GarryP

If you click on one of the links you get the location updates for that ship. If you then click on the topmost 'map' link on the right hand side, you can see the last few positions/track of that ship. The purple area is the search area.

Currently the Ocean Shield it slowly going backwards and forwards across the search area, whilst HMS Echo is doing something weirder predominately outside that zone.

As some point they will give up on trying to hear pings, and will move into the underwater searching phase.

sj oldfield

Is it not strange, that just a few days ago our amazing prime minister announced that he was certain that the black box had been located?
I didnt imagine it, I heard it on the radio! And then nothing!!!
I heard a search plane come home late last night, but thought it was odd that the chinese one flew back in at about 2pm this afternoon, followed by another one at about 6pm??
Also when we drove past the airbase today, a majority of the press had packed up and moved on??
Last week there was loads and loads of news cameras, many camping out in the car park of the base, today their was just 7 news????
So if there is news that the black box is close to being located, surely there would be more reporters not less??

GarryP

Realistically, the beacon has stopped transmitting.

Once they accept this, they will be using the underwater assets to trying and find something - but that its likely to take a LONG time to find anything. Hence the reporters going home.

I do wonder if they will try for some sonar imaging of the sea bed over the 10kmx10km area to see if anything pokes up obviously. That might be what the HMS Echo has been trying to do.

sj oldfield

Anyone have any thoughts on the recent rumour, regarding the co pilot trying to make a drastic call from his mobile?

Dorothy

Yes; here are my thoughts. The word "rumour" in your post was the most important one.

GarryP

Nah, nah .... b*ll*cks was the most important one.

What's that, it wasn't actually in there?

I must of mentally added it ....

GarryP

Looks like they are switching over today to underwater search. They are starting off with a search area of 40km2. Sounds like all other searching is going to be ended.

Bermudashorts

So I wonder if we will ever know what really happened.

Wol

Realistically, the crash site must be where the pinger sounds were located or it could be anywhere in the whole ***** ocean, in which case there's little chance of ever finding the debris.

So if the search has been correctly narrowed down, there should be a fair amount of debris scattered over the bottom. It only needs one bit to be identified to be able to say with certainty we're in the correct place, in which case the recorders will probably be found eventually.

scottishcelts

That pretty much sums it up.

bcworld

I think its pretty clear the wreckage will be found. No pingers were ever heard from AF447, although plenty of hard data was available regarding its coords before impact. With MH370, the aircraft sent no location info but the satellite data has been refined to an impressive extent and ties up with the pings. So it's clearly down there. My understanding is the bottom of the Indian Ocean in this location will be an easier search than the location of AF447 in the Atlantic - far less 'mountainous' and irregular. Presumably there is a new swathe of technology on the way to 'scan' the ocean floor. In terms of what will we know, I think that will really depend on whether the black box was operational during the entire flight or had been disabled.

GarryP

Watching the ships it looks like HMS Echo nipped in there when Bluefin21 aborted it's scan - and did a bit of seafloor mapping of it's own. Not sure, but I think they might be trying to put the Bluefin21 back down at the moment, Echo has backed off.

They are going to need at least one other vehicle though, since the reason for the abort was going over their maximum depth rating. Twice the vehicles, half the time. Wouldn't the Russians want a little good publicity at the moment?

NigelWaring

The Titanic was between 3,600 & 3,900 metres deep depending on which website you go to, it was just below the limit for technology at the time it was discovered but they did get there.

The thing that has come out of all this is that there is much better technology, if only it had been installed. There have been planes landing in mountains, hills etc with survivors but it took too long to get to them, better technology which is available might have saved them. There is no hope now for the passengers on MH370 but lets hope that the experience is applied to all planes and the black box including the voice recording is improved very quickly. Lets face it the average smart phone has much better technology than the black boxes in these $200 million plus planes. Imagine simultaneous recording on half a dozen devices based on a smart phone then when a plane hits water, or whatever it is that triggers off the black box signal at the moment, it ejects a couple of smart phone like devices in a suitable container, they float to the surface and switch on a beacon that can be picked up by satellites. There are at least three satellite phone networks including Iridium and the phones can be produced for about US$200. I just hope that the boffins are working on this or something better right now so that it can be implemented urgently.

GarryP

Your smart phone can't survive falling off the kitchen bench - whereas the blackboxes can survive a plane crash and being submerged at the bottom of the ocean for months on end.

Someone needs to understand manufacturing volumes and design requirements methinks.

scrubbedexpat098

I wonder if that ferry hit it



too soon?