Missing plane may have landed on a runway : U.S. official says

Theories about the missing Malaysian plane have been taking over headlines this week, and today we’ve got a new one: Maybe the missing plane landed on or near a remote Indian Ocean island chain.

“If all the power was lost to the aircraft or something happened to take out that part of the electrical system that would turn it off,” said Tom Haueter, former director of the NTSB Office of Aviation Safety. “But certainly one aspect of turning it off is because you don’t want to be seen.”

Aviation experts say total electrical failure is unlikely. So if it wasn’t accidental – who turned it off? And why?

The mystery is enough to make airline passengers a little nervous; but this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.

In 2009, Air France Flight 447 disappeared. It took five days for any debris to be found, and three years before authorities could reveal the cause: mechanical failure caused by ice.

In 2003, a Boeing 727 vanished after leaving Angola. The plane was never found.

If you’re having flashbacks to ‘Lost’, you’re not alone.

The newest theory is the plane could have landed on an island somewhere. Radar data suggests the jet was deliberately flying hundreds of miles off-course towards the Andaman Sea, where there are 535 uninhabited islands.

So was it a hijacking? A pilot suicide? Mechanical failure? Or will we find 239 people on an island waiting to hitch a ride?

Agencies/Canadajournal