Isn't there supposed to be several salt-water activated beacons that are automatically released upon a crash?

It's not like NASA has been trying to get back to the moon and has been failing. NASA hasn't been back to the moon in 40 years due to political reasons, not technical ones.

Suggesting that Putin knows what stories would knock the invasion of Ukraine off of the headlines.

Maybe making the disappearance suspicious was seen as a benefit. The longer this stays in the news, the better the distraction.

If everyone thinks that the plane just crashed into the ocean, other big news stories start creeping back to the headlines again.

Russia is a far more likely suspect.

Not in the United States mainstream media (CNN, broadcast networks, etc) and that's what matters since the US was really the only major player that cared at all about the Ukrainian invasion.

Distract the American people, and Russia knows that it can do anything it wants.

Who has the most to gain from the world focusing on a mysterious airliner disappearance and forgetting about the Ukrainian crisis? Vladimir Putin.

Not saying that he made it happen, but of all the groups out there that have the means to pull something like this off, he's the most likely suspect. Especially with the referendum coming up. A terrorist organization would have already taken credit.

To be clear, I'm still betting on something catastrophic happening to the plane.