[ventus45]

I have a concern with the DATES of the sim files. Most people seem to assume that they are true and correct as to when they were actually run. I think they only represent at best, when they were "last run".

Any given flight plan could have been created months before, and run multiple times, each time changing fuel load, course, speed, whatever, not to mention changing flight dates and or times. In other words, anyone conducting a "planning" exercise, would run the iterations multiple times, to refine, and finalize it.

Moreover, changing dates and times in some programs can be a pain in the rear end.

For Example. When I was running my computer on the astro programs to look at the celestial situation a couple of months ago, I found that it was was easier to just set the computer system clock to UTC and the date to 07Mar2014.

Secondly, and as an extension to that idea, when simulating end of flight at 45South 104East, with a view to optimizing twilight / sunrise, for various "days of the year" it was easier to just change the system dates to make saving the data easier.

So, if Z did plan the vanishing, I am sure he would have created the initial plan many months before, perhaps even a year, or more, before, and both run, and refined it, ie, fine tuned it, often. This was going to be a one=time, one-way mission. It had to be "perfect". He had to be "sure" it was perfect. As Nik Huzlan said, the man (Z) was "meticulous".

The fact that the file dates are months before the event, clearly suggests, that the "plan" (if there was one) had been perfected, and was "on the shelf" for activation.

The obvious problem with 45S 104E for 00:00 UTC on 08Mar2014 is that it does not fit any rational plan, let alone a meticulous plan.

The fact that the "McMurdo" track from around Isbix passes through 45S 104E MAY HAVE BEEN A DELIBERATE RED HERRING BY Z. I.E. leave an "obvious" track file leading to fuel exhaustion (real fuel exhaustion) but on the "wrong" heading. In other words, the range and endurance elements of the simulation were true, but the course was not.

Consider the fuel range from Isbix to 45S 104E, and draw the "fuel remaining at Isbix" limited arc", and where does it intersect the 7th arc ? Very close to the terminator for 00UTC 08Mar14.

In other words, once he had "a wrap" for where he wanted to go, and when, on which flight (he had HIS ROSTER WEEKS IN ADVANCE) all he had to do was run one last "false" track to fuel exhaustion. What better choice than one of the "challenges" that comes as a default goal in the software, that just happens to be in the same general direction. Set it running when going to bed, and just let it run out of fuel and crash.

I think that Z was not only meticulous, he was also very clever, and very devious, and has successfully bamboozled all the experts.