Posted on 04/17/2014 5:14:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Australian authorities coordinating the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said Thursday that lab tests have shown an oil slick found in the search area last Sunday is not aircraft engine fuel or hydraulic fluid.
Searchers are now using a robotic submarine, the Bluefin-21, to look for wreckage on the floor of the Indian Ocean more than 1,000 miles northwest of Perth, Australia.
The Bluefin-21 has a rated depth of 4,500 meters, or 2.8 miles, and shortly after it was deployed on its first run this week, it returned to the surface several hours later because it reached that depth and an automatic safety system sent it back up.
However, search coordinators said Thursday that the submarine’s owner-operator, Phoenix International, which has a contract with the U.S. Navy, has determined that the unmanned vehicle can operate at deeper depths.
“This expansion of the operating parameters allows the Bluefin-21 to search the sea floor within the predicted limits of the current search area,” authorities said.
David Kelly, CEO of Bluefin Robotics, said Monday that Phoenix had upgraded the Bluefin-21 just prior to its deployment to the Indian Ocean and had tested it in Hawaii.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Paki?
I’ve had some experience in underwater searches, albeit more body searches in rivers & lakes. The problem here is that underwater searches have to be thorough. The goal is to be able to say, “we searched this area and it (whatever ‘it’ is) isn’t there.” So you push you equipment to it’s design limits if necessary. In the case of a robotic sub you can go beyond the operational limits without risking human life, so why not?
You do understand that the sub is designed to ‘fly’ a pre-determined distance above the ocean floor? This means if the ocean floor falls away abruptly that the sub ‘dives’. If the sub goes beyond a pre-programmed depth where seals can fail, it’s programmed to drop ballast and return to the surface.
It’s very possible that this aircraft will never be found. The ocean floor is over 3 miles down. And if that aircraft hit the water hard, as I think it did, it’s nothing more than a couple of engines and some razor blade size pieces of aluminum spread out like confetti over miles of the deep-sea floor. Not even a decent sonar target without the Black Box pingers.
He should --
The General has had six weeks to come up with any evidence for his claim that it is in Pakistan. Where is that evidence???
Surely his sources have cellphones -- where are the photos???
He doesn’t have to prove it. He gave his opinion just as others have, so far, he hasn’t been proven any more wrong or misguided than those that got the big woody over the silly pings and oil slicks than were fruitless. At least a bunch of money wasn’t spent chasing follies.
Ohhhhh -- but the Aussies searching in the waters off Australia do??? His plane is on dry land out in the open and he doesn't have to prove it???
At least a bunch of money wasn’t spent chasing follies.
If you were a family member of 239 people on that flight you wouldn't think that. Apparently the General and his fan club aren't concerned for them.
“How long will they continue to search for the plane in the ocean?”
As long as it takes for you to forget about the whole thing. The plane is not in the Ocean and the powers that be know it. They just don’t want the world to know what really happened.
Exactly.
Theory number one.
The plane is at Diego Garcia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia
The United States Navy operates Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia, a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space-tracking facility, and an anchorage.
How could the U.S. hide a 777 and all those passengers there without anyone saying something?
“All the inhabitants of Diego Garcia were relocated to other islands in the Chagos Archipelago or to Mauritius or Seychelles by 1971 to satisfy the requirements of a UK/United States Exchange of Notes signed in 1966 to depopulate the island when the United States constructed a base upon it”
“Between 1971 and 2001, the only residents on Diego Garcia were UK and United States military personnel and civilian employees of those countries.”
“UK represents the Territory internationally. A local government as normally envisioned does not exist.”
“British Parliament announced that it would launch an investigation of continued allegations of a prison camp on Diego Garcia, which it claimed were twice confirmed by comments made by Retired United States Army General Barry McCaffrey. On July 31, 2008, an unnamed former White House official alleged that the United States had imprisoned and interrogated at least one suspect on Diego Garcia during 2002 and possibly 2003.”
“....credible evidence exists supporting allegations that ships serving as black sites have used Diego Garcia as a base.”
“Diego Garcia is rumored to have been one of the locations of the CIA’s black sites. Several groups claim that the military base on Diego Garcia has been used by the United States government for transport of prisoners involved in the controversial extraordinary rendition program,”
“Diego Garcia may be identified as an ETOPS (Extended Range Twin Engine Operations) emergency landing site (en route alternate) for flight planning purposes of commercial airliners. This allows twin-engine commercial aircraft (such as the Airbus A330, Boeing 767 or Boeing 777) to make theoretical nonstop flights.......”
“.... the United States received permission for a $400 million expansion of the military facilities on Diego Garcia consisting of two parallel 12,000-foot-long (3,700 m) runways, expansive parking aprons for heavy bombers, 20 new anchorages in the lagoon, a deep water pier, port facilities for the largest naval vessels in the American or British fleet, aircraft hangars, maintenance buildings and an air terminal, a 1,340,000 barrels (213,000 m3) fuel storage area, and billeting and messing facilities for thousands of sailors and support personnel.”
1. A super secret Black site literally in the middle of nowhere, with long enough runways and large enough hangers to accommodate a 777.
2. Only U.S. or U.K. personnel, no locals, no local government. Can a super secret base keep a super secret?
3. It is in the range of flight 370 and the altered flight path
4. The plane was SEEN flying very low over Kudahuvadhoo (Dhivehi: one of the inhabited islands of Dhaalu or South Nilande Atoll in the Maldives. It is the capital of the atoll.
“Residents of the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll have reported seeing a “low flying jumbo jet” on the morning of the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Whilst the disappearance of the Boeing 777 jet, carrying 239 passengers has left the whole world in bewilderment, several residents of Kuda Huvadhoo told Haveeru on Tuesday that they saw a “low flying jumbo jet” at around 6:15am on March 8.
They said that it was a white aircraft, with red stripes across it – which is what the Malaysia Airlines flights typically look like.
Eyewitnesses from the Kuda Huvadhoo concurred that the aeroplane was travelling North to South-East, towards the Southern tip of the Maldives – Addu. They also noted the incredibly loud noise that the flight made when it flew over the island.
“I’ve never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We’ve seen seaplanes, but I’m sure that this was not one of those. I could even make out the doors on the plane clearly,” said an eyewitness.
“It’s not just me either, several other residents have reported seeing the exact same thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what was causing the tremendous noise too.”
Mohamed Zaheem, the Island Councilor of Kuda Huvadhoo, said that the residents of the island had spoken about the incident.
A local aviation expert told Haveeru that it is “likely” for MH370 to have flown over the Maldives. The possibility of any aircraft flying over the island at the reported time is extremely low, the expert added.
Theory number two.
If you draw a line from the last known position where the plane changed direction, and the location registered by radar south of Phuket, and the island of Kudahuvadoo where many people saw a low flying jumbo jet, and continue to extend that line and you end up in Somalia just south of Mogadishu.
. The plane was SEEN flying very low over Kudahuvadhoo (Dhivehi: one of the inhabited islands of Dhaalu or South Nilande Atoll in the Maldives. It is the capital of the atoll.
“Residents of the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll have reported seeing a “low flying jumbo jet” on the morning of the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Whilst the disappearance of the Boeing 777 jet, carrying 239 passengers has left the whole world in bewilderment, several residents of Kuda Huvadhoo told Haveeru on Tuesday that they saw a “low flying jumbo jet” at around 6:15am on March 8.
They said that it was a white aircraft, with red stripes across it – which is what the Malaysia Airlines flights typically look like.
Eyewitnesses from the Kuda Huvadhoo concurred that the aeroplane was travelling North to South-East, towards the Southern tip of the Maldives – Addu. They also noted the incredibly loud noise that the flight made when it flew over the island.
“I’ve never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We’ve seen seaplanes, but I’m sure that this was not one of those. I could even make out the doors on the plane clearly,” said an eyewitness.
“It’s not just me either, several other residents have reported seeing the exact same thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what was causing the tremendous noise too.”
Mohamed Zaheem, the Island Councilor of Kuda Huvadhoo, said that the residents of the island had spoken about the incident.
A local aviation expert told Haveeru that it is “likely” for MH370 to have flown over the Maldives. The possibility of any aircraft flying over the island at the reported time is extremely low, the expert added
So far it looks like it didn’t crash wonder how has it?.
Updates here:
Unless they get lucky this search area will take a year and a half.
Meanwhile back at home:
(CNN) — Families of some of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passengers released a list of questions Wednesday that they said authorities have so far not answered.
Many of the 26 questions focus on technical issues involving emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, and “black boxes.” With an apparent in-depth understanding of how these work, the families ask about the specific technology on the missing plane....
The families’ final seven questions involve “protocol,” including this: What did Malaysia Airlines do when the flight went missing?
The families also ask whether search and rescue teams have final results from searched areas, and whether the Malaysian government could specify the rights of family members “to know the facts of cases or the details of an incident.”
The questions were posted on the social media site Weibo by a committee in Beijing representing some of the passengers’ families. Some of the “questions” are requests that evidence be shared with them, including the flight’s logbook and air traffic control audio.
http://kplr11.com/2014/04/16/mh370-passengers-families-release-unanswered-questions/
Till the Twelfth of Never?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.