[Curtis]

Pine Gap is not a radar, it is a satellite control base, and it is in Central Australia near Alice Springs.  

I think you are confusing it with JORN.

The issue of JORN being active or inactive on the night has been hotly debated.  The Australian Government released a statement saying it was not operating on the night.

In any case, the flight paths proposed would be at the outer sectors of it's coverage anyway (which is about 3,000 km) from Laverton in Western Australia), and, depending on the "ionospherics" on the night, the aircraft might have been missed, even if JORN was active.

@ventus45

You are right, i mixed it up with Jorn - sorry for that.

And being on the edge of JORNs coverage weakens my argument, yes.

So it would only be a valid argument for other scenarios with a plan by the pilot to vanish the plane more northerly on the 7th arc, more inside the possible coverage.

Thanks much, Ventus, for the founded input. Much appreciated.

Cheers.