Speculation on MH370 aircraft demise

[BlueStreak]

17. Right, and if the plane turned around without sending out a distress message?

That would be pretty strange. News reports today implied that radar indicated the plane did a 180 before it disappeared. I would be curious to know the timing of that. If the maneuver happened in the last minute before the plane disappeared, then it is entirely possible that mechanical failure left no time to send out a distress call.

A 180 for mechanical reasons doesn't make a lot of sense because I believe the closest land was Viet Nam, so they would have tried to head there.

If terrorists had captured the flight crew but not entered the cockpit, perhaps they could have ordered a return to Kuala Lampur or some other destination, and then if interrupted they might have set off an explosive. That seems like a scenario that would fit the reported facts, except that if terrorists were not in the cockpit, then the pilots should have put out a distress message.

Another scenario is that there was a catastrophic problem and the indication of a 180 was not an intentional pilot action, but just happened as the plane was going down.