From the editor: Explaining the unexplainable

What to make of Malaysia Airlines flight 370, missing for more than a week?

Theories take hold for a few days—the flight crew landed it on some uncharted island for no known reason, it scorched Kazakhstani earth with blazing exhaust from just 5,000 feet, it plunged into the Indian Ocean—before being contradicted by the very Malaysian officials who offered up the hypotheses in the first place.

It’s difficult to gauge their competence. With nothing to go on, they turn to such reliable regional governments as China, Pakistan and Myanmar for assistance. When the U.S. released information regarding...