INTEL101 said
Shortly after takeoff, as Malaysia 370 was flying out over the ocean, just after the co-pilot gave his final "Good night" sign-off to Malaysia air traffic control, smoke began filling the cockpit, perhaps from a tire on the front landing gear that had ignited on takeoff.
The captain immediately did exactly what he had been trained to do: turn the plane toward the closest airport so he could land.
This theory, unfortunately, pretty much falls apart right out the gates.
- it ignores the ACARS message indicating WP was altered prior t 1:07
- Between the two paragraphs events, ACARS would have sent emergency messages indicating major problems on board.
- Then, the nearest
safe location to land was likely Vietnam anyway, not a frantic turn back to where you came from. (this is especially true if the cockpit is that bad off already)
- Plus, if the fire is believed to be that bad (bad enough to turn off most/all systems before you start reacting) you probably don't want to fly the plane over a city with a population of 577,000 people (Kota Bharu) and instead want to attempt a sea landing