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Latest indications are that the plane made a steep ascent to over 45,000 feet near when it is thought to have been overtaken. Pundits claim this is indicative of a cabin struggle. On the contrary; if seeking to avoid passenger revolt, a depressurized climb to that level would render everyone without an oxygen mask immediately unconscious. Accomplices to the acting pilot could then quickly dispatch travelers without opposition before the craft was returned to a normal cruising altitude. Actually, it is a devious scheme.

The above scenario is the least likely of all probable outcomes. Still, it is hardly of the lunatic fringe. A well-funded and moderately trained group could conceivably accomplish such a goal. Furthermore, it would not require a cast of thousands. Probably 20 men (as in a similar case in 2001) could succeed: five to commandeer the airplane in the early morning hours when passenger resistance would be light, five to operate equipment at the landing area, and another 10 as grunt work (clearing camouflage from the tarmac, etc.).

Yet bear in mind that although there is a vast overpopulation of seven billion souls on the globe, the surface is still incredibly large with vast areas almost totally uninhabited. Despite the fact that the planet is dotted with cargo and passenger ships, oil rigs, airlines, militaries, and dozens of micro-islands, it is not implausible that no one would witness an explosion or see debris for many days”€”especially if they began searching the wrong area.

There’s been enough hack journalism consisting of baselessly maligning the pilots absent any proof. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had a home flight simulator. This is not suspicious and is not evidence of anything other than that the man enjoyed his work. Millions of current and former railroadmen have extensive basement networks, yet neither CSX nor Amtrak consider them members of a terrorist organization. Likewise, first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid had at least once before brought pretty blondes into his cabin. If this is damning, half the airmen on Earth are guilty.

Most of the past week my premise was that mechanical failure caused loss of this flight. I became dubious as soon as authorities claimed terrorism was almost certainly not a factor. When conflicting search parameters complete with “false positive” Chinese satellite images and newly emerged “pings” were disclosed, grave doubts arose.

At this point mere accident is still a possibility. With two men traveling under assumed names, from a state with a history of terrorism, on a plane which vanished from ground radar but which is now known to have flown at least four additional hours, combined with repeated governmental disinformation, only a fool wouldn”€™t recalibrate his metric of potential outcomes.

Was Malaysia Flight 370 hijacked in the middle of the night and diverted to an unknown landing zone where passengers were disposed of with the plane being repainted for use in a future terrorist act?

Or is it all as simple as an unexplained accident?

Let’s just say the answers are still up in the air.