Originally Posted by
cynar
This is a big scoop for ABC news. Author is Martha Raddatz, absolutely impeccable sources and credentials, great, seasoned reporter.
What's becoming clear to me is that the U.S. (Pentagon and NTSB at very least) have better intel than the Malaysians, and, to protect the extent and sources of such data for reasons of national security and international relations, have had to find back-channel ways (the NTSB radar "advisors," NASA, etc) to leak the correct location of the aircraft to the Malaysians so as to seem to have them organically find it.
Unfortunately, with Vietnam etc. making good-faith efforts and taxing resources in a humanitarian gesture, the U.S. can't wait, sources are leaking to hurry this up. You can bet that was okayed at the highest levels and we have been talking to China.
My current theory is that the plane was hijacked but that the pilot flew it out into the ocean rather than to the specified destination.
This also helps explain why Douglas Feith, well-respected former NTSB investigator, was on air recently floating the turn-back/hijack scenario. At the time I thought he'd lost his bearings in all the media hype. Maybe more likely he had inside info.
Why would the US need to BS for a few days if they really knew where it was at? Does anyone really doubt the level of technology the US Government has available to them worldwide? Would it really be that damaging to the US intelligence community for them to say "we know where it's at, we'll tell you where, but we're not going to tell you how we know"?
Originally Posted by
barrel_owl
Wait. Two questions.
First. Can you please provide a link for this information?
And second. Then why is the aircraft being searched on Indian Ocean? How can the ACARS datalink have stopped at the same time as the aircraft went off radar and the same aircraft have flown hundreds of miles West without transmitting any downlink?
Would someone please care to explain?
I don't have a link but I just heard audio on the top of the hour news break on NPR from the Malaysian government's press conference where they said they have spoken with Boeing and Rolls Royce and there was no data from the plane beyond when it dropped from radar.