This is an enthralling string of posts and thanks to everyone - pilots and other experts such as security folk, satellite engineers, etc - for their insightful comments. (Well, nearly everyone - no thanks to the fruitcakes - but hey it is full moon today). Fascination is tempered only by the horror of what the passengers and crew must have been through, and what their families are going through now.
I find the apparent zig zags after the Pulau Perak radar sighting (at VAMPI, GIVAL and IGREX) particularly perplexing. At #4347 Porterhouse wrote "There are VERIFIED heading changes, at least 4." I think this might have come from a Reuters article but don't recall reading it. Can someone please remind me who verified this?