FlexWheeler wrote:
Well one theory put forward is from a pilot of over 20 years. He says the protocol in the event of an on board emergency is to re-direct to the nearest airport to land. Based on the u-turn he pinpointed the likely airport they may have been flying towards. He theorises that there was on board fire (apparently the plane was carrying flamable lithium materials), so the plane diverted towards this airport. However en route the crew and passengers were overcome with smoke so the plane flew past this landing point into the indian ocean and carried on until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Seems reasonably plausible. Except apparently there are reports the pilot made contact after the u-turn and there was no problem.
All very strange.
Nah, as for one thing, in such a situation there isn't a cat in hell's chance that the plane would be on autopilot. Also, what would be to stop them from contacting air traffic control over this emergency? Also, if they turned and set course for this airport - which one was it, and why did its systems not pick up the plane as it passed through its airspace? Why dd that tower, which would be urgently calling the intruder into its airspace and getting no answer, rasie the alarm, tell the military, and have the mystery intruder (no transponder) intercepted? Why has that airport not disclosed that it saw the jet fly by?