With the "New" information in mind, I return to a post I made this time yesterday. An American General interviewed by Fox suggested that the aircraft was bound for Pakistan. Again, that was before the NW OR SW corridors had been speculated.
IMHO, if it did head NW, Pakistan is the most likely destination because I can't believe a T7 would get anywhere near Afghanistan or beyond unnoticed. That part of the world is full of US assets, including drones. Conversely, large areas of Pakistan are under the effective control of the Taliban. If it was piracy, this would be the most likely destination.
If it was a suicide mission by whomever, the Southern track out over the Southern IO would be more likely. And that probably explains why US asssets were already being positioned in the Indian Ocean.
If indeed the aircraft did go up to FL450 immediately after going silent, that suggests that hostages were not an issue. So unless there was an extremely valuable cargo (And we still haven't seen a cargo manifest) it would seem to point to the suicide mission by a person or persons unknown, in which case the IO seems more probable.
Even if it is found, the CVR will be useless as it only records two hours. The DFDR won't, necessarily, provide anything definitive either?
Last edited by philipat; 15th Mar 2014 at 08:06.