If:-
a. Heist
b. Plane theft
c. Hijack
d. Collusion with a militant country or sect
And:-
Authorities, US, NASA, Inmarsat and all the others mentioned during each briefing knew of this and were in "negotioations",
Then one might expect the "baddies" to go and let the world know by now to make the biggest
PR disaster in the history of cover-ups!
BTW, I doubt many hijackers demands are to see how long they can play hide and seek for...
A wierd one is this. Still wonder if a gas entered the enviroment to render the pax inefective and the pilots to become paranoid and lose all sensibility leaving just a "muscle reflex" to keep the plane up until gravity won over gliding. Strange things Human Factors.