According to the Wall Street Journal, two US Investigators have suggested the missing plane may have been in the air for four hours after its last known location, citing information transmitted from the plane’s engines.



Four hours is a long time for a Boeing 777-200, which has a cruise speed of 897km/h. This gives it a hypothetical travel distance of 3,588km in those four hours, which could put it anywhere in this circle:

Map shows a circle with a radius of 3,588 km from the plane's last known position. Source: Google, Data SIO, NOAA, US Navy, NGA, GEBCO, US Dept of State Geographer, Image Landsat Photograph: Google, Data SIO, NOAA, US Navy, NGA, GEBCO, US Dept of State Geographer, Image Landsat

So yes, technically in this time it could have flown to say, Broome in Western Australia. Or anywhere in most of India, China or any number of other countries. It probably didn’t however, because I’m fairly sure we would have noticed it.

Thanks to Airchive on Twitter for the original map, which I’ve double-checked against my own calculations.