I'm a non-pro, as this post will show, but, like the rest of the world, I've been speculating on this flight. Is the following plausible?

The 777 can land anywhere with 4k-5k feet of flat pavement that's at least 100 feet wide. (I think it takes 7k feet to take off again, though.) It doesn't have to be an airfield. It doesn't have to be on an island. There is PLENTY of mainland between the tip of Thailand and the furthest point it could have travelled on its fuel that would meet that criteria.

The aircraft alone is worth $300 million bucks. The passengers are worth untold amounts. Who knows what valuables were in cargo that were attractive to the hijackers?

I do not believe it crashed. When planes crash, they automatically send out an emergency beacon picked up by satellite. They leave massive debris fields. On water, they leave massive oil slicks that would have been detected by now. That plane was carrying a ton of fuel at the point it went off the grid.

The plane could've flown under the radar level to reach its destination (under 5,000 feet). This uses more fuel and would not enable it to go as far as Kazakstan or whatever; farther north places I've seen on the map of possibilities.

Whoever was at that controls was using waypoints while still flying over water and then, I believe, flew under the radar to its landing spot.

The only thing that baffles me about this scenario is why a demand for money hasn't been made yet. But then, maybe they need more time to get their ducks in a row on that.

Anyone?