Posted on 03/26/2014 7:24:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The declaration that Flight 370 has been lost with no survivors got more supporting evidence overnight. Pictures taken Sunday from a French satellite show 122 objects in the water 2555 kilometers (1588 miles) southwest of Perth in the south Indian Ocean, where investigators now believe the airplane eventually crashed. Malaysia’s government announced the findings in a press conference a short while ago:
Satellite images taken on Sunday show 122 “potential objects” in the search for debris from missing flight MH370, Malaysian investigators said Wednesday.
Analysis of the images, which were supplied by France-based aeronautical firm Airbus Defence, revealed objects in the southern Indian Ocean around 1,588 miles from Perth, Australia – close to where other objects were previously seen.
The objects were between one meter (3 feet) and 23 meters (72 feet) in length and were seen across an area of ocean approximately 154 square miles wide, acting transport minister Hishamuddin Hussein told reporters.“Some of the objects appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials,” he added.
Even though the search has changed from a rescue to a recovery operation, time still matters. In order to unravel the mystery of Flight 370, investigators need the so-called “black boxes” — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorders. They come equipped with beacons to help locate them after crashes, but the beacon batteries are designed to last a month … and the flight has been missing for almost three weeks already:
The search for the wreckage and the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders could take years because the ocean can extend to up to 23,000 feet deep in some parts. It took two years to find the black box from an Air France jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009, and searchers knew within days where the crash site was.
There is a race against the clock to find Flight 370′s black boxes, whose battery-powered “pinger” could stop sending signals within two weeks. The batteries are designed to last at least a month.
Today’s focus involves a 30,000-square-mile swath of ocean more than 1,200 miles off the coast of Australia.
The batteries do not have any role in safeguarding the data, so even if the beacon batteries run out, the recorders should still yield their information. But if the investigators and the search teams can’t pinpoint their location soon, they may never be recovered. The Air France crash happened relatively close to shore in an area that was nowhere near as deep as the search area for Malaysia Air 370, and as ABC notes, it still took years to find and retrieve those recorders.
ABC had an update prior to this press conference on weather-related delays that don’t help, either. Also, the airline is now offering the families a $5,000 settlement for each passenger lost. Somehow, I doubt that will be the final figure:
ABC US News | ABC Business News
Unless the pilot was still at the helm at that time and took it down just before it ran out of fuel.
They found a styrofoam cup!!!!! When???? Where???? Do we have video????
I don’t think they were “pinging” for 2 years. The nature of the accident gave a general location,debris and bodies were recovered very early. That gave the searchers a good location to start looking. I think they actually found the wreckage by side scan sonar.
No, they were never heard at any time.
The search for the wreckage and the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders could take years because the ocean can extend to up to 23,000 feet deep in some parts.
Poor reporting in the article. The $5,000 is not a settlement, but an interim payment for hotel expenses etc.
What I still don’t understand is if something catastrophic happened (mechanical, fire, explosion or hijacking) which caused the plane to turn around, why didn’t the plane go down soon after the turn? Could a disabled plane continue to fly for hours on auto? Or if it was a hijacking or terrorism, why not do it sooner for maximum impact and bragger’s rights? Truly puzzling.
The black box locator will not arrive until April 5 (that’s odd):
Race to find black box recorders of flight MH370 - FT.com
Race to find black box recorders of flight MH370. ... but the crucial technology needed to find them will not arrive in the search area until April 5, which is 28 days after the aircraft is thought to have crashed. ... has a range that can detect a signal one mile either side of the device.
ft.com/cms/s/0/7deca8d2-b43f-11e3-bac4-00144fe... More from ft.com
Most modern passenger aircraft have been upgraded to two hours on an NTSB "recommendation," but your point is still valid.
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Discrediting FNC the objective?
MH370 Coverage: Tarnishes ‘Credibility’
Bernie Goldberg joined Bill O’Reilly Monday night to hammer the media’s MH370 coverage, and Goldberg agreed completely with O’Reilly’s analysis, except to lump in Fox News in with the other networks in saying their credibility was, too, damaged by having people on air to engage in baseless speculation about the missing plane.
He specifically slammed Fox for giving airtime to retired Air Force General Thomas McInerney for throwing out a suspect theory that the plane could be used to commit an act of terrorism against the United States. Goldberg didn’t hold back in what he thought of Fox giving that theory attention at all.
“When a retired general goes on this network and talks about how he has sources who tells [sic] him the plane is in Pakistan or eastern Iran and it’ll probably be used as a weapon to attack the United States or an aircraft carrier or Israel, that doesn’t just embarrass him, that embarrasses––that speaks to the credibility, in my view, of the entire network.”
What the hell? They let an opportunity like that get by without pushing global warming!
“But where are the 153 Chinese?”
They were voted off the island.
You nailed it, The good General was played by someone.
I did find it interesting that Peter King said yesterday he is doubting the information,I did not see what he said, so he may be their next target.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said the Malaysian government is trying to divert criticism away from itself by announcing the missing Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
King, who has been critical of the Malaysian government’s search effort since the plane went missing earlier this month, said Monday it is hard to justify the announcement without definitive proof.
“No way is our government saying that this is definitive, and I don’t know what could have justified the prime minister doing that today other than to deflect some of this criticism he has been getting,” he said on Fox News.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday that Flight MH370 “ended in the southern Indian ocean” without any survivors. The determination was based on a new analysis and was shared out of respect for the families of the 239 passengers, he said during a news conference.
“I think he was doing that just trying to get attention away from him and away from the fact that Malaysia has done such a terrible job,” King said.
Bkmk 4 banana bread.
What is the max depth of a modern unmanned submersible?
Humm, a person with access to top secret info, curious comments. Any change in the status of the Israel’s air defense? Back to normal?
In a billion pieces.
They died as a result of their body fragmenting due to deceleration forces upon impact.
When a jet goes ‘splat,’ people explode into a lot of little pieces. I've participated in several aviation mishap investigations and we were lucky to find anything larger than a foot in a boot or a kneecap.
To be blunt. . .
I believe the first answer to be 900 feet. The second answer is Mariana’s Trench deep-Over 35,000 feet.
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