U.S. Investigators Suspect Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane Flew On for Hours

Wall Street Journal ^ | March 13, 2014 | Andy Pasztor and Jon Ostrower

[iontheball]

U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU +2.13% Flight 370 stayed in the air for up to four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky.

[iontheball]

It is time to start worrying.

[FatherofFive]

At one briefing, according to this person, officials were told investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted "with the intention of using it later for another purpose."

This would make one heck of a suicide bomb.

[Col Frank Slade]

Logical speculation would indicate this was a hijacking. Transponders turned off, low altitude flying to avoid radar. Perhaps the hijackers got disoriented flying for hours over water in darkness and crashed before reaching intended target / destination.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Landing a big airplane like a 777 would be hard to keep secret.

Maybe Laos ?

[70times7]

when a day or two had gone by without wreckage I began to suspect this was more than the average terrorist attack. Anyone else see “Executive Decision”? The general idea was to use an airliner to deliver a very lethal chemical (I think) agent to the US.

There are nukes and dirty nukes out there. What they lack is a dependable delivery system. I hope safeguards are in place that would prevent this plane from “pretending” to be some other flight. I don't know.

I do get the distinct impression that we being “fed” information: they are telling us things now that they knew in the first 24 hours. That suggests this is quite bad and they don't want us to know how bad it is while they try to nullify the threat.

I'm sincerely hoping this ends up being a tinfoil hat post.

[grania]

logical speculation would indicate this was a hijacking

It's hard to imagine that a plane that large crashed without their being something on satellite photos or other data. Without any evidence of a crash showing up yet, one has to wonder if that plane was successfully landed at an abandoned airfield.

It's all too weird.

[Col Frank Slade]

It is a scary thought. Successful hijack and land a huge 777 somewhere and avoid detection. Outfit it with a nuke dirty bomb fly it to America. Maybe this is what Zawahiri has been plotting since 911. Return to missed target of flight 93.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I tend to agree. My guess is that if that plane landed somewhere they know exactly where it is and the powers that be are just keeping quiet til they figure out how to neutralize it. If its being held by terrorists or whatever they may not want them to know they know.