Very interesting place, and within the B777's flight range if it had enough fuel remaining. If Diego Garcia was indeed the intended destination... then this story is a damned scary and interesting one, your government is involved, and you will never know the truth.
I began looking at FJDG yesterday and turing some possibilities around in my head. Not likely, but possible. The information in the Malaysian press about the pilot's home flight simulator having the airfield there programmed in did nothing to help me sleep last night.
The island has been used as a SAC base, a staging area for operations, a listening post, a CIA rendition site and probably much more that we don't know about. It's a strange and beautiful place, and a very small island. I was there briefly a few times. As a civilian-type, I was struck by how different it was there than at other USAF/Army/Navy bases both home and abroad. I was able to walk around unchallenged, go hiking, swimming and drinking with no escort at all. Was even given a nice billet mean for an NCO. It seemed that they figured you didn't swim there - you had good reason to be there or you'd never set foot on the place. Oh, and there's zero cell phone coverage and access to the internet is tightly controlled - the civilian charter flight crews I was with were only allowed access if they had a CAC card.
If MH370 landed there, it was by invitation or forced/escorted. The plane could be hidden well from prying eyes, and whomever was alive onboard when it landed would not be able to contact the outside world until and unless the Navy wished them to. Unlikely scenario, but damned interesting to think about.
Ive been hearing a lot about the theory that perhaps smoke filled the cockpit because of some in flight fire and the pilots died due to smoke inhalation and the plane just kept on flying on the course programmed til it crashed in the Indian Ocean..here is my problem with that “Theory” there have been crashes in the past(I believe Swiss Air that they talked about on CNN) was caused by smoke in the cockpit, here is the difference..the crew CALLED IT IN..here you have NOTHING from the pilot, nothing from the co-pilot..so Im supposed to believe that for whatever reason, when other pilots call in in flight emergencies these two did not. Look what happened over the weekend with the Delta Flight from Orlando to Georgia, half the wing was lost in flight..the pilot called it in, declared an emergency, and was able to return to the airport, he didn’t turn off the transponder, didn’t turn off the ACARS, didn’t fly to 45,000 feet then down to 25,000 then down to 5,000 and up again, he did what he had to do to land the plane..but he called it in!
I believe this plane did land somewhere, either in Pakistan(even though they deny it, yeah they also denied knowing anything about Bin Laden living in Pakistan) so we know the Pakistani’s cannot be trusted..or it could be in Maldives like someone who lives there supposedly saw a low flying plane approaching.until actual wreckage is found I won’t believe this plane crashed