wrote in message
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stuff snipped

That's an interesting point. Didn't Yossarian constantly practice
ditching
his plane for his eventual escape to Switzerland in Catch-22? Until you
mentioned that, I really didn't think there would be any potentially
incriminating evidence to be found concerning the simulator. The big
question is if he did it, WHY? Family member held hostage? Promise of a
huge payday for delivering a plane that size intact somewhere? A need to
be
remembered like D.B. Cooper as the man who "did it first and got away
with
it?"

He may have been using his simulator to practice flying low, through
the mountains to get under ther radar and take this plane to Tibet or
one of the Stans.

Once he got out of the immediate search area, it is possible a random
blip popping up, might not attract that much attention.

This plane could be under a tarp somewhere in the Taklimakan Desert
... or just wadded up on the side of a mountain.

This incident has some pretty high-tech planning according to some reports
since the circuits that were disabled required knowledge that most pilots
wouldn't have. If you believe the reports, that is. Someone wanted to
conceal where that plane was going. That would be much more important to a
thief or someone wanting to hold the plane for ransom that it would be to a
suicidal pilot. But then again, it's probably a mistake to expect a
suicidal person to behave rationally.

While the level of expertise seems too much for the Chinese Muslim
separatists to execute, there are helpful intelligence services all over the
world that would train them just to make the Chinese go through hell.
Russians, Syrians, Iranians, etc.

--
Bobby G.