Re: (IANW) "The ACARS reported the Waypoint Change so it was contracted to do so..."
The reporting (incl CNN) has the ACARS timeline issues sorted out finally, more or less mimicking what's has been "established" here. OTOH the recorded/reported waypoint change ("pre-programmed left turn"?) is not being addressed. I assume that is what you are posting in above quote.
We had the 25-degree to 40-degree Vn ATC issue in focus as something that cast doubt on this as on ACARS-at-1:07 event. Even ABC NEWS and FOXnews that reported this "turn on ACARS" had vague "sources say" and that has been it. CNN has not really addressed it as fact or otherwise.
IF it is FACT, it would seemingly confirm deliberate human action rather than other mishap. For how could that left turn be in the FMC at 1:07 otherwise?
IANW, CNN, any journalists reading this: Can we pin this down as FACT or otherwise discard it as a supported detail please?
So the suggestion is that the pilots manually logged on to ATC, let the aircraft broadcast a turn, including their next re-programmed waypoint which apparently they had reprogrammed into the FMC prior to the aircraft broadcasting a pos report, and then successfully made the aircraft disappear?
Do you not think they may have skipped the ADS log-on procedure, if in fact local ATC even HAS ADS, prior to trying to go dark??? For the aircraft to be "Contracted" as you say above, the crew would have had to manually request a log-on. This makes absolutely no sense given what subsequently transpired. What possible reason would they have had to do this? If the reports said they had logged on, broadcast a position report including the next flight-planned waypoint, THEN disabled the ADS and ACARS PRIOR to turning onto a new track then I could sort of understand it....
The arguments on here get less and less logical by the minute...