Для этого ему надо было опускаться ниже облачности, иначе самолет отлично был бы виден.
Это же было ночью, прекрасная видимость (поискал в инете - на каком расстоянии можно увидеть самолет. Оказывается, над морем можно видеть до 200 км , если он на высоте 10 км). Похоже что его и видели - по меньшей мере 11 свидетелей говорят о светящейся точке, быстро падающей в море. Вот хронология событий сразу после исчезновения :
You made me go back and piece together the timeline I've been working from and there are some definite holes in my data. This is more or less what I have and some of it is clipped from other posters here without attribution. Possibly others can again chime in and add to this and we can come up with something more complete. I would like to record the early reports along with the later revisions. I think there is some valuable information in those early reports, especially the ones issued before march 11th.
1:07 - ACARS last transmission (thru VHF) which apparently includes notation of a WP change having been entered into system since last scheduled report at 12:37 (WP info later retracted)
1:11 - INMARSAT ping would have been received,
somewhere between 1:15-1:30 - Vietnam sees plane turn around. From roughly 1:30-forward, Vietnam is "frantically" trying to contact the plane
(note: they have not told us a specific time of turn or if they know this because of a Military or ATC radar hit, but they told Malaysia they 'watched plane turn around' sometime shortly after contact was lost)
1.19 am – Last verbal communication “All right, good night” from the plane; believed to be the co-pilot
1.21 am – Transponder stopped transmitting (turned off or failed)
1:22 - Plane goes out of range/black from Thailand Radar (likely from the transponder going black and not the plane going out of range)
1:28 - Unidentified plane shows up on Thailand Radar roughly off the Kota Bharu coastand this apparently shows plane crossing the Peninsula to the Straights of Malacca (unknown endtime for this path)
1.30 am – Civilian (primary) radar lost contact
1:30-1:45 - at minimum 11 eye witness reports from around and past the Kota Bharu, Malaysia/Thailand border areas (including one saying 'plane descending fast' like one of the later radar hits indicates)
between 1:30-2:40 - Malaysian Military and Civilian radar picks up an "unidentified" plane flying over peninsula (Daud says "this was corroborated by civilian radar" in the march 9th press conferences).
1.37 am – Expected ACARS transmission; not received
2:11 - INMARSAT ping would have been received
2.15 am – Last military primary radar contact
2:22 report of MH370 at or near MEKAR
7:24 - Statement released by Malaysian Officials saying contact lost at 2:40 and SAR efforts are underway
8.11 am – Last (hourly) satellite handshake
8:19 am - Last (partial) ping
I know from other posters that there were reports of 370 at ... VAMPI, GIVAL and IGREX but I don't know where any of that information came from.
Also, others here have said 370 was at NILAM, but again I don't know where that came from.