TonyC, I wasn't jumping to any conclusions. The BBC reported the next morning that Malaysian officials didn't alert anyone until after the airplane didn't arrive at its destination. How is that inappropriate? Also, it has been repeatedly stated that his question is beyond ridiculous. The airplane left Malaysian ATC airspace in 40 minutes. it is reasonable to assume that it took no more than another hour to leave the military's radar after traveling on a "known international route." Why should they waste an incredible amount of money scrambling fighters for a non-threat assuming any were actually available to be scrambled. I would be willing to bet money there weren't. If it weren't for Payne Stewart's plane being in the vicinity of a training sortie, no one would have ever known what happened to him.

So, why keep asking "what if" if it's a completely irrelevant scenario? What if the plane entered a hold and ran out of gas over the mainland? Who cares? What if it went all the way to Europe and they scrambled European fighters? Why aren't we asking those questions? It's because they are irrelevant and tell us nothing about the current situation.