Originally Posted by
GobonaStick
There's no positive identification linking the last transponder transmission to the radar plot. But I suspect every other aircraft that appeared on the radar has been positively identified, leaving just a single unexplained line of plots which begins roughly where MH370 vanished.
Similarly, nothing positively links the final radar plot to the log-on. But I believe the satcom terminal identifies its origin, confirming it is transmitting from the missing aircraft, and the timing data from that log-on is consistent with a region very close to the last radar plot.
Therefore it's reasonable to suggest that the three separate points - transponder loss, radar plot, log-on arc - are connected by the track given.
The SATCOM logon has the equivalent of a hardware MAC Address that is specific to that airframe. The range ring for the logon passed through the last radar reponse location +/- 3 miinutes to the accuracy of these rings. This was verified by comparing the known and calculated position of other aircraft.