Info on the Beechcraft 18 here.
According to that page, the max range of the aircraft is 1330 nautical miles, which means it would take a minimum of two hops to simply get out of Africa going east toward the Arabian peninsula. I think it is safe to assume the plane certainly did not fly to the South Pacific through any convential means.
Yes, because we all know she can’t just like him, with him being fat and all. 
On TV? Not likely.
On the other hand, just as Eko is the tailies’ Locke, and AnaLucia is the tailies’ Jack (or maybe Sawyer), the cute blond lady is the tailies’ Hurley: friendly, intuitive, tries to keep the group together. Maybe she just recognized a kindred spirit.
Yeah. I guess the real question is: Why was Eko heading to L.A. from Australia? What was he travelling for, and why was he taking that particular route?
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
So this morning, I go to my trusty television to watch last night’s episode of Lost, which I’ve got set to record so I don’t have to watch commercials…
And I find that I’ve got nothing recorded. None of my cable stations work. I finally manage to get through to the cable company, and it turns out that, yesterday, they sent out an update for the DVRs. Only some of the DVRs didn’t actually GET the update.
Like mine.
The guy was able to fix it while I was on the phone… but there’s no gettin’ back that lost episode of Lost. sigh
(I also mithed MythButhterth. This thuckth.)
There’s no reason to assume that the plane in Eko’s backstory was recent. Perhaps it was 10 years ago, for all we know.
Most likely, he decided to change his life after that point, and actually become a priest. It’d take time, assuming he didn’t know it all from a religious childhood, to learn all the scriptures and such that he’s carving into his stick, so there’s a good chance he was going to Australia, years later, for completely unrelated reasons.
I believe they’re going to rerun this week’s episode next week at 8 and then have a new episode at 9.
There always TWoP.
I went back and looked at 1x19 – “Deux Ex Machina”, when Boone and Locke found Gold-Tooth-Not-Priest’s body. The only time clue is vague:
Boone: “How long do you think he’s been dead?”
Locke: “Normally clothing would completely decompose within 2 years. But this is high quality polyester… could be 2 years, could be 10.”
Well, they did quote the 23rd Psalm. Anyone know what the 4th, 8th, 15th, 16th, and 42nd Psalms are? 
Email me. I may be able to help you.
I just checked and it looks like you are correct.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=347177&page=3&pp=50&highlight=psalm+lost
Posts #105 and 106
So now Locke and Eko are the only two people that have faced down the TCM and live - another parallel between them. And if the monster is flashing people episodes of “This Is Your Life,” I think we can speculate as to why. Eko said he wasn’t scared by the monster. I’m guessing the key to surviving is to be able to face the monster down, and that requires you to essentially be at peace with your past. Presumably Locke and Eko have come to terms with their past demons. Eko apparently gave up his life of crime to serve as a priest in his brother’s place. Locke sees the island as giving him a whole new life.
Contrast that with someone like, say, Charlie. If the monster were to show him images of him doing heroin, or stealing from the girl he liked in that one flashback, etc, etc, I don’t see him standing there and smiling about it. He’d either attack or run, and I don’t think that would be a good idea.
That raises the question of The Others, though. Nathan seemed fairly comfortable with what they were doing. I wonder if they’ve all acheived this sort of Zen-like inner peace.
If you don’t mind paying the 2 bucks, you could always download the episode from the iTunes Music Store.
How about the voice from the previews for next week’s episode: “This is our island.” I assume that was The Others, right?
Interesting symmetry there, seeing as how he gave up a life of peace to take up a life of crime in his brother’s place…
It’ll cost you a buck ninety-nine, but you can download this show from iTunes now, right?
Speaking of Eko, his brother and the plane, why didn’t they dump the body out first chance they got? Did the island mysteriously take control of the plane the minute it was in the air? Because, the first thing I’d do is toss the body. A small plane like that, you could increase its range by carrying 180 lbs. less, right? Plus, where ever it was they were headed, why take the chance of landing with a dead body and possibly having to explain it?
As for the state of decomposition of the bodies on the plane, we’re dealing with an island that can defy physics, so I’m not going to read much into that. The bodies could be two months old, or five years.
I like the contrast between Locke & Eko. “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.” Locke sees something mysterious and assigns a divine purpose to it. Eko sees something mysterious and thinks “hm. That’s mysterious.” They both encounter the black smoke. Locke survives because he more or less gives himself over to its power. Eko survives probably for no better reason that he saw no rational reason why he shouldn’t. Even better that Locke isn’t a particularly religious or spiritual man, yet he totally buys into all the divine purpose stuff. Eko is religious & spiritual, yet doesn’t appear to buy into anything. Eko seems to have successfully compartmentalized his religion & faith, and reality. Something it seems he’d tried to get his brother to understand, but couldn’t. But I’m curious what happens now that Eko has pronounced himself a priest.
I want to know WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THAT GODDAMN HORSE? All of a sudden, Sawyer and Kate both see and touch a freaking horse on the island with no explaination, next minute, they’re sharing a haircut as if nothing had happened. WTF?
Speaking of haircuts, that was nice & subtle how they showed us they do have hair grooming equipment. And since we now know it isn’t just “suspension of disbelief” that most of the guys are clean shaven, Eko & Hurley really need to frakin’ shave already!