“Do you really think that Australia, China, US, Malaysia, etc. would have spent Millions of dollars and man hours searching the Southern Indian Ocean for 2 months”
No more ridonkulous than the Malaysians searching the South China Sea for a week of precious time when they knew the a fact the plane had crossed back over the peninsula due to their own military radar
Well that's Malaysia for you. And their charade continued until they were confronted by Inmarsat -- and then the jig was up.
There is nothing ridonkulous about Inmarsat data -- it's amazing.