Here is my updated theory which incorporates facts revealed since last week:
The Pilot is known to be a strong political supporter of an opposition politician -Ibraham, whose "guilty to charges of sodomy" conviction was reinstated earlier on the same day as this flight. Meaning he cannot participate in an upcoming election which some sources report he was bound to win.
The Pilot has seen bribes and corruption within his country. Earlier this very day he saw how corrupted the judicial branch is. He has long observed various corruptions and bribes within the airline industry, including cargo not being examined, passports being stolen and sold.
The Pilot had a friend - another pilot - over to play on the flight simulator a few months prior. That friend made an offhand, sarcastic remark, "Hey, things are so corrupt, even the military is compromised. I'd bet an unknown plane could cross our country and the military would never even know it!"
This thought sticks in the Pilot's head. He begins to wonder if this could really happen. He starts to play on the flight simulator, working out a plan as to how something like this could possibly happen. It is an intellectual challenge for him to "play this game". He eventually figures out a potential flight plan for something like this to happen. This is all just a "game" to the Pilot. But it is a fun game for him to play. He plays it over and over again.
The afternoon of the event, he becomes very upset when he learns that his chosen political candidate is going to be put back into jail. All hope is lost for changes to take place in his beloved country, to end the corruption.
He reports at the airport for duty that evening. He learns his co-pilot is to be the guy who was recently reprimanded by the airline for breaching cockpit safety by having females in the cockpit during a flight. This does not particularly please him. He is not in a good mood anyway. He and his wife had an argument before he left home earlier that evening. She accused him of spending too many hours in front of his flight simulator.
The flight takes off. The co-pilot is young and wants to engage in idle chatter. The Pilot is not in the mood for this. The co-pilot persists. The Pilot is rude to him, telling him to be quiet. At that point, just to see if anyone notices, the Pilot turns off the transponder. No one notices anything - not even the co-pilot. The co-pilot makes the last contact with ATC, saying "Alright, good night" instead of using the normal wording for sign-off. Once again, no one notices or acknowledges this was a deviation from protocol. The Pilot thinks to himself, "It really is as bad as I feared.
Strong feelings of frustration mixed with a bitter anger well up within the Pilot. He has tried so hard and for so long to be supportive of instituting needed changes within his country. He has been a strong and outspoken supporter of a political candidate who will once again be jailed on charges of sodomy. For this, he will be humiliated among his friends and co-workers. He remembers back when he was a child and life was simpler. There was never all the greed, the bribes, the people who did not do their job properly yet never got fired because they knew somebody. And terrible, dark feeling of helplessness and hopelessness descended upon him.
This is when the pilot turns off the second communication system. And even that action goes unnoticed by his inexperienced co-pilot. In his anger and frustration and darkness, for the Pilot the final game begins.
I have a headache, he says to the co-pilot. I want you to go to the back and get me something for it. The co-pilot looks at him and says What? Why not have one of the attendants bring it? And as he had rehearsed it many times at home in front of the simulator screen he replied, No, we are not busy here, but they are still busy with the passengers. Better for you to make a quick trip back. Besides, you can show yourself to the ladies, right? The co-pilot smiles and unbuckles his seatbelt.
As soon as the co-pilot leaves the cockpit, the Pilot begins to enter the well-rehearsed coordinates of "the game" into the autopilot. Next he leaves his seat and retrieves one of the small, portable oxygen tank setups from a small storage area. He places the tank on the floor beside his seat. He walks over to the cockpit door and manually changes the lock code from the inside. Now the door cannot be opened from the outside by anyone. The Pilot once again takes his seat and dons the facial mask for the oxygen setup. He puts the plane into a steep climb. It does not take long to reach 45,000 feet.
Once at height, the Pilot sits numbly as the plane makes a wide turn and heads in a westerly direction, back towards the Malaysian peninsula. Soon the plane begins its pre-programmed descent to 12,000 feet. The Pilot wonders how long it will take for the fighter jets to appear outside the cockpit window. He knows that he will fly over three radar centers, one of them with very new and up-to-date equipment. He figures he will be picked up on the radar. He wonders how long he can play with them before he is shot down. He sees the lights of Penang passing below him. But there are no fighter jets. None! Soon the Pilot is out over the ocean once again. No fighter jets follow him. But how can this be? he wonders.
The Pilot leans back in his seat and closes his eyes. He has won the game. But he has also lost the game
He then once again reprograms the autopilot. Settling back into his seat once again, he stares down at the vast ocean below him. After a while he reaches down and moves the valve on the portable oxygen tank to the Closed position.
