Holy crap, this is a scary theory – a known structural defect on 777s could have slowly caused decompression that disoriented and then left passengers on MH370 unconscious:
A structural failure related to the flaw could not only have led to a slow decompression that left the 239 passengers and crew on the missing flight unconscious, it would also have disabled satellite communications, including the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which transmits data of the plane’s location automatically.
It would also have rendered the plane invisible to all but ‘primary radar’, which has a range of only 100 nautical miles.
“A slow decompression (e.g. from a golfball-sized hole) would have gradually impaired and confused the pilots before cabin altitude (pressure) warnings sounded,” it said. “If the decompression was slow enough, it’s possible the pilots did not realize to put on oxygen masks until it was too late. [It] also explains why another pilot thirty minutes ahead heard “mumbling” from MH370 pilots.”
The truth could be stranger than all the fiction imagined around terrorism and stolen passports and whatnot.