[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Well, this is admittedly a bizarre and far fetched idea, but what if it didn't crash? What if its been hijacked, and taken to a remote location as part of some sort of ransom plot or to be used as a political bargaining tool?

Complete hogwash, I know, but the lack of answers makes the mind wander.....

I've wondered about something like this as well.

Very few things realistically happen in an airplane that don't give the crew time to communicate. Catastrophic airframe or mechanical failure (rare), massive explosion (aircraft or terrorist), shot down, or hijacking. If something happened dramatic enough that caused the aircraft to break up in flight and at altitude, I'm shocked that they haven't found pieces.