Flight MH370

The disappearance of flight MH370 last Saturday 8 March is getting more and more confusing, shrouded in clouds of mystery and drip fed information.

It is now apparent that the demise of this flight was not caused by a catastrophic hardware event, or even an Act of God, a flock of birds, leaves on the line... There was for sure human intervention on this unscheduled route alteration. Was it hijacked? The answer is yes, but why?

If this was a planned terrorist action, no one so far has claimed any credible responsibility. And hijacking airplanes for terrorist purposes is nowadays a bit out of fashion, extremely difficult, includes negotiations, a landing place, an organization, possible exchange of prisoners, political claims and gain. Nothing of the sort has happened so far.

So... the purpose of this human intervention has to be something else. And something else has to be related with value. This operation had to be incredibly well planned, people with in-depth knowledge of aircrafts, navigation, airport security, cabin security. You cannot board a plane now with guns or other aggressive implements, so the hijacking had to be made with other means of persuasion unknown to us at present.

Going back to value then... What was inside that airplane that was so valuable to warrant such a refined organization? Not the 239 people (more like 235 actually!) They have no value... at all, not even to bargain with, they're just "collateral". But one? One of them? Just the one?

It reminds me of the Tintin story Flight 714. Who is the Laszlo Carreidas that boarded the plane that night? Was there a Chinese / Malayan billionaire with his laptop active so funds from his bank account could be transferred under duress? Or anything more valuable? Is anyone looking for the evil "Rastapopoulos" as we speak?

Maybe this airplane was having some special military equipment on its luggage privy to the Malaysian and Chinese authorities, anything from microchips to spying codes or databases. That would explain why the authorities on both countries are so sparse on revelations and why the military radars were following this aircraft. Someone fell asleep on his/her watch that night though, as by the time flight MH370 disappeared from their radars, it was too late to scramble the Malaysian Air Force to go and have a closer look. The flight carried on for hours after its disappearance, probably on auto pilot at low altitude to avoid detection, and with only 235 people on board as the 4 hijackers parachuted themselves at a specific prearranged location.

A Hollywood blockbuster looms already...