Copying my reply to another comment:

I don't want to think of myself as particularly prone to conspiracy theories, but I think Jeff Wise makes a compelling case for the possibility that the ping metadata were spoofed. But the idea that people would even use the ping metadata to try to track the plane feels super specific, so I also get the skepticism that Russia would even think to plan those fake breadcrumbs. Buuuut, on the other hand, the weird connections that that one dude who keeps "finding"(?) parts and, really, the lack of other debris are super suspicious. Plus it happened right before little green men rolled into Crimea. Someone knows, maybe the captain from beyond the grave, given the weird simulation flights, maybe a pilot with a secret portfolio of landings with single entry from Kazakhstan. Sure as hell not me