@Clear Prop
Re the 2am - 8am time span:
Be careful not to look back with the benefit of hindsight and imagine that everyone was wide awake at 2am thinking "Right then! Emergency! Now what?" it was a calm Friday night and the initial moments of this emergency started after the flight had handed off from its departure nation and began flight in an oceanic territory with moderate to poor coverage.
Unless you have significant information of distress beforehand, it is normal not to initiate an alert phase until after the aircraft is confirmed as not arriving where it departed to.
It's this kind of casual attitude that I find extremely frightening. No matter if it's Friday or any other day of the week; no matter if it's "calm", no matter what time of day or night it is. An aircraft disappeared from ATC radar and it seems that no one was sufficiently concerned to alert all relevant authorities until six or seven hours after the event. You think that's OK?