Google hasn't erased it, they use commerical satellite images. Pulau Perak is way to tiny for anyone to bother sending a satellite over it to take a photo. Even if they did you wouldn't see much at all. Not worth the time and effort.

The obvious question is did it fly over Indonesia westbound.

Question is how far did they manage to track it after Pulau Perak? I wonder if the Indos have checked their Radar data?

You do realise this 777 could be at the bottom of the Indian Ocean 2000 nm west of Indo and never be found!!

If it was obtained, I would fly it in the opposite direction of search groups. I would fly to a remote location with near to none cell/radar coverage. On the other hand, that would be between Malaysia and Australia (my guess). But then you need a pretty solid strip to land it and you need fuel to refuel it. The third question would be, what to do with it then? What to do with the PAX (who may be pretty hungry by now). There are no political hot topics in that area for which a 777 could be used to do something. Getting more bizarre.

If it was only tracked by primary radar on its reverse course how did they know it was at a lower altitude?

As mentioned many times Military Radars obviously have the capability to determine Position AND Altitude on un identified targets. ( for obvious reasons !! )

GE (Google Earth) doesn't have 100% coverage of the earth, most notably small islands offshore. In Google maps, it is drawn, but only sea is seen in the sat view.
Its not a conspiracy....

Typical Eastern Behavior when nervous, cut them a little slack.

Perhaps the pilot was just as confused about geography as you are.
Please tell me that was a typo... you mean westbound over the Malay peninsula surely?

edited...OH, you mean after flying sw over Malaysia, which is accepted now. Apologies for questioning your geography.

No he meant what he said, it flew west south west from IGARI back to the Strait of Mellaca and the question is "did it continue west over Indonesia?"

Only for the lungs of other pilot. Smokes and Fire hazard is a total red herring.

OMG! I've done that but never crashed. Very lucky; that's all I can say ;)

Yes as a young F/O I've invited pretty young things to sit in the jump seat on 737's in Malaysia as well ( 23 years ago )

I REALLY hope for an outcome where it is made abundantly clear that the pilots did everything in their power to bring this airplane home safely. Our industry is becoming infested with insincere operators and oversight is becoming more and more diluted.

Either that they were fighting to their last breath in case of a hi-jacking OR that they did everything possible to bring back a damaged airplane to KL. Maybe with no electrics (no comms, no transponder/ACARS) possibly smoke, fire, pressurization problems - all while trying to find their way home relying on ground features only, finding and following the West Coast down to KL... I hope...

Anyone else notice how sarcastic the police inspector was when he said they were "co-operating with Chinese" and then laughed about some plan or similar?

They don't seem to be taking it very seriously, which only adds fuel to the fire of things we aren't aware about (yet).

Glen, immediately to the west of peninsular Malaysia is the rather large Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Interpol rules out terrorist attack: BBC News - Malaysia Airlines MH370: Stolen passports 'no terror link'

Just as a side note, acknowledging the guys on stolen passports were probably not as significant as initially thought, aren't there less risky routes to Europe from SE Asia than going via China?

Wouldn't be my first choice. Why would they go via Beijing?

I have been in Asia for over a decade. An Asian person laughing or smiling/joking may often suggest nervousness rather than humour. Please correct me if you think I am wrong about this. Still not had an answer to: has anyone checked the Paracels yet?