239 people and a 300,000 pound airplane, gone without a trace. Pretty hard to believe, but it seems to have happened. Had a wreck turned up by now, or someone taken credit for it, we would at least know, however horrific, what had happened. But nature abhors a vacuum, so all sorts of… interesting theories have been surfacing:

• Crew committed suicide
• Massive mechanical failure
• Plane landed by hostiles somewhere, to be repurposed as a flying bomb
• Plane captured by aliens
• Plane still flying around.. but in 1939
• Etc.

In the absence of any evidence, it’s tough to make a guess as to what really happened. But since there are no consequences, I’m going to take a stab at it anyway.

I think the plane was hijacked. But some time afterward, as with United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, either the crew or the passengers attempted to retake the plane, and either the plane crashed as a result of the struggle, or the hijackers deliberately crashed the plane to avoid capture. There aren’t many facts available as of this date, but this scenario is consistent with the few we have.

I’m sure that in a few weeks, we’ll know for sure. Stay tuned.