If I call my cell phone, I hear it ringing for several seconds before it actually rings. The cell phone isn't generating that ringing, the telephone company is, and cell phone companies often send a ringing message back to the caller well before they've connected to the phone.

So, unfortunately, it doesn't tell you anything. If they were really ringing, the cell phone company could tell which tower the phone was talking to, and we'd already have found the plane because it would be within 50km or so of the tower (less, if there are multiple towers nearby with overlapping coverage).

If cell phones are on and within range of a cell service, the cell phone can be pinged and a location (within a few metres) pinpointed. Canadian SAR have done this on more than one occasion, finding the wreckage quickly once the coordinates are known.

Who knows if the phones were ringing. My phone rings to an incoming caller when it is turned off before going to voice mail. The only way to be sure is ping the phone and listen for a return signal.

There are so many possible causes, speculation is pointless, other than for entertainment. Speedbird 38, back in 2008 lost both engines on final into EGLL, not a good thing to happen. It took a very long time for the AIB to figure out the cause, the culprit was long gone by the time they got to the wreckage. This did not stop armchair experts figuring it out long before the AIB, they did not even need to look at the aircraft!

Chinese spot possible wreckage...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...rash-live.html

.. And the sun will be coming up soon.

http://online.wsj.com/news/article_e...MDEwMzExNDMyWj

Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. BA 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program.

I don't really believe in aliens. However, I think that the possibility does exist that the plane was highjacked and even landed safely somewhere in some remote area or airfield and the future use for the highjacked plane might be a more sinister and evil plan.

I also believe that at this point the media doesn't even know everything, the authorities are most likely not revealing everything. Military radar must have picked up something, even if all the relevant devices on the airplane have been deliberately disabled and turned off.

If there was a real crash, somebody must have seen something and airplane parts would have been found somewhere by now. Something, no matter how small and drifting in the water must have drifted to a shore by now, or seen by a ship etc...

The WSJ article is false, according to Malaysian authorities who say this morning that Boeing techs have been with them in Kuala Lampur since day 1 and the issue has never been raised.
The man on the oil rig who says he saw it burning in the air gets my vote.

Interesting that they are denying it when they now say:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malaysi...west-1.2570313

Or it could have landed..

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26544710

I think the one thing we can be sure of is that they're not revealing everything. Particularly if they do think it might be a hijacking.

Question is, WHY ?

Why after all that happened in 9-11 and with terror threats being real is it at all possible for a transponder to be switched off ? and civilian aircraft able to fly around, at low level undetected. This needs to be looked at by the FAA and sorted soon as.

We can track company vehicles, trucks, and cell phones, why are we not tracking passenger jets.

This is what I find weird! NASA can talk to people in space, and yet we can't track a plane? I even have an app to tell me where my phone is if I ever lose it!!

I think that's actually a plausible option. As said, if there was a crash, airplane parts must have been seen by somebody somewhere, or the washed ashore somewhere by now. It's not that this particular region of the world is completely deserted.

Maybe the criminal motive was simply theft of an airplane, out of whatever reason? Given the fact that security at airports is rather tight these days, I would say that chances are high that a passenger could definitely not bring a gun on board and overpower the crew. This thought in mind would put the pilot and or copilot into play again.

They could have disabled all the tracking devices and flown low, below radar to some remote airfield. However, flying low also means burning more fuel. This could explain the possibility of the engines being on for another 4 hrs. However any experienced pilot would have know that the engine was transmitting data and it would eventually be noticed.

Very good point re. 9/11 etc.

What if one could have brought an electronic device on board which has jamming capability. Thus certain signals and communication with ATC are not transmitted?