Beg to disagree. With today's towed side-scan sonars, with post-processing get terrific resolution.
When Flight 800 went down, they called the Navy in with their best, to search the debris field. They found the flight data recorder on the first pass - in 13,000 feet of water.
I worked on pre-amps for these things over 25 years ago and we could map oyster beds in the Chesapeake Bay.
"When Flight 800 went down, they called the Navy in with their best, to search the debris field. They found the flight data recorder on the first pass - in 13,000 feet of water."
When Flight 800 went down the debris field wasa located in approximately 125 feet of water, not "13,000 feet."
The side scan sonar was used to map the debris field in order to send divers to locations (ie. the tail section) to look for the black boxes. This process took several passes, not one, in at least two axis. In the end the divers searched under the debris for days before finding the data recorders.