Posted on 03/10/2014 6:00:25 AM PDT by bryan999
The whole Gulf of Siam is 132000 sq miles. The lower quarter from KL to the southern point of VN is 39000+ sq miles, the size of Virginia or Kentucky. If the ac went left or right of its course it could many miles of ocean. The ac was traveling about 9.5 miles a minute. Add to it, this is in the third world, ocean searches are tedious and the search ac and ships weren't on site to start and the amount of time elapsed isn't that much.
Lots of crap in the ocean, considering the location, there is probably more crap than in the open ocean. Every piece is worth a look for the surface search. Finding a debris field from the air is a matter of covering the likely areas first, then expanding the search area to account for the drift. Not going to be a fast process, and requires a lot of coordination among nations that don't always play well with each other. A week might be reasonable as assets flow into the area.
Did it do a water "landing" intact and sink?
No, why do a successful water landing and not deploy the rafts. An unsuccessful water landing is a crash.
Did it dive down to water level and sneak under the radar into VNam?
Even if possible, why go to VN? A heroes welcome? If it was low level over there, VN isn't uninhabited.
They aren't.
2600 miles away.
If the plot in the upper graphic is true, the reported search area is off by ~800 miles.
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