[tsowellfan]

[Parley Baer]

Now we are back to the two communications systems being deliberately shut off. Maybe the one that reports the health on the engines was operating once an hour and the reason for the Westerly turn.

[Dallas59]

So the pilot or another depressed ROP went all goofy for Allah.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Sacajaweau]

By now, they're figured out that it veered off, flew low...letting 2 idiots parachute down with a suitcase, hop a small plane to another small plane and another and another....to a waiting ship...to....?????

Oh man...that suitcase could be anywhere...headed for????

[G Larry]

Interesting how Malaysian officials are denying there were any transmissions after 1:07.

I believe that is intentional misdirection, rather than ignorance.

uh...that means they’re LYING.

[cableguymn]

I think this plane landed safely. someone is up to something.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

One would think with all of the time and money NSA has spent monitoring all aspects of our lives to keep us “safe,” someone would have a lightbulb moment BEFORE a SHTF event, be it a [speculative] hijacking of an airliner or Putin’s Ukraine Adventure.

[Spartan79]

I’m not a pilot, but I’m hoping some flyers out there in FReeper-land can answer this question for me: Why is it necessary that a pilot or anyone else on board an airliner be able to shut down transponders or other on-board reporting systems? It seems it would be sensible to make it impossible to shut them down. Why does a pilot need the capability of shutting down these systems?

[ElkGroveDan]

If the pilot was giving cheery responses after the “data reporting system” was shut down but before the transponder was shut off then there really isn’t much doubt that one or more of the crew were complicit in this.

[sodpoodle]

Is it possible that the two pilots were seeking to flee Malaysia and gain asylum elsewhere - a la Edward Snowden?

We have learned that their outbound signals were terminated - but what about their incoming radio reception? Can they still receive information about the searchers and tracking?

Perhaps the passengers/hostages are more valuable as a bargaining chip than the aircraft.

[ncpatriot]

It takes six hrs to fly across the US

[rjsimmon]

That is not a correct map. The 777 can travel between 560-590 miles in one hour (490-512 nautical miles) with an endurance of over 5,240 to 9,300 miles (depending upon variant).

The map should extent into Iran, giving easy access to Yemen.