nestork wrote in :

What's the most perplexing aspect of this whole thing is the fact that
it appears that the plane's transponders were intentionally turned off,
and that leads to all kinds of speculation as to why someone on board
would do that.

It leads *me* to wonder why it's even *possible* to do that. What legitimate reason could there
ever be for turning off the transponder on a passenger airliner while in flight?