Seriously, if preferring the opposition over the government makes you a "Political Fanatic", then 99% of Australian Pilots were virtually terrorists prior to the last Federal election!
My thoughts exactly, Bullwinkle.
That thinking has been repeated here again aind again but after a biref reality check it doesn't hold water.
which terrorists got which publicity that would support their cause?
Henrea, a long way back in this thread, I made the point (quite possibly deleted by the mods) that the terrorists' aim is to make the war they are waging against the West so expensive for the West to wage that it becomes unsustainable - much the same as Ronald Reagan did to win the Cold War against the Soviets.
If this does prove to be a terrorist attack, so long as the airframe remains not found, who ever did it doesn't need to announce they did it. They're winning, for they're causing their enemies - that's us - to be spending huge amounts of money trying (stress trying) to counter them.
And guess who'll end up paying for all those enormous costs in searching for this aircraft? You and me, the travelling public. And not just in money, but in added frustration and delay as we endure yet heavier and more intrusive security procedures.
I think the line being taken that it was pilot suicide is self-serving bullsh1t by the authorities. It's so obviously an easy 'out' for the airlines/governments - blame the pilot rather than face the fact that if this is a terrorist attack, it's as big a paradigm shift as Sept 11th 2001 was.
It's also stupid - for passengers are going to be suspicious of their pilots, (if they're not already), to the point where we're going to have an incident where some crazy passenger intervenes and interferes, stopping pilots from doing what the passenger believes is dangerous or unusual.
I've had to 'walk the walk' to the crew rest area any number of times (in my airline, on the 777 - crazy as it will seem to many reading this - that involves walking all the way to the very rear of the economy cabin).
I can see some poor sod in the future having to get back to the cockpit in a hurry because of some technical problem and being tackled by some vigilante passenger in mid cabin "because he is obviously up to no good".