Maldives residents saw 'low-flying jumbo jet' on March 8: report

[Peace Patriot]

40. Top height of the plane was 45,000 feet, not 85,000.

It was 45,000 or thereabouts. The plane then descended to 23,000 feet or so, and went up again to 42,000 feet or thereabouts, and then descended again. It was never at 85,000 feet. (Anyone who knows the exact figures, please correct mine, if necessary.)

It is difficult to explain this behavior of the plane (if these stats have held up--information is rather rocky) except as a deliberate attempt by whoever was flying the plane to kill the passengers, although it could have had something to do with avoiding detection. But there are still so many unknowns that all is speculation.

Did you ever see that great old movie "Lost Horizon," directed by Frank Capra (1937), from the book of the same name, by James HIlton (1933)? I can't help but think of that movie (which I think is better than the book) during this agonizing search for the missing Malaysian plane. The "Lost Horizon" story has some haunting similarities to this real world story. Like the wispy hope for peace in the post-WW I world, expressed by Hilton, and, a bit later, by Capra--in "Lost Horizon"--wispy but extremely touching--I hope against hope that there will be a good outcome, or at least not a tragic one for the Malaysian plane and its passengers. It's not at all likely, even if some or all of the people are still alive, but still we can hope and pray that, by some miracle, it is not what it looks like--a hijacking gone wrong and the plane and its people lost.

Basics on "Lost Horizon": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Horizon. The wiki entry doesn't mention that a strong anti-war statement by the main character (British consul Conway) was edited out of many of the cuts of Capra's "Lost Horizon" as they were released in the pre-WW II period. Many people are unaware of just how anti-war this movie was, in the director's cut.