Pontius,
Many thanks for your swift and informative reply.
Wondering about press reports, I stuck me head in the recycle bin and recovered several of last weeks newspapers. The Daily Mail for Thursday, March, 27th stated that MH370 was tracked by military radar and was shown to make a sharp turn to the west ( away from it's north easterly course ) and started flying as high as 45,000ft and as low as 12,oooft before contact with it was lost. Would 45,000 feet be above the normal operational height for this aircraft?