The Numbers

• Flight 316 may indicate a change in the numbers.
  • In the The Substitute, it is revealed that Locke, who was assigned to the number 4 is no longer a viable candidate. Previous candidates were shown similarly crossed out with different numbers next to them. Since Locke is dead at the time of 316's crash, this suggests that 4 may have possibly shifted to 3 in the numbers.
• 316 is the area code for Wichita, Kansas furthering the Wizard of Oz parallels that are so prevalent throughout Lost
• Battalion 316 was a CIA-trained military unit in Argentina, Honduras and Chile in the 1970's. They were responsible for hundreds of kidnappings, assassinations, and thousands of incidents of torture.
• May be a Biblical reference: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." "John" and the son of God mentioned could both refer to John Locke. The eternal life could be a reference to Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid, the 316 passengers who Locke visited, travelling back in time when 316 crashed. God's son could also be an allegory for Jacob in this case.

The original Numbers and the Lost Timeline

• As the plane is crashing you can hear "4 8 15 16 23 42" being read aloud over the plane's transmitter. Given that this signal was taken down in the 1980's, the fact that this signal is being played when Ajira 316 crashes might suggest something more complicated about when the plane actually arrives on the Island, and thus about the Lost timeline in general.
  • More on this at Namaste/Theories.

The Return to the Island

• Although Ajira Flight 316 was used as the only way to return to the The Island, it quite possibly did not enter the proximity of the Island on the correct bearings, the same bearings that Daniel Faraday made Frank use when returning and leaving the Island during Season 4. Entering the Island on the incorrect bearings would most probably have serious time travel related side-effects, which could be the answer as to why the plane filled with the bright white time-travelling light and sound as well as why Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid time travelled back to 1977. It would also explain why it was suddenly daylight outside.
  • As we find out in The Economist, time between the "outside world" and the Island is different, therefore it is quite possibly that an effect of entering the proximity of the island on the incorrect bearing could have sent Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid back in time and then caused the plane and the remaining passengers to either jump 31 minutes 18 seconds later in time (which would make pre-bright light the early hours of the morning and post-bright light after sunrise) or for it to have jumped a few hours ahead in time (depending on the time it enters the Island as well as the circumstances).
    • In The End, Frank would have most probably flown the Ajira Plane away from the Island using Faraday's bearings, avoiding the whole white bright light, as he would known how important it is to stick to them from both Faraday telling him three years previously and how the plane returned to the Island in the first place.

The Aftermath of Flight 316 in the 'outside world'

I find this an interesting concept, if only for the fact that no-one seems to have considered it. Just think about, for example, Hurley's parents. They will know that he was one of the O6 (as does everyone else), and he has (in a garbled manner, to be sure) said that the O6 'lied'. Kate has left Aaron with his grandmother: she has had a visit from Jack & Kate. Sun has left her company behind, and her child. Everyone will know that the O6 were on a flight which has , well, what? disappeared? Been covered up by Eloise and Widmore? The press would surely be interested in a story in which ALL the O6 survivors went on a plane journey and disappeared in almost identical circumstances and around the same region as the original plane. Some bright spark of an investigative journalist would be putting 2 & 2 together and making 4, 8 , 15 or even 16 (and if they are very clever, possibly 23 or 42!). In other words there would be mayhem.

The fact that we have not seen any hint of this storyline being played out anywhere, leads me to the single conclusion: it doesn't exist, because it doesn't matter to the storyline. In other words, once Ajira 316 took off, there was no going back. Whatever happens on the Island as a result of the Losties landing there, not only afffects the Island, but also affects the real world outside, so much so that the real world outside as Jack et. al left it, no longer exists or "will" no longer exist, or if they do what they have been sent there to do.

This means that the entire O6 'escape' and the 3 years' foray into the RW is an 'aberrant timeline', and it is intended that it be negated, so that it does not exist/never existed. If so, here we have a real problem: Aaron and Ji Yeon have been left behind in the RW. It is certainly clear that Aaron (at least) is a crucial element in the storyline: Claire is repeatedly told that she must raise Aaron herself ("Raised by Another"), and Claire's connection to Jack, Christian also suggests a crucial plot element here. If this timeline is aberrant, and the Losties have been sent back to change it, this in effect this imposes a death sentence on the versions of Aaron and/or Ji Yeon as we currently know them. If time is somehow diverted to ensure that Claire raises Aaron, the Aaron and Claire who do this are not the versions of Claire and Aaron we have seen in seasons 1-5; thay are some other version. This means that there cannot be a 'happy conclusion' for any of the Losties that we have known for the past 6 years. If they do, in fact manage to alter the timeline, they can only do this by, in effect, terminating their own existences. Perhaps this is the ultimate choice which faces them at the end of the series. The Losties that we have known, loved and/or hated for 6 years will decide collectively that they must die, so that some other versions of themselves can live. This possibly is their ultimate destiny. For a continuation of this idea and some of its consequences, read: Has the timeline already been changed?

• Assuming they were all dead to begin with, perhaps the world the O6 perceived to be their own, was in fact a product of another flash sideways. That being that, it wasn't the real world, just a simulated reality in which they experienced the neccessary things in order to make a return to the Island. It would make sense, rather than returning from the dead to living, then back to death on the Island.

What Killed the Survivors?

Sawyer finds the bodies of all the extra people who accompanied the Losties on Ajira 316, but there is no immediately obvious cause of death. If there is discussion elsewhere regarding what killed them, please direct me. Possibilities include:

• Smoke Monster - he did kill everyone but Alpert who arrived on the Black Rock.
• Charles Widmore - he just wanted them out of the way
  • The survivors of Flight 316 were killed by Charles Widmore and his people, as a measure of safety and precaution. For the exact same reason he prepared the plane with explosives and told Zoe to not listen to FLocke - to prevent FLocke from "using" them. It was not necessary to bury them after this purge, since it was already established that the human appearance of FLocke was "locked down" and would not change anymore. For the same reason (because he had mistaken our time flashing travelers in the outrigger during Season 5 for more escaped survivors of Ajira 316) he had his people open fire on them when they also took an outrigger to cross over to the main Island.
• Sonic Fence - and someone moved the bodies and dumped them there
• Charles Widmore - tested them all to see if they could survive the electromagnetic pulse that Desmond was immune to.
• The bodies were stacked, which shows that Widmore killed them because the smoke monster would've just strewn their bodies about.