I couldn't actually see anybody taking that line? There's a lot of quibbling about whether individual details like hiking to the wreckage indicate that it's fake or not, but there's also a pretty consistent view that there's a whole lot of red flags and the sum total is suspicious as hell.

I agree. I read all 414 comments (go me). The closest two I found were:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29737601 - "these arguments from pilots or enthusiasts are all so weak"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29742283 - "I'm impressed how quickly folks here are able to arrive at the most certain conclusion that this was staged! While that explanation seems possible (and not unlikely), I keep coming back to Hanlon's Razor"