Considering that so many people on here claim to be professionals, I am astounded that nobody has looked into the technical side of how much fuel was actually on-board for this rather short flight.
- MAS370 got airborne at 1643z
- LKP according to Radar/Mode S transponder was 1722z
- Flight time was ZBAA0521 - 5 hours 21 minutes
- When it went missing it had fuel reportedly for a further 7 hours 30 minutes.
- 39 minutes of TRIP fuel was burned to that point and presumably 10-15 minutes APU/TAXI.
So the big question that now remains, why was there an uplift of just over 8 hours for a 5 hours 21 minute flight. Planning within standards would suggests maybe just over 6 and 1/2 hours fuel. If this is the case then how comes the captain signed off and additional 1 hour 30 minutes fuel or more (that is public knowledge)
I've not suggested that the captain has anything to do with this, but all that extra fuel for a flight that isn't going very far has more questions than answers. After all, any additional uplift is his final decision.