Being a person that works in media, I can appreciate the efforts made by the cable news networks to milk as much out of the drama of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in March as they can. This kind of story increases viewership. The 24 hour news channels are always desperate for audience since news ebbs and flows depending on what's going on in the world.
A good mystery generally piques the public's interest. This story certainly has because a lot of people have flown on a plane at some point in their life and it seems inconceivable that a huge Boeing 777 jet can just vanish. What if you boarded a flight that had the same fate? Scary thought for some.
Depending on which day you watch CNN it's possible to get what is now a rotating set of speculation about what happened. It ranges from mechanical failure, passengers gone rogue, pilots with malicious intent, terrorism, hijacking, you name it and it's been suggested.
I've gotten the sense that I'm in the minority with my theory because in my opinion, it's the most logical. Most of the theories I've seen floated on television have a more sinister undertone especially since ships, planes, and satellites have searched for any trace of the plane and come up empty. I think that there was mechanical failure to blame. Not exactly sinister.
I read an article that was posted by Wired Magazine that offered a really solid explanation: A electrical fire in the cockpit. Everything that has happened -- why the plane's location devices were turned off, why it turned west, why there was no more communication from the aircraft, and a host of other events that is clearly known about what the plane did are explained in this article. The article is written from a pilot's perspective and it offers a reasonable theory. Read it by clicking here.
One thing this article can't accurately address is where is the plane now? I have a feeling it didn't go as far as where they are currently searching (off the west coast of Australia). I also think there's a shot that the plane came down intact and didn't break up when it hit the water. If the outer skin of the plane was burned through due to a fire in the cockpit then it would have sank fairly quickly but there wouldn't be any debris to spot by satellites because everything is still inside of the plane. If it didn't break apart then there would not be debris floating in the ocean. It would all be contained.
It's a sad ending to over 200 lives no matter what happened. I hope they eventually find the plane so that the families of those on board have some sort of closure and the final chapter is written so we all know the ending. Then the news channels can go back to boring politics.
