Mystery Malaysia flight may have been hundreds of miles off course (CNN Breaking)

CNN ^ | 3-11-2014 | Michael Pearson and Jethro Mullen

[tcrlaf]

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was hundreds of miles off course, traveling in the opposite direction from its original destination and had stopped sending identifying transponder codes before it disappeared, a senior Malaysian Air Force official told CNN Tuesday.

If correct, these are ominous signs that could call into question whether someone in the cockpit might have deliberately steered the plane away from its intended destination, a former U.S. aviation investigator said.

"This kind of deviation in course is simply inexplicable," said Paul Goelz, former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

(snip) The Malaysian Air Force lost track of the plane over Pulau Perak, a tiny island in the Straits of Malacca -- many hundreds of miles from the usual flight path for aircraft traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, the official said.

[txhurl]

OK.... so what’s on the plane?

Guess we’ll have to watch the breaking news sidebar to find out... they’ve had four days to move whatever it is to wherever they plan to detonate it.

[1Old Pro]

Hard to believe no radar tracking of this plane.

[Black Agnes]

May not have stayed there. Could have theoretically refueled in Banda Aceh. Runways there are plenty long enough due to supply delivery post tsunami/quake.

It’s a mystery isn’t it?

[Bulwinkle]

The original flight heading to china, change in flight direction seems like they headed for Burma.

[redgolum]

Or the plane is intact.

Remember, there are family members who say the cell phones of passengers are still active.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

My conspiracy thoughts? TWO moslem pilots, TWO highjackers all working together.

[freedomlover]

Thanks

[Cyber Liberty]

I lost 20 coworkers on that plane, so I hope you’ll excuse me if I take a pass on laughing this time, OK Laz?

[Lazamataz]

Absolutely. You lost 20 coworkers on this Malaysian flight?

At this time, we do not know they are ‘lost’, but they are missing. So try to hold on to hope.

[Lazamataz]

Fully loaded, at a low altitude, it couldn’t make Somolia. At normal fuel loadout, no way in hell.

[txhurl]

This craft has an 8800 mi range and Somalia’s only 4000 mi away. If they refueled on that tiny island, or Banda Aceh, their range would be another 8800 miles.

[Meet the New Boss]

The original flight heading to china, change in flight direction seems like they headed for Burma.

The flight path in the article has them heading on a new course southwest, not in the direction of Burma.

If we extrapolate a direct path to their target, the terrorists' plan may have been to use the aircraft to attack Diego Garcia.

[cynwoody]

So the, based on a plane full of gas, it could’ve flown 8-10 hours off course and end up crashing at the Southern part of the Indian Ocean, near Antarctica....

What point would there be in that?

If you are going to steal an airliner, you'd want to fly it somewhere where piracy is a profession, and a stolen airliner would be seen as a major achievement. E.g., from their last reported position to Mogadishu is 4,000 miles and 7.25 hours. Maybe a little longer to avoid Sri Lanka and stay over water.

Of course, they'd have needed a full fuel load, not just a Beijing load. Perhaps a little palm-grease at KUL to arrange it?

Sleeping passengers wake up. Why isn't it morning? Why are all the Beijing airport people anthracite-black?

Then what's next ... ?

[bergmeid]

And their ticket numbers were consecutive, weren’t they?

[redgolum]

Passive systems might not have been strong enough to see it.

When I was in CAP, and thinking about a pilots license, one older pilot (former Air Force) said that his transponder went out one time while flying near White Sands in his private plan. The tower went NUTS when he called out for a heading (as he was supposed to do) while approaching the area.

They didn’t see his little Cessna.

[Sans-Culotte]

Two muslims entered the cockpit and killed everyone there, then steered the plane into the ocean, imho.

But what would be the point of two Muslims taking over a Muslim plane, probably 80% filled with Muslims just to crash it and kill a lot of Muslims?

[jimbo123]

The liberal media is in overdrive trying to clear the Iranians with the stolen passports. Reminds me of how they wanted to clear the Boston Marathon muzzies until it was clear they were the ones.

[rdl6989]

Exactly. Somebody knows more than they’re saying.

[glock rocks]

Ok, then this is inconceivable.

But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

[ilovesarah2012]

And no claim of responsibility? What would be the point?