So What Happened To The Plane?

[JuliaL]

But that doesn't explain why the plane was flown -- by pilot and not autopilot -- to an altitude of 45,000 feet, which exceeds this aircraft's "safe" altitude

Why do you conclude that the climb to FL450 was intentional by a pilot rather than an accidentally trimmed climb followed by an override by the autopilot?
I don't know enough about these systems to speculate knowledgeably.

[Raeven]

But that doesn't explain why the plane was flown -- by pilot and not autopilot -- to an altitude of 45,000 feet, which exceeds this aircraft's "safe" altitude

Why do you conclude that the climb to FL450 was intentional by a pilot rather than an accidentally trimmed climb followed by an override by the autopilot?
I don't know enough about these systems to speculate knowledgeably.

Oh, me, either. I'm completely talking out my ass.

If it was JUST the climb to 45,000 feet, I'd agree... but the additional changes in altitude seem to indicate -- to me, anyway, as I continue to say -- a pilot at the controls, rather than anything autopilot would do.

But of course, reference the first line of my response here and give this speculation the weight to which you consider it due. Min asked for our pet theories; I'm offering mine.

[Cinjin]

An airliner at 35,000 feet vanishes without a trace or even a distress call.

What's everyone's pet theory?

I don't know, but it seems like every once in awhile, some plane or boat has to simply go missing - never to be heard from again.

It's just kinda what we do. It happens. We get wierded-out by it. We eventually shrug our shoulders, and then our kids invent conspiracy theories.

[JuliaL]

I just spent half an hour at
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/2...5000-feet/
and a couple of other sites.
Lots of people who know loads more than I do about how airliners and air navigation work all have opinions about what happened to flight 370.
And as far as I can tell, they don't have much more of a clue as to what actually happened than we do.

Cheers

[Ben Davis]

I'm still going to go with my gut instinct and say it was some sort of Gojira-related lizard intervention. I think that we should call on Matthew Broderick, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Akira Takarada, Mothra, Hedorah, Megaguirus and David Icke to kick his ass.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

The plane is in my vagina?

[tor]

Hijacked and crashed. It would have been found by now.
Crashed possibly because there was a fight on the plane.

[NoraBrimstone]

It crashed after travelling for hours in the wrong direction. Something happened to make someone turn the plane, whether it was a hijacker, the pilot, or someone else, who knows? It's possible that somehow (possibly due to a struggle?) cabin depressurisation occurred, leading to hypoxia which could have rendered everyone on board unconscious and the plane could have just continued on until it ran out of fuel and crashed.

[ShaMan]

What plane?

[psychoslice]

The plane is in my vagina?

So have they found the black box yet ?.