I figured disabling the transponder is basic enough - looks a lot like turning off a radio. But if it would take specialized knowledge to disable ACARS and the plane is fully capable of navigating without those systems, then that theory goes down the drain: no one who knows to turn off ACARS would fail to see where the plane was being navigated.
And I guess if the plane's gps isn't trackable, then neither is the gps on any passenger devices - things that might work even absent a cell signal.
All of which tends to suggest a rogue pilot or an aviation trained hijacker.
I can't fathom that the objective was to steal the plane (surely there's an easier way to acquire one) which suggests the plan was always to ditch it. And if that was the plan, then it probably wasn't a terrorist group, as they'd be claiming responsibility. So it seems most likely to have been one or two wingnuts on a frolic if their own.
Who knows though. At this juncture, I doubt we'll ever have an answer.
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