"Peter Stickney" wrote in message ...

As communication was lost, and the jet started its turn to get back to the
airport, it changed its transponder code to '7600' - NORDO (No Radio)
given the highly integrated Flight Management/Comms systems on airliners
these days (Transponders are entirely separate systems) it's not
unreasonable to expect that all systems were degraded.

One of the troubling things with airline flying these days is the heavy
reliance on the autopilots and the Flight Management Systems. These days,
on a typical flight, the Pilot Flying probably gets at most about 20
minutes of actual stick time.
As the history of recent airline accidents (The 2 B737 Max and incidents
with other aircraft (Air France 340 and Continental Connection 3407 come
to mind) shows some real issues with aircrew having to deal with
sudden-onset emergencies, where they have to take action immediately, and
airmanship issues that, frankly, are troubling.

Would you REALLY want to fly in an automated, pilotless plane?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLrIXptqZxw

Qantas Flight 72:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fVfAWcNu40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3q5S9PCoJA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJx6ChiXqrg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSh_Wo_mcY

Air Inter Flight 148:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4RIZ7ZG_44

Air France Flight 296:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bi8jg9BY9Y