Now they are saying the flight changed direction somewhere off the coast of Vietnam... after both of the transponders were either turned off or went off and the plane continued for at least an hour where it was picked up on radar on a small island in the Malacca strait. it was flying low during this time. This sounds very much like the plane could have been hijacked.

I read (either NPR email news updates or NYT online) that Malaysia's military believes it tracked a missing jetliner by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control. It was at least 200 miles off course.

Well, that certainly narrows it down.

Even the information the Malaysia military is giving out is fraught with contradiction. Here's an interesting article from NYT. http://tinyurl.com/lshbutk

fraught*[*frawt*]***
full of:*full of or accompanied by problems, dangers, or difficulties
tense and anxious:*full of or expressing nervous tension and anxiety
synonyms:*full, filled, beset, weighed down, charged, laden

New word for me to add to my vocabulary. Thanks! All this fun and educational as well.

Transponder
 

The Transponder thru a Unique code transmits data to the Controller and shows up on their Radar Screen. It reports back the altitude, direction, and speed.

My opinion is :

The Pilot or someone else turned it off .

If they lost oxygen and the pilots were incapacitated the plane could not continue to fly and lose altitude. If the auto pilot was engaged then the plane could continue to fly but not change altitude or direction to where it is reported to be heading. Pilots are required to have alternate oxygen masks on in case a loss of oxygen occurs.

There is a code , 7500, that a pilot can put into the transponder to alert the controllers that the plane has been high jacked. There are codes for loss of communications also.

Radar can track an object in the sky but just knows the location and not altitude, etc.

My theory is the plane was headed somewhere and reduced the altitude because it would be harder to detect on radar. If they did not make it to their destination then perhaps a fight took place and the plane became unstable.

Can anyone help me understand why this picture released by Interpol of the two Iranians on the Maylasia flight is obviously photo-shopped? The pics are identical from the waist down on both of them right down to the last wrinkle!
Attachment 35414

Strange situation made stranger by the release of a photo-shopped picture!

Twin sons of different mothers?

Well they both inherited their dads legs!

Wierd things happening!

ThE LAST REPORT I HEARD WAS THE PLANE MADE A SHARP TURN TO THE LEFT, AND WAS SEVERAL HUNDRED MILES OFF IT'S COURSE, AS IT WAS HEADING TOWARD A SMALL ISLAND.

It was nowhere near Vietnam, and it's troubling, they cannot find this aircraft.

We can all speculate, but until it is found with the black box, may have most of the answers.

Just sayin......

Yesterday the Chinese shared images acquired Sunday of what appears to be large pieces of debris in the China Sea.

This becomes more puzzling for the world as it continues and continues the stress of the surviving families.

Very difficult for the families emotionally. Very difficult for the rest of the world to comprehend. How is it possible with all our resources and super human technology a plane is unable to be found? Six days and we have no idea what happened, when, where, why and who.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Relatives wait on news - CNN.com

There are some heart rendering stories about the loved ones who are missing. I had a good friend on Findlaw who is a Malaysian. I kind of lost touch with her as she and another regular had started up their own discussion group on freedom of religion or something like that. I suppose there are many on TOTV who have some connection to someone that the loss of the Flight 370 may have directly affected. On the Internet it seems a much smaller world.

It's a genuine mystery.
 

You can guess all you want but I'll be content to wait until the plane's disappearance is solved. This thing has been guessed to death already (no pun intended).