In no particular order and only a guess...

India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Korea South, Korea North, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Bhutan, Australia.

Yes a slightly bigger SAR area....

Ok, so where is there a flat surface long enough to land the plane - and out of the way where it won't be seen?

Thinking outside the box...

For a moment, let's assume it is a hijacking. Either demands are being kept secret, or there have been no demands. Why do people usually hijack a plane? To defect, for ransom, to exchange for political prisoners, to make a 'statement'... What if there was someone in particular on the plane the hijackers wanted? The passenger who's name the Chinese redacted bothers me....

Surely any airspace a hijacked and unidentified plane flew through would have raised suspicion by now. Doesn't it seem more simple that the wreckage just hasn't been located yet? As much as I'd prefer the plane was hijacked and is in hiding somewhere with everyone relatively safe, my gut says something catastrophic happened.

90% of Mongolia, 80% of Siberia, 75% of Australia?

Unfortunately it is more than likely somewhere close to where they are looking in the South China Sea.

JAL123 had been repaired by Boeing, and had been certified safe to fly.

Please note that I am not suggesting the idea that MH370 was lost as a result of post-repair structural failure. I do not believe there is enough information at this point to advance any hypothesis. We need more hard data. There is very little hard data at this time.

I am merely noting that there is historical precedent for an inadequate manufacturer repair leading to an in-flight structural failure, with hull loss, and with massive loss of life. It is one of many different possibilities.

As the flight was a code share with China Southern might it be possible that they were the intended target if it proves to be a terrorist action ?

Not all hijackers are smart, and they wouldn't be the first people to find themselves on a different airline to which they thought they'd be flying.

This is becoming a joke were it not so tragic for victims and family.

"Looking in the West of the country" must be a mistake on the part of a reporter. What was probably intended to be a reference to looking to the West of the presumed crash site has been distorted.

There is no reason to look to the western side of the country at all and apart from a couple of airports there is really no place for a 777 to land and it is heavily populated

Don't suspect the Malaysians of a sinister cover-up. They lack the skill for that. Incompetence in most things is their strong suit.

The plane would have crossed a large area of mountainous jungle on its route over central Malaysia but I believe it was still being tracked after it crossed the coast

No, I was watching the interview. The Malaysian commanding general specifically said that they had placed aircraft to look for debris off the coast of west Malaysia, and he specifically mentioned Penang.

Over at airliners.net they seem to have found pictures of the fake Italian's and the fake Austrian's eTickets.

Some ominous things here....

- Tickets numbers sequential
- Issued by same agency on 3/6 (per airliners.net)
- Exact same fare
- Different destinations but both via KUL-PEK-AMS-(final)

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net.../842775444.png
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net.../842775482.png

So to continue the conspiracy theory of a hidden agenda, since facts are a little slow...

After
2 stolen passports escalated to 4, now back to only 2
a debris field that is quite likely to be lit glasshouses on land
a possible turnback supported by military radar confirming civil radar
upcoming dusk

What's next to push this well into tomorrow?

Could buoy data could help locate the plane? Seems if the plane went into the sea at least some disturbance could be noted in a shallow sea. Tsunami watch systems:

National Data Buoy Center

Let's figure this out
 

It's the middle of the afternoon over here, and I am not about to shut off my systems to go to sleep. Taiwan lost a young lady, her husband, and two children on one of "my" Boeing aircraft, and the FBI called me at 6AM looking for any info I might have.

I am sending the investigators to the Leshan (Taiwan) PAVE PAWS site to see which areas of an expanded SAR their tracking might have already ruled out.

If the a/c was turned back ,would the nearest 'big' airport be Penang?

This might explain why the search area is now including seas west of Penang, which is heading towards indonesian airspace.over 200 miles west of the last reported radar contact.

I think that "clarification" was just that only 2 passports were identified as stolen. Likely they may well still be investigating 4 passengers onboard.

MISSING MH370: Chinese rescue force reaches suspected site of missing plane - Latest - New Straits Times

Quote:
Don't suspect the Malaysians of a sinister cover-up. They lack the skill for that. Incompetence in most things is their strong suit.
nice to bring bigotry into the thread.




Nope not bigotry. Personal experience of working with Malaysian government's public and private companies and organisations for many years.

Not having a go at the people mate just the bureaucrats and politicians.

Well, I'm impressed how someone can find the tickets. I wonder if those running the investigation have done the same. I know we are building conspiracy theories, but two guys with stolen passports just happen to buy a ticket, one after the other, at the same place on the same day. Coincidence? I don't think so.