[Uncle Chip]

I’m simply accepting NOAs numbers for “statute miles” just to be consistent — and hoping that they are making the necessary adjustments if any are needed.

But I was incorrect re:New Amsterdam Island — it is several hundreds miles west of that southern heading.

Using the 18:29 Frequency Burst as the time of its turn south just above Banda Aceh at N7.5E96 straight south to S38E87 on the 8:11 arc is 3195 miles.

N7.5E96 to S26.5E90 on the 7:11 arc is 2382 miles reachable at ~507mph.

S38E87 on the 8:11 arc is 801 miles further — not doable in an hour.

BUT if at 7:11 he took it off that heading and turned east toward Perth he would have hit the 8:11 arc at S32E96 in an hour at 524mph — very doable.

So it had to have come off of autopilot at ~7:11 or the 8:11 arc would not have been reached —

But why he would do that is anybody’s guess.

[Uncle Chip]

Angus Houston ... assumed that the flight had been on autopilot even if a conscious pilot had been at the controls. That is because a Boeing 777 is a very difficult plane to fly manually....

University of New South Wales aviation expert Peter Marosszeky said if the autopilot was still working when the plane crashed, it suggests the aircraft’s communications systems were switched off rather than disabled by a major malfunction or catastrophe.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/27/mh370-crew-most-likely-suffocated-before-missing-malaysia-jet-crashed-into-indian-ocean-australia-says/

[Uncle Chip]

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Someone in Cockpit May Have Plotted Flight Plan to Australia

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-someone-cockpit-may-have-plotted-flight-plan-australia-1454532