[amorphous]

There is another possibility. The secret assassination of someone onboard.

Terror wise, it's a similar MO as the Asia Airlines disappearance and maybe the pilot feared being shot down or forced down if he had turned toward a metropolitan area. Maybe he saw that as a negative for whatever reason.

[DTA]

There are over 6000 of A-320s built and the majority still fly today. If there is something seriously wrong with its design (think of one that nearly crashed last year due to wrong altitude reading)it would mean an end to many companies and an end to French-German Airbus Industries.

Solution - blame it on human error. Pay $300m to victim families. Been done in the past.

I am not saying this is the case here, but it could be.

But having a rich German kid who was living his dream of being a pilot end it in such bizarre way does not sound as probable in my book.