>>Dangerous cargo of Lithium Batteries now admitted!<<
Just more random information to add to the confusion. Why dangerous? Because they could ignite? Sure. Did they ignite? Unlikely.
Someone turned of the transponder. Would anyone have done that if the batteries ignited? Would a battery fire have occurred so quickly that the crew wouldn’t have had time to get off a Mayday?
Given that there’s absolutely no evidence of a battery fire in the first place, it’s very unlikely they were responsible for the plane going missing.
What I would really like to know is at what distance from the satellite was the plane in all of the previous hourly pings? So far, I’ve not seen that info, but it would tell something about whether the plane was flying on a straight line to an intended destination, or maneuvering back and forth (as I suspect it was).
Lots of rules about transporting batteries on airliners. My company has done it before. They have to packed a certain way, made so as to not allow the contacts to contact anything, etc. Also, the ACARs and transponder were getting shut off about the time the final “All right, good night” was transmitted and whoever said that didn’t sound excited or issue any indications of a problem at the time.