Right, ok. Thanks.
I'm not sure if there was a fire or mechanical failure since the pilots would've communicated. That about-face turn with the transponder switched off & no communications doesn't make sense if it was a result of a malfunction of some kind.
Well, just to be fair, if it was an emergency, and the plane was am unresponsive burning wreck in a hard left-hand turn in clear skies, as long as I wasn't losing altitude, I'd let the plane turn all it wanted while I fought to put out the fire. As long as it stays at altitude and I can see there's no one around to crash into me, I'm dealing with the emergency first. Once my crew and I have that sorted, I'm going to figure out why the plane is turning and fix that. Then I'm going to figure out where I am and what direction I'm pointed and come up with a plan. Hopefully at some point after the immediate danger of the fire had passed and I've assured the safety of my passengers and crew, we had a chance to get in touch with ATC, our company, a fishing trawler underneath us, anyone, and let them know what's going on, but that communication would be my last priority unless it was critical. Why keep flying in that direction for hours? No clue. You also have to bear in mind that the "fire" theory assumes a fire that spread so rapidly it knocked out the communications. Again, it's an extremely unlikely situation, but not impossible. It's the flying for 5 more hours that makes it virtually impossible. I don't want to say 100% impossible, but about as close as you can get. I can't imagine any situation that would result in the series of events that have presented themselves.
Then again, I'm still not 100% sold on the idea that they did fly for 5 more hours and won't be unless they come up with more data than the have now or, ideally, the wreckage. I'm not saying I don't believe it flew for 5 more hours, I'm saying I'm not convinced it did. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out it crashed shortly after contact was lost, but I also wouldn't be surprised to hear it flew 5 more hours and ended up off the coast of Australia.