Originally Posted by abelenky

This, and many related theories seem far-fetched, and don't seem to address a big problem in my mind: the passengers.

It seems impossible to me that the passengers had no idea what was going on.
The in flight entertainment system shows the GPS position of the plane, and I believe it can only be turned off by the flight attendants
(are there controls for the Entertainment system in the cockpit?)

Even if it could be disabled, there is always the chance that a passenger looks out the window and realizes they're over the ocean when they should be over land.
A passenger could even have a GPS.
(I've had my GPS on an occasional flight and watched it for fun.)

If there was this big, nefarious plot, it must involve dealing with the passengers, or just straight-gambling that they don't notice what is going on. That's a big chance to take in a James Bond / Lex Luther style plot.

As a result, until there's some evidence that the passengers were controlled in some fashion, I don't accept the conspiracy theories, and continue to believe this is some bizarre, tragic accident.