The Washington Post reports in one of its stories re the timeline that at 1:07 local the last ACARS message was received and that according to U.S. officials it denoted that a change of course was programmed into the FMS. This was later refuted by the Malaysian government…whom are we to believe. Sometime shortly after that 1:07 xmision the data stream to ACARS was terminated…there was no 1:37 data stream. At 1:19 ATC receives the “Alright, Goodnight” voice xmision.

Question…IF the ACARS data packet does include the FMS flight plan program, could a change have been entered and detected without it having been executed? This would mean that it could have been entered anytime after the 12:40 takeoff. We are being told that the course did not change until after the xponder shut down after the 1:19 contact.

I’m sorry if I am not expressing myself as clearly as possible, but I am curious to understand the sequence of events early on in the flight. Thanks.