Whoever did this - and it’s pretty clear by now that it was not an accident and in fact took pretty sustained intervention over a long period of time - knew an incredible amount about these planes, the conditions, the surroundings, etc. I doubt that it was a one-person job.
However, I find it hard to believe that, after having done all their homework, they wouldn’t have calculated exactly how much fuel they needed to reach their destination - under whatever circumstances - and even left fuel to spare. Why succeed on the complicated stuff and mess up on something so simple?
I think the plane is out there somewhere, and I’m not really sure what the target might be. The younger co-pilot who had a Middle Eastern Muslim name but very Chinese features might be a possibility, if the goal was to attack some power they thought was “dissing” the Muslims (China or Russia). On the other hand, the direction in which they were finally headed doesn’t seem as if that would be likely.
The first “wanted” photograph they issued was of a black Italian soccer star because supposedly the person with the stolen Italian passport “looked like” the soccer star, Mario Somebody-or-Other. What he looked like was African, from the large group of African refugees in Italy, while the stolen passport holder looked completely ME and did not resemble him in the least. So I wonder if somewhere, a photo of an African (Somali, Kenyan, Nigerian) with terrorist connections has turned up and this was a way of trying to get some identification of him.
From what I’ve read - and I know nothing except what I read, since the only thing I know about planes is that I like a window seat - the plane could have reached Africa around the region of Somalia or Madagascar. The biggest problem, according to another poster, would have been getting past Diego Garcia, but then, they seem to have figured out all the other ways of avoiding detection, so maybe they came up with something on this one too.
That is a part of the disinformation by Malasia that has plagued this investigation.
Sad but we almost have to rely on our own press now. -Tom
The pilot doesn’t get to choose how much fuel is onboard. that is determined by the flight plan.
Significantly more fuel is used when not flying straight and level at the programmed cruising altitude. We can know from the turns, high altitudes, rate of ascent, the fuel usage.
Reduce the expected range by 25% and you barely make India.