Only the smallest civilian turboprop aircraft would have any hope of landing on a flat-top freighter without arresting gear. Even a BAe-146 would require too mu

Only the smallest civilian turboprop aircraft would have any hope of landing on a flat-top freighter without arresting gear. Even a BAe-146 would require too much landing distance. A Boeing 777 would be much safer ditching close by a freighter and awaiting rescue of passengers from life rafts. A US Navy Cruiser (Aegis type) has a maximum radar tracking range of about 200-300NM for an airliner. If they were tracking MH370 then they'd have a good idea where it went down. When AF447 disappeared, there was little Naval activity in the region. When TWA800 went down, the US Navy turned over volumes of radar data to investigators that somewhat confirmed how the aircraft broke apart.