Aviation experts and pilots are wondering if a "blowtorch" fire is to blame for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which is about to enter the fourth week since it vanished from the skies.

The blowtorch fire theory was suggested due to a similar incident that occurred on an Egyptair plane in 2011, according to The Telegraph.

The fire on the 291-passenger Egyptair plane broke out prior to its departure for Jeddah. An investigation found that a short circuit occurred in the oxygen hose located in the cockpit, causing the pipes to burst into flames, The Telegraph reported.  The plane suffered extensive damage, but all of the passengers and crew made it out safely.

"In simple terms, this fault can cause a blowtorch type fire that will melt aluminum in a matter of seconds," James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer and pilot, told The Telegraph.

If the same fire occurred in the missing plane's cockpit, that could explain why the plane's communication systems were shut off, which investigators say were deliberately turned off not long after the 239-passenger plane took off from Kaula Lumpur for Beijing on March 8.

The plane's crew could have turned off the communication systems to isolate the fire's cause, or the fire could have disabled the systems, Chris Goodfellow, a Canadian pilot, told The Telegraph.

That would mean the plane's disappearance was an unfortunate accident, and not an act of terrorism, a theory previously explored by investigators.

"We believe that in due course, the crews will be regarded as heroes rather than villains, and we sincerely hope the Black Boxes will contain the data to back that up, and to prevent further needless loss of life," Healy-Pratt told The Telegraph.

After the Egyptair plane fire, the U.S.-based Federal Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency ordered that oxygen hoses on aircrafts be replaced with safer alternatives. However, it is unclear if Malaysia implemented the same changes.