I think that he didn't realize it was in hold mode. They were coming in high so they switched from SPD to FLCH (flight change) and then turned FLCH off. Doing that engages HOLD; I think we can assume that the pilot thought that doing that would send the A/T back to SPD. Thinking it was maintaining the airspeed, he…

We negotiate with terrorists all the time. But trite movie dialogue aside, these guys were not terrorists, they are Taliban. Since they were not going to be tried as terrorists, or be tried for war crimes, they would have to be released anyway once our conflict in Afghanistan was over. Isn't it better to let them go a…

...or we just engineer planes to be extremely safe so that accidents almost never happen. That seems like the easier way.

It's probably easier to justify if your family owns the company. And a country.

You can whistle dixie all you want, but that neo-confederate version of history is bull. Southern politicians were so fearful of the idea of Lincoln as President - a man who never said he wanted total emancipation - that they turned traitor against the country they claimed to belong to. That was because slavery was…

My dad had one too when I was young, but ours was light pink and outfitted with an 8-track player that hadn't worked since the '70s. Always took at least three tries to get her started.

Not bad, but let's see him try to land with an asymmetrical gear failure:

Exactly. Maybe a bit less like OnStar because it does actually have its practical uses. (Love the screename btw, beautiful plane)

All airplanes do have a tracking system, its called a transponder. Someone on the plane turned it off (most likely). You are confusing this and the ACARS system.

ACARS was never meant to be a safety or location system, but rather a convenience system for an airline's maintenance staff. It's more like OnStar, which while it may have its perks, is mostly just a way for a dealer to get more money out of you.

That's on the top of my list also. Remember that flight attendants usually have access as well (meaning either they're in on it, or they were being forced)

Pilot incapacitation can explain the lack of any calls to ATC, but it doesn't explain the transponder going dark. If the pilots passed out, due to either a gradual or rapid depressurization, the plane should have kept flying all the way to Beijing like the Helios flight several years ago.

Saying Mika from Morning Joe is the "Margaret Dumont of cable news" is pretty spot-on, though.