Does the cockpit of the 777 get recycled

[applegrove]

air from the rest of the plane? Could the whole plane have been gassed with something almost instantaneous? Just enough time for the plane to be reprogramed but not enough time to contact air traffic control. Especially if the fumes were so noxious you immediately would not want to take a breath to speak.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yes, air is recirculated throughout the aircraft.

I was reading earlier that an electrical fire might be the most logical theory that can explain the various electrical failures over a period of time.

Also, a very gradual loss in pressure could account for unconsciousness setting in without any alarms going off.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The theories get weirder and weirder.

Large airplanes get air needed to pressurize them (so you can breathe) by drawing compressed air from the engines, which is then processed by the air conditioning/pressurization system and fed into the cabin and cockpit. A big jet like a 777 would have several zones so the temperature could be adjusted as necessary for each area, but the cabin (passenger compartment) and the cockpit all get air from the same source. To some extent the air is recycled; some of it is also exhausted overboard to control a fairly constant pressure level inside the plane. It is highly unlikely that anyone could deliberately introduce any kind of toxic substance into that system, although smoke and fumes could incapacitate passengers and crew if there were a fire. That's what happened in this case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111

[applegrove]

3. cockpit. I meant cockpit. Yes, probably electrical fire

is a better theory.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. The problem with the electrical fire theory

is that most of the time there will be some warning - they would smell or see a little smoke at first, as in the Swissair accident in the link, above, and there probably would be enough time to call ATC and declare an emergency before things got so bad that they lost electrical power and/or became incapacitated. So, while maybe it's possible, it just doesn't seem to fit with the way those things would be expected to happen. It's quite a mystery.