Originally Posted by
FlyJSH
How about this...
There was a structural failure like Aloha 243 that took out the O2 system and some electrics. The crew is incapacitated and transponder and other reporting systems are taken out. the engines continue to run, but nobody is awake to manage the aircraft.
While I dont suggest this IS what happened, it is a plausible solution (and no aliens were required).
Pretty straightforward but doesn't explain how a new flight plan ended up in the FMS.
Also the Aloha bird popped because of years of extreme duty...many very short hops at low altitude in the salt air. They (Boeing, regulatory agencies, airlines) learned from that, I think it would be unlikely it would happen on a modern airplane that sees two duty cycles/day.