Originally Posted by Propduffer
...under the assumption that the plane was flown about 200 mi north of Banda Aceh in order to avoid Indonesian radar.
Nowhere near 200 miles north of Aceh. It was tracked out to about 10 NM beyond MEKAR on a bearing of about 285T from Butterworth AFB. MEKAR is 87 NM line of sight from Banda Aceh ARP. By NILAM it's 81.1 NM LOS. Intersection VAMPI is about 65 NM to Lhokseumawe. ICAO's
FASID CNS/4A states both Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe/Malikussaleh's PSR ranges are 90 NM. Apparently 60 NM might be closer to the truth.
"Had the plane entered Indonesian territory, the two radars must have detected it," First Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto of the Indonesian air force told the WSJ. (
source)
MH370 was below Butterworth's RADAR horizon for a significant period enroute VAMPI. You can see that here:
From
photo.china.com.cn