The captain shot that one down by pointing out they didn't head for the nearest airport, which would have been Sultan Mahmud (TGG), on the north coast of the Malaysian Island. Reportedly, that was where the co-pilot did his 777 training. Pulau Langkawi (LGK), the airport Rush cited and nearer to where they actually went according to the military radar, is significantly further from the point of their last communication.
True, but pilots aren’t perfect. I have watched pilots fly past a perfectly good airport, because they had something else already in their minds.