[Procyon]

Since scheduled arrival in Beijing was 0630 and last ping was 0811 it is consistent with the aircraft carrying enough reserve fuel for a diversion airport plus 45 minutes for traffic holds.

[JohnBovenmyer]

So we don't, at least yet, have to assume extra fuel and whatever that may imply. Still, as fuel load is an important boundary parameter and relatively easy to verify it should be pinned down. Fuel consumption would be affected by speed, altitude, etc. Knowing the initial load may still help narrow the search.

I presume the pings would end when the plane is powered down or when it is within a hanger, so we don't have to presume a crash ended them. Otherwise we'd have to presume the perps knew about and actively ended the pings, with whatever that implies, or accept a crash scenario.