Wow, this is seriously helpful (and fascinating). Huge thanks to each of you.
Sky High - I will DM you tomorrow. I look forward to hearing about your script and picking your brain more. Thanks!
Also want to say thanks to Tarq for the link on the Brazil mid-air, and to Pattern for the sample vector. My brain is going haywire with potential scenarios now.
I wonder if a sophisticated hijacker (i.e. one backed by the Chinese, Russian, or U.S. governments, etc.) could wire up a drone that sends a decoy signal. (And yes, I realize I'm way off in left field here, even for fiction).
Under this scenario, the drone would be programmed to send a transponder signal similar to that of a particular commercial flight. Hijackers could crash the commercial flight in one place, and activate the decoy drone near the crash site. The decoy drone would leave a false breadcrumb trail, and lure searchers to another part of the ocean entirely. That way, searchers would never find the downed plane, and the disappearance would remain a mystery.
Alternatively, hijackers could use the same mechanism to make it look like the plane went in one direction, when it really went in another. Under this scenario, they might be able to take control of the plane by breaching the E/E bay, and fly it into their possession.
I presume this is probably too complicated/out-there, even for TV. Perhaps the hijackers could turn off the transponder at the designated point, and hide the plane in the shadow of a strategically-situated military craft. Meanwhile, the decoy drone could transmit signals along the planned trajectory, and make it look like the commercial flight was going as planned. It might take awhile for people on the ground to figure out the drone signal wasn't, in fact, the plane. By that point, the commercial flight would be long gone, skirting the boundaries between air spaces.
Annnnnd....that's more than enough weird conspiracy theory for one night. My brain is going off on some weird tangents. Definitely time for sleep, I think.
Thanks again for all of the help; I sincerely appreciate it. Have a good night!