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If the plane was moving FASTER than they previously thought, then wouldn't the search area move south instead of north? It's not as if the plane ran out of fuel and stopped flying sooner than we thought-as we have known for a while the plane kept going until at least 8:11am. Perhaps I am missing something.
Yes that's exactly where I was coming from... now AMSA just published this map showing today's search area and assumptions or MH370 routes based on speed...
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws....ch_handout.pdf
Most likely they worked out MH370 speed during the FIRST part of its journey (still covered by Malaysian & Thai radars) was FASTER than they previously assumed and therefore consumed more fuel - also the climb to 45,000 feet and the segment flew at lower altitude must have contributed to higher fuel consumption - therefore the only possibility for the plane to stay in the air until the last ping was to fly SLOWER in the second part of the route (south) putting it further up north (being slower) and closer to the Australian coast (due to the arc traced using the last satellite ping).
This is the only sensible deduction based on the info released today as far as I'm concerned...