Originally Posted by
Walnut
Further to what I wrote a few postings ago, I realise if the Satphone was still available, ie it was "pinging" then the flight crew IF alive and wanting to establish contact would have known how to use it. As it was not used then it seems to indicate that this a/c was flying "a la Helios" Probably in Hdg mode, which was the last selection made by the flt crew. So did the crew turn the a/c initially towards Langawi a/f then South towards the r/w?. What I find perplexing is if the a/c went this way WHY? did Malaysian radar not pick it up, it was after all flying back towards central Malaysia and in fact passing abeam of KL. Very odd!! I believe the press should be asking for the complete primary radar trace.
No - not in heading mode.
As has been pointed out the aircraft would have deviated quite a long way in heading mode due to the extreme magnetic variation in the South Indian Ocean. For the track flown it is more likely it was to an intended input of a waypoint or a change to fly South in
Track mode - both of which would have required deliberate action from someone who understood the FMS/FMC. There were a limited number of people on board MH370 with that knowledge.