Originally Posted by boac
Surely after all these posts we should look a little at old Lady Logic?
Scenario 1) Drastic emergency on board: As said, who as time to re-programme the FMC to follow a bizarre route? Will the a/c systems then allow this to be 'flown'?
Scenario 2) Suicide/political protest: I'm going to crash this aircraft out of desperation/frustration over something. Why drag it out for 7 or more hours and then crash it? What is wrong with a political/emotional R/T message and a high-speed dive into the nearest water?
BOAC, I'm not making a judgement about 1 vs 2, but if it were #2 and intentional, I think disappearing the airplane had a much more powerful effect from a terrorism point of view, got much more media attention and aroused more popular curiousity than simply crashing the plane would have done.
Now if only the person had let one what it was they wanted attention for...
Part of me wonders if it wasn't someone who simply wanted to out-clever the rest of the world, to see if they could do it, i.e. disappear the plane without a trace. Problem is that that behaviour seems quite contradictory with someone depressed or otherwise distraught enough to want to end their own life.