[ccarpenterg]

The New York Times, quoting American officials and others familiar with the investigation, said radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the airliner climbing to 45,000 feet (about 13,700 meters), higher than a Boeing 777’s approved limit, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar, and making a sharp turn to the west.[1]

If the MH370 suddenly climbed to 45,000 feet that would indicate that either (1) there was a mechanical failure so the pilots had to struggle to take the control again or (2) there was a fight in the cockpit that resulted on the abrupt climb.

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/15/mh370-search-fo...

[jusben1369]

My understanding so that the height reached is one of the much more speculative pieces. It's based off the plane pinging a satellite and could easily be off several thousand feet. (Read that earlier)

[carlosdp]

No I think the height was from the radar, the part you are talking about is the ping reported a drop of 40,000ft in the span of a minute, which didn't make any sense.

[Steko]

The height of 45K is estimated with fairly large error bands. That aircraft couldn't get to 45K with the cargo and fuel it had at the time of the report.