would come to conclusion sometime between October and December. But that's subject to change.

"Should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given in determining next steps," he said at the press conference, via USA Today.