This article lost me midway second sentence. "to evade commercial (secondary) radar coverage after it turned back from its flight path en route to Beijing." S

This article lost me midway second sentence. "to evade commercial (secondary) radar coverage after it turned back from its flight path en route to Beijing." Secondary (used by ATC) radar is based on transponders responding (the very thing that was switched off). Primary radar is usually military and does not need any device being on or off.