Six days after vanishing without a trace, a new theory is surfacing that missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 could have landed somewhere. INSIDE EDITION reports on the latest details.
There's a shocking new theory in the deepening mystery of Flight 370. What if the plane didn't crash and kept flying, and even landed?
The missing jetliner may have flown for as long five hours after dropping off radar, and could have reached as far as Africa.
The Wall Street Journal says, "U.S. investigators suspect missing Malaysian Airlines plane flew on for hours" and are actively investigating "the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location."
Evidence is growing that the plane took a sharp turn to the west before disappearing from radar.
The final recorded blip appears to show an unidentified plane 200 miles Northwest of the tiny island of Penang off the coast of Western Malaysia.
Adding to the mystery, the plane's transponder was off.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent explains how in a flight simulator with pilot Mitch Casado.
Trent asked, "How easy is it to turn off the transponders and just disappear from radar?"
Watch Casado Talk About The Missing Plane
Pointing to control panels inside the cockpit of a flight simulator, Casado said, "A matter of seconds. This is the transponder down here, and right now it's on. All you have to do to turn it off and disappear from radar is three clicks to the left."
Former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo told INSIDE EDITION she's skeptical that hijackers seized the plane and then landed it somewhere.
Schiavo said, "If that plane made it to those countries without the United States of America's surveillance capabilities picking it up, I think we would fire the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff and on down."
Watch More Of Schiavo's Interview
In a YouTube video, the missing jetliner's pilot showed off a homemade flight simulator, leading to speculation that he might have been practicing to seize the jet and fly it to Africa, or even Pakistan.
Another theory is that the pilot and passengers fell victim to hypoxia, a sudden depressurization and lack of oxygen on board that could render everyone unconscious in just 30 seconds.
Schiavo said, "Even if everyone on board had perished, the plane could go on."
Six days have now passed since the Malaysia jetliner vanished.
Yesterday, it looked like there was a major break when the Chinese government released satellite photos showing what appeared to be debris from the missing plane. But hopes were dashed when it turned out that the images are probably two boats parked together in the ocean.
The website digitalglobe.com says more than 80,000 citizen volunteers from around the world are scouring satellite photographs for any sign of the missing plane.
Schiavo said, "I like that effort. People want to help. And frankly, no one else has come up with anything. If you have that many eyes and that many people willing to search the Earth for these 239 souls, I actually think it's a great idea."
