Ben and Widmore are vying for control of the Island, which is a secret from most of the rest of the world. Neither one of them want outsiders to know it exists. Even though the island is apparently very hard to find, perhaps they were both concerned about questions as to why the wreckage could not be found leading investigators to their trail, so they collaborated and that's why they were--until Keamy killed Alex--operating under some established set of negotiated rules (of engagement).

Ben seemed pretty confident, however, that he could hide the island from Widmore. (During his late night intrusion into Widmore's suite, he told Widmore, "You'll never find it.") If he can do that, then he could easily hide it from the rest of the world, who aren't even looking for it. Perhaps Widmore was worried about his freighter crew's activities attracting the attention of search and rescue efforts in the area, so he placed a decoy where it could be found but never retrieved (the trench is too deep) so that the search and rescue would be called off. Recall that Mr. Friendly showed Michael Widmore's purchase order for the plane as proof of his ill intentions for the Losties. It could have been a fake but I am convinced that Widmore is at least for the mostpart responsible for the decoy.

It's not confirmed who faked the plane, but Widmore still wouldn't want to draw attention to anything about the island, so he'd do what he could to keep suspicion away, even if it wasn't him who faked it.

I suspect Widmore will be a regular on the show next season, especially since he got killed of on Ugly Betty. They won't run into the issue they ran into with Richard starring in Cane.

CirsR, in my opinion, it is not confirmed who staged the crash. We all believed Ben until Lapidus laughed at Michael's comment about Widmore staging it. Apparently Lapidus is thinking the opposite. I prefer to as well. Ben had the most to gain by shielding the Losties from the world. It wouldn't help Widmore to get a step closer to the island if he planted a decoy plane and had the world looking there. Why create an unnecessary obstacle for himself? That makes no sense to me.

CirsR, in my opinion, it is not confirmed who staged the crash. We all believed Ben until Lapidus laughed at Michael's comment about Widmore staging it. Apparently Lapidus is thinking the opposite. I prefer to as well. Ben had the most to gain by shielding the Losties from the world. It wouldn't help Widmore to get a step closer to the island if he planted a decoy plane and had the world looking there. Why create an unnecessary obstacle for himself? That makes no sense to me.

Quote from the main text..."Obviously, Widmore has something to gain by keeping his staged wreck a secret."

We don't know that Widmore definitly staged the crash do we?

I thought it was still unknown whether it was infact Widmore or Ben?

Correct me if I'm wrong

Well, just like anything, you don't know if this is where they were found, or if the airline is covering up. It sounds like they are trying to rationalize it with the video of the plane found on the bottom of the Ocean - that would be tough to explain if their story conflicted. I suspect we'll find out a lot more in the season finale that explains this.

Committment above and beyond, thanks again