Is Somebody Missing a Plane?

Tom EgelhoffPublished: March 19, 2014

UALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MARCH 11: A MAS plane is seen on the tarmac on March 11, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Officials have expanded the searh area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to include more of the Gulf of Thailand between Malayisa and Vietnam and land along the Malay Pensinusula. The flight carrying 239 passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Thailand was reported missing on the morning of March 8 after the crew failed to check in as scheduled. Relatives of the missing passengers have been advised to prepare for the worst as authorities focus on two passengers on board travelling with stolen passports. (Photo by How Foo Yeen/Getty Images)

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 seems to be missing. You might have heard a sound bite about it on your local news. On March 8^th Flight 370 on a flight to China just went away. And, for the past 11 days, we’ve all been subjected to every possible scenario of what could have happened to it.

Did It Crash?

When Flight 370 went off the radar most so called experts assumed the plane had some kind of problem and crashed. Chinese satellite thought they spotted what might be wreckage in the water but this report didn’t pan out. Oil slicks were also spotted and discounted. With much speculation on which direction the plane flew the search area has expanded to approximately 7 million square miles.

Was Flight 370 Hijacked?

I remember the days when you could fly just by going to the airport and getting on a plane. No security, no computer in the tray, kept my shoes on, no strip searches, and we seemed to fly pretty safely.

But all that changed when people started hijacking planes to Cuba in the 70s. Money and parachutes brought us locked cockpits and a new standard operating procedure. You were told to keep your seat, let the hijackers take you wherever it was they were going and you’d probably be released. All that changed in 2001 when hijackers started crashing planes into buildings.

So the second idea floated over the airwaves was probably a couple of Iranian passengers with stolen passports had hijacked the plane.

Did Someone Hack the Onboard Computer?

Another popular theory is that someone, either in the cockpit, or on the ground before takeoff, entered a few keystrokes and directed Flight 370 to a new destination.

Two anonymous US officials told The New York Times that the first turn that took the plane off course was not done manually in the cockpit. They are convinced that someone with a working knowledge of the plane’s computer systems changed the planes final destination.

Some Final Thoughts

If Flight 370 had been flying to Bermuda we’d have our answer. The mother ship came down and just swooped it up for a little experimentation. As newsworthy as that might be it’s probably far down the list in actuality.

Einstein often said, “The simplest theory is probably the right one.” A crash is probably the simplest and most logical. But a hijacking would sure make a great future Tom Clancy type movie of the week.

What’s your theory? Think you have the answer to this Twilight Zone event?