What Happened?

I'm not writing this so as to cause grief to any one not deserving of it, and its always a possibility that this would include everyone. I am simply wondering here about what could have happened to MH370, the flight that seemed to have vanished from its intended path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. I'm not a commercial pilot or a radar technician or anything like that, so I have no relevant experience in any area that might help solve the mystery. I am approaching the question more from the angle of writing an interesting fictional story. What really did happen? I haven't the slightest clue. What could have happened is a sea of possibilities I suppose. I should think that one of the prime considerations is that "the suspension of disbelief" not be taxed beyond the breaking point for the audience. It seems like the idea of bringing in aliens from other worldly space craft to dematerialize the airliner and its passengers would likely leave the reader resentful. So, I'm thinking of limiting the possibilities to a soup of those which have at least some sort of historical precedence, not specifically related, but perhaps by their spirit. And I would like to avoid a long chain of one in a billion chance technical malfunctions that have a probability less than the alien space craft encounter. Actually, I'm more of the mind that asking others to accept such an idea as "there were a very large number of radar screens that surely had information, but they were either turned off or the operators were not watching" just doesn't sound believable. To me, it would be more credible if I was told "the operators on duty that night were kidnapped by commandos in black helicopters", for it is easier to believe in an orchestrated act, even a highly complex one, than spontaneous wide spread incompetence of the scale necessary. There are a large number of theories concerning what might have happened, and a quick search for them will give you plenty of reading, so I won't deal with them here. I would like to address some thoughts I have regarding what I think should be considered in evaluating any of them. First off, a lot of speculating has been done concerning the notion that in some fashion one or both of the pilots may have been involved in some kind of suicidal plot. Of course, I did not know either of them, but I have known a lot of pilots, and my impression of the captain is that of a very dedicated professional, one of those who probably dedicated his life to the profession, probably from an early age. I believe he was one who was "all about flying", enjoyed it immensely, took great pride in his skills, and though he might have been approaching retirement, I can't see him deliberately charting a nine hour flight to nowhere. The co-pilot seems to me perhaps a bit of a playboy type, not uncommon among the pilot fraternity, who may have enjoyed the status and perks of the job a bit more than the actual flying, but still I see him as one who envisioned an entertaining and mostly enjoyable future. Again, he just doesn't seem the type to sit quietly as his plane is flying off to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. To me, I would expect that a pilot, even supposing he was intending something of a suicidal nature, would more likely try a few crazy stunts along the way. Perhaps something like a few loops around the Penang bridge, or trying to fly between the Petronas Towers would better fit the character of self destructive pilots. It still remains a possibility, and it would make for a more simple story at least up to the point where you investigate the psychology behind such a scenario. It also doesn't rule out the possibility that either or both of the pilots had some sort of involvement in the disappearance for some other reason. I would be comfortable with the assumption that either one could have had the required knowledge of the aircraft, the radar and communications systems and the flying skills necessary, but to involve either of them seems like it would require some sort of extraordinary incentive. I can't see it as something that could occur on a very short notice. If it were to have been a situation involving planing by either of the pilots, it would be hard for them to avoid leaving a clue regarding what they might do after the mission, or what they wouldn't be doing? It does seem at least possible that there could have been some sort of cascading electrical failure, perhaps caused by a neutron upset that led to a latch-up that caused cascading havoc, but it requires too great a stretch to imagine such a failure could affect everything but the plane's ability to continue flying for several hours, as many believe. Off to another set of questions: Airplanes like a 777 are quite expensive, true, but the value of one acquired by nefarious means is of little value, as every single part of it is easily identifiable, and the cost of keeping it hidden would very quickly surpass its value. It seems to me that anyone contemplating, much less, preparing a plan to steal a plane would know the costs and simply place an order for a new one. The number of people required to receive and conceal a 777 is not small. Keeping them quiet would only be easy if they were so dumb as to participate and not expect to be extinguished directly after their work was done. The waters surrounding Malaysia have been very busy for a very long time, day and night there are ships of all sizes and descriptions traveling them. All of these and likely others would have radar systems to keep them aware of traffic on, under, or above the surface. How could it be that NONE of them noticed anything. Come to think of it, shortly after the first suspicion that the plane had gone off course, I would have thought that the word would quickly spread and all of them would be busy looking for it. It seems very odd to me that the operators of the airline wouldn't be begging everyone for a sighting, or radar contact, or some kind of help in locating it within a very short time...fifteen minutes at the extreme. But its been suggested that it flew for several hours without detection. This post is getting long....I'd better continue it later.