Originally Posted by
MechEngr
Erm, no. The fire had the same origin as the ground fire on a different plane. Not sure where the confusion comes from. I believe this plane suffered that same failure in-flight.
There's no evidence it was under deliberate control for any hour's time. They didn't draw a giant penis in the sky or spell out "GOODBYE". Things on fire might have wires melt, short circuit, make unexpected connections. Also, there are air currents that rise over islands and would nudge the plane away from them. no need for someone to be at the controls for that. The lines in the diagram look to be fit to far too few data points.
The hole explains the slight curve to the apparent long path not the irregular path before then.
For a pilot to do this would require disabling, killing, or locking out the other flight crew member, and there would have had ample chance to chop through the door to regain access. It seems unlikely for this to have continued for so long. (Note to self - if the pilot purposely depressurizes the plane without explanation, open the cabin doors and kick the slides and ELRBs out as markers while the hand-held oxygen cylinder holds out. Maybe that will trigger an emergency response from Navy or Air Force.)
While they may not find data on the CVR - they may very well find the memory chips from some of the hundred cell phones that people could have recorded their last moments on. If there had been violence, many of those cell phones would have been detected even if calls could not go through from making panicked calls to loved ones.