Originally Posted by
mrbigbird
If reports about the likely (destination according to radar plots) is to be believed, and subsequently proved as being the Andaman Islands and we accept that someone set up a very deliberate flight path using recognised way points.
Why didn't 'they' set a direct course across the Thai peninsula.
That would have saved time and fuel.
Thoughts on why 'they' decided to fly over Malaysia first and then changed the heading?
Obviously this was not spur of the moment stuff.
Why that route?
If you wanted to ensure that any AD people awake were not made edgy by your aircraft you would follow a standard route at a standard altitude and look like any other westbound. If you want to alert AD fly off route on a direct heading through procedural airspace. This also confirms the taken by someone who knows and has planned what they are doing. Anyone still pushing the decompression after a bomb, fuselage failure or oxygen bottle theories should abandon them.