Being a pilot in your home country, if you are in trouble but have enough fuel, you would be able to find your way home one way or the other, even in the darkest of nights. Even if the WX radar no longer works and can't be used in terrain mode, and all other instruments and coms are gone, by flying low enough they could spot some lights which would give them enough clues to get home.
If low enough they could also have used their cell phone to communicate.
And otherwise, they could just fly holding patterns at a steady altitude, using their last wind information, until day break and then land at the nearest airport.
The questions I have now is,
-why did MH370 cross the Malaysian peninsula at FL290?
If the intention was piracy, it doesn't make sense unless they already knew that the air force wouldn't do sh*t about it.
-Even if they knew that, why would they fly so high? They flew low enough to be just below RVSM airspace, but why would you do that if your intention is to be as stealthy as possible?
Were they flying as high as possible to get as much range as possible, yet avoiding RVSM airspace to avoid other traffic?
-Did the pirates expect incompetence and to have enough time to do whatever they wanted to do?
-The coast lines along the Malaysian peninsula are well-lit, so it's unlikely that pilots missed it and went straight out into the Strait.
-Isn't the Strait of Malacca "the place to be" of modern maritime piracy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_ ... of_Malacca
Come on people, it's obvious by now... the pirate activity in that Strait is abnormal.
They have taken tankers and huge cargo ships like it's nothing. A B772 is an easy target.