MH370, still missing

[ZR]

It's already been a long time, a very long time. Has to feel like an eternity for those waiting to here whats happened to their loved ones. Seems impossible the plane could simply vanish like that. Did the aviation world learn nothing when hijacked planes terrorized the US? How is it possible all of the planes detection systems could have been shut off, did no one think this far ahead?


http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-china-finds-no-terror-link-to-its-nationals-on-jet-1.2576620

[Intmdtr]

well you can be rest assured that after this the price of plane tickets will go up once again so all the upgrades to aircraft can be performed. they say there is dead spots where radar can't pick up aircraft, how about those things we call satelites?

it sucks hat nothing has been found and no real trace of whats happened. i know for one i would be glued to the phone and tv waiting to hear something if i had family or friends aboard that flight......

[ZR]

Thats the part I don't understand.
Sat technology is nothing new, seems like a no brainer back up for monitoring plane positioning.
Hated to make reference to 911 but dam, seems like they learned nothing.

[TheMustangShow]

Evidently, they have been a few planes that have just vanished or have taken time to locate. Had an EPIC St. Paddy's day dinner (Corned Beef Roast, Cabbage and Carrots, Mashed and Soda Bread all washed down with Guinness!) at my Mom's and she was telling me, that if the plane when down in the Indian Ocean, there are parts that are 2 Miles deep! Location and recover options are ZERO in that depth.

Other bizarre missing plane incidents: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/7-bizarre-and-catastrophic-aviation-incidents

[Stephen06GT]

Apparently Courtney Love thinks she knows where it is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/17/courtney-love-missing-malaysia-flight-mh370_n_4981429.html

[TheMustangShow]

Apparently Courtney Love thinks she knows where it is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/17/courtney-love-missing-malaysia-flight-mh370_n_4981429.html

We would've been so much better off with KURT, instead of Courtney...

[Slope]

We would've been so much better off with KURT, instead of Courtney...

I'll drink to that. :(

https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608008077448446876&pid=15.1

[03svt]

Australia thinks they may have found debris

[ZR]

Bitter sweet news if they have.

[b1lk1]

Nothing sinister happened. This is not a terrorist act like the news is desperate for us to believe. Here is your answer:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

That has been the only plausible explanation the whole time. We all really gotta stop feeding into the conspiracy theories.

[horseplayer]

Nothing sinister happened. This is not a terrorist act like the news is desperate for us to believe. Here is your answer:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

That has been the only plausible explanation the whole time. We all really gotta stop feeding into the conspiracy theories.

I agree with you 99%.

The only thing holding my mind back from that theory is that they are still saying that the hard turn directive to change course was entered into the plane's system 12 minutes prior to the final verbal transmission between pilot and ATC.

Now of course...there has been a ridiculous amount of conflicting information since the inception of this ordeal...so nobody knows what to believe at this point.

[Stephen06GT]

Nothing sinister happened. This is not a terrorist act like the news is desperate for us to believe. Here is your answer:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/03/mh370-electrical-fire/

That has been the only plausible explanation the whole time. We all really gotta stop feeding into the conspiracy theories.

I read that the other day, makes perfect sense, but doesn't sell papers or get ratings.

[Armen]

Sounds like they may have found it far out in the Indian Ocean, where apparently there isn't a lot of air/sea travel.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/19/australian-pm-says-satellite-finds-objects-possibly-from-missing-malaysian-jet

[ZR]

An update that brings more questions vs what it answers.

[ZR]

Latest I could find.


Warren Truss, Australia's deputy prime minister, answers media questions at Pearce air base in Western Australia where Orion planes of the Australian air force are leading the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty

Australian rescuers have stepped up the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as pressure mounts to find a plane that vanished two weeks ago and has defied the best efforts of modern technology to track it down.
Six planes including four Orion anti-submarine surveillance aircraft joined the search on Saturday for debris from the aircraft over a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean 1,500 miles (2,500km) south-west of Perth.
Chinese, British and Australian naval ships were all headed to the same area where two floating objects – possibly plane wreckage – were picked out on satellite pictures.
With planes from China and Japan also expected to join the hunt, the sudden concentration of resources on the basis of such inconclusive evidence reflects growing desperation after 14 days of piecemeal progress.
There have been no sightings of interest since Thursday when Australia released the satellite photos taken on 16 March.
Some experts warn the larger of the two objects – measuring an estimated 24 metres (79 feet) across – could be a shipping container, while the Australian deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, cautioned that any possible debris may have sunk.
"Something that was floating on the sea that long ago may no longer be floating. It may have slipped to the bottom," he said.
Truss said from Perth's north on Saturday afternoon that the Australian search effort had so far covered 190,000 square miles (500,000 sq km).
Truss said the 15 sorties flown from the Perth base so far mainly involved Australian and New Zealand Orion aircraft. US and civilian aircraft are also involved and will be joined by two Chinese aircraft that arrive in Perth on Saturday afternoon to begin searching on Sunday.
Japanese aircraft will take part on Monday and several vessels from around the world are en route to Western Australia to assist.
The Australian navy's HMAS Success was expected to reach the search area later on Saturday.
"This search is an intensive operation," Truss said. "While these aircraft are equipped with very advanced technology, much of this search is actually visual."
The search would go on as long as necessary, he said. "It is important from the perspective of those who have families, whose whereabouts are unknown ... and indeed for the future of the aviation industry that we do whatever we can to firstly confirm whether or not the sightings as a result of the satellite imagery are indeed connected in any way with the Malaysia Airlines flight," he said.
"And then if so, what can be recovered so we can learn more about what has happened on this flight and learn any lessons that are necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Craig Heap said the debris was a promising lead. "There's a reasonable chance of finding something," he said.
The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, said: "It's about the most inaccessible spot that you can imagine on the face of the Earth (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/mh370-malaysia-airlines-plane-search-obstacles) but if there is anything down there we will find it.
"Now it could just be a container that's fallen off a ship. We just don't know but we owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle."
After Australian and Malaysian officials hailed the satellite images as the most credible lead to date, failure to find anything soon will be a body blow to a search operation already tainted by false leads and dead ends.
Britain's Telegraph newspaper published what appeared to be the full transcript of communications between flight MH370's cockpit crew and air traffic control up until the moment it dropped off civilian radar.
The transcript, which ended with the final words "All right, good night" – believed to have been spoken by the co-pilot – contained no fresh clues to what diverted MH370 from its intended flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.
Malaysian investigators have stuck to their assumption that the change of course was the result of a deliberate action by someone on board.
Three scenarios have gained particular attention: hijacking, pilot sabotage and a sudden mid-air crisis that incapacitated the flight crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot for several hours until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Finding wreckage in the remote southern Indian Ocean would undermine the hijacking theory, which many of the relatives of the 227 passengers on board continue to cling to.
Sarah Bajc, the partner of American passenger Philip Wood, voiced concern that the sudden focus on a particular section of the Indian Ocean was happening at the expense of a land search along a northern route the plane may have taken over south and central Asia.
"I believe, and I think many people believe, the passengers are being held for some other purpose. But so far that doesn't seem to be listened to," Bajc told CNN.
"If there's a chance it was taken by an abductor of some sort then we should be putting at least some of our resources towards looking on land."
On Friday five planes including military P3 Orions criss-crossed 8,800 square miles of ocean without any sightings of wreckage. The search area has since been widened.
The distance from Australia's west coast allows the Orions only about two hours of actual search time before they must turn around with enough fuel to get back to Perth.
Two ultra long-range commercial jets brought into use on Saturday can stay in the area for five hours.
"With any luck we'll find something shortly," said Australian Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams.
As it enters its third week the search for MH370 has become one of the longest and largest in modern aviation history.
No confirmed wreckage was ever found of a Korean Air jetliner that exploded in mid-air over the Andaman Sea in 1987 as the result of a bomb placed on board by North Korean agents.
Expectations based on advances in technology, coupled with the modern era's relentless 24-hour media coverage, would seem to rule out public acceptance of the idea that MH370 will never be found. "This is going to be a long-haul effort," said the Malaysian transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein.
Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aviation consultancy Leeham Co, said the investigation would continue for as long as it takes, partly because there may be a criminal act involved. "Worse, if this is some kind of terror event that is a precursor to something bigger in the future, authorities will presumably do all they can to make this determination and work to prevent it – whatever 'it' is."
Malaysia has asked the FBI to help recover data it said was deleted from a home flight simulator belonging to the plane's chief pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, but otherwise no evidence has emerged to implicate him or the crew.

[Slope]

Does anyone else find it strange the the USA sent their Frigate back after only a few days in the search?

[ZR]

Nothing about whats transpired to date isn't strange. Kath was recently on vaca and yes came back by plane. Don't know how I'd handle not knowing if something similar had happened.
Thoughts and prayers for all involved.

[saleenman]

They are saying its in the Indian Ocean

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/chinese-plane-spots-object-indian-ocean

[SVOMACH1]

Sad if its true. I was still hoping that there would be a miracle and they would be found on an island or something.

[ZR]

^^ As did I.

[RedSN]

Found?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-ended-in-southern-indian-ocean-pm-says-1.2584000

[KIDAGIN]

If that's the case it is very sad news

[ZR]

Heartbreaking news.

[Kirk]

Absolutely horrible to hear. Hopefully they find out what caused the crash.

[SVOMACH1]

So have they actually found it yet?? Any physical evidence?

[TheMustangShow]

So have they actually found it yet?? Any physical evidence?

Nope, zero and if it's in the Indian Ocean, parts are over a mile deep...it will probably be another lost plane and there have been many, that have vanished over the years.

There's a lot of unforgiving ocean on Earth and it claims a lot of man-made machines.

[92redragtop]

Nope, zero and if it's in the Indian Ocean, parts are over a mile deep...it will probably be another lost plane and there have been many, that have vanished over the years.

There's a lot of unforgiving ocean on Earth and it claims a lot of man-made machines.

Not as deep as pacific ocean (Mariana's Trench?) but I believe average 12,000 ft but up to 26,000 ft plus in some areas.

[TheMustangShow]

Not as deep as pacific ocean (Mariana's Trench?) but I believe average 12,000 ft but up to 26,000 ft plus in some areas.

...anything over a mile deep, the chances of location are low, let alone a recovery. I personally do not think it will be found, which adds to the tragedy for the families.

[Ghost Rider]

unless the plane made a perfect water landing and then sunk all intact, you would still have floating debris, such as seat cushions, styrofoam, etc.

[TheMustangShow]

unless the plane made a perfect water landing and then sunk all intact, you would still have floating debris, such as seat cushions, styrofoam, etc.

... and how do you find items that small in 10s of thousands of square miles of Ocean that is 6 or 7 hours away from land?

The searchers will need some luck.

[Ghost Rider]

... and how do you find items that small in 10s of thousands of square miles of Ocean that is 6 or 7 hours away from land?

The searchers will need some luck.

good set of binoculars :shrug:


just saying...stuff can wash up...look at all the crap that came across the ocean from the tsunami and such...

[b1lk1]

good set of binoculars :shrug:


just saying...stuff can wash up...look at all the crap that came across the ocean from the tsunami and such...

That took over a year to start happening. Pacific and those currents are a whole different beast than the Indian Ocean, especially where they are searching.

[Intmdtr]

I don't get this......why has it not been located yet? there is something fishy about this. when in history has it taken tis long ever....to find anything.....?

[Canadian Bacon]

I don't get this......why has it not been located yet? there is something fishy about this. when in history has it taken tis long ever....to find anything.....?

A few times. If you look into it, they lost a plane for 2 years.

[Ghost Rider]

That took over a year to start happening. Pacific and those currents are a whole different beast than the Indian Ocean, especially where they are searching.

my point was just that, just cause they can't find anything right now, doesn't mean they won't in the future kinda thing...

[Ghost Rider]

I don't get this......why has it not been located yet? there is something fishy about this. when in history has it taken tis long ever....to find anything.....?


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Earhart_and_electra.jpeg/791px-Earhart_and_electra.jpeg

[ZR]

Latest news / still no wreckage or any answers.

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-search-for-missing-malaysian-plane-mh370-continues-as-airlines-launches-16th-mission-1982822

[Kirk]

^ they'll never find it

[ZR]

I hope your wrong but suspect your right.
Families need closure.

[Foxzilla]

Plane was abducted by Aliens!!!

[SVOMACH1]

Two months and still lost.......

[Screw]

alien abduction is what I've heard ..:shrug:

[ZR]

It has already been two months, and there is still no significant update on the disappearance of Malaysia Airline flight M370.
Malaysian Airline flight MH370 flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China on the fateful day of March 8, with 239 people on board. It vanished without a trace. Obama's jest was a tone of criticism over CNN's reporting of that flight in two months.
The search for the missing MH370 Boeing 777 is history's most expensive recovery operation, but there still has no trace of the plane and the search team is in another area which may take 12 months to cover. It is in the Indian Ocean, about a thousand miles northwest of Perth, Australia.
Despite many stories that flooded the internet, which gain massive traffic as many are anxiously monitoring the development of the search, there is no remnant found and the mystery remains unsolved as to where the plane crashed. Not finding the remnants of the plane can lead to speculations that the passengers are still alive (http://www.eyeopening.info/2014/03/25/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-now-clearly-government-cover-evidence-contradicts-official-story/#.U26sDnbUSkg) - somewhere; and it's anyone's guess as to where.
Two months after the disappearance of flight MH370 still puts everyone in limbo on what exactly happened to the plane.Questions (http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/flight-mh370/57683/mystery-flight-mh370-7-other-planes-vanished) like why its communication system was disabled and why it made drastic changes in direction and altitude (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/14/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/), remain unanswered.
The search operation is not easy, even with high-tech tools. The search area is so huge, the ocean, dark and deep. Worse, they may be searching in the wrong area. Historically, there are many planes that have vanished, with reasons (http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/stories/10-airplanes-that-disappeared-without-a-trace) for its disappearance remaining as unsolved mysteries. MH370 may become one of them.

[saleenman]

It is so sad.

[ZR]

Families are living a nightmare.

[70XR7]

Even if they do find it, the black boxes will be dead.. doubt they'll be able to recover much info

[Foxzilla]

They will never find it

[TheMustangShow]

Lots of planes have Vanished over the year, this is another one.

May the victims R.I.P.

[Blackmare]

I heard on the news over the weekend, that it could take up to a year to find it. Horrible for the families.

[Ghost Rider]

Even if they do find it, the black boxes will be dead.. doubt they'll be able to recover much info

flight data is stored on solid state memory, so whatever was recorded will still be there, it would just stop recording once the batteries ran out but everything it had recorded up till that point would still be recoverable, as long as the FDR and CVR is still intact

[TheMustangShow]

It's gone and will stay gone...the water where it went down is just too deep to make a recovery possible.

Others that Vanished are here: http://www.ibtimes.com/beyond-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-6-other-planes-disappeared-were-never-found-1561738

[Foxzilla]

With the technology we have today,its hard to believe they can't find it,I say the plane landed somewhere and its being hidden that's why they shut off all tracking devices on the plane,if it was a suicide hijack why wouldn't they want the plane to be seen ?

[Slope]

http://i.imgur.com/mmilMPP.jpg

[ZR]

From out of the slime comes scum bags.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/world/asia/malaysia-mh370-theft-charges/

[RedSN]

That's actually very clever. ...except for the part that forensic accountants are probably keeping an eye on the accounts.



With the technology we have today,its hard to believe they can't find it
Here ya go: here come's the technology.

New attempts to find the plane are expected to start in September.
Australian officials have appointed Dutch company Fugro Survey to conduct the search.
The company will use two ships equipped with towed deep-water vehicles, as well as side-scan sonar, multibeam echo sounders and video cameras, to search an area of 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) and depths of up to 7,000 meters (four miles).

[ZR]

Saw that, would at least bring closure to the families if it's found.

[TheMustangShow]

From out of the slime comes scum bags.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/world/asia/malaysia-mh370-theft-charges/

Hmmm....

I was under the understanding that according to the Qur'an, Muslims may not steal from each other...


I guess they didn't read that part?

[HyperGT]

Tie weights to their ankles and get them to help in the search for the plane.

[TheMustangShow]

Tie weights to their ankles and get them to help in the search for the plane.

^^
This makes sense. :thumbsup:

[saleenman]

^^
This makes sense. :thumbsup:

X2

[RedSN]

Is this place the new Bermuda Triangle?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30614627

Another one lost.

[ZR]

Can't begin to imagine what the families are going through.

[Darkhorse]

oy


The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path to avoid thick storm clouds, AirAsia said.

Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m).

Ministry official Djoko Murjatmodjo said the request "could not be approved at that time due to traffic, there was a flight above, and five minutes later [flight QZ8501] disappeared from radar".

[Slope]

So it's just going to be a "normal" occurrence to have large aircraft with several hundred passengers disappear?

I could see if an ultralight goes down in the Congo, or a helicopter in some remote mountain area, but these jetliners are monsters in size and I've been under the impression that they are well tracked/monitored.

[55 HD]

Something is UP.....or...... DOWN

Going to have to say RIP to those passengers & flight crew. This is crazy and in our day of technology we should be able to know why it happens and where the plans are when they land.

VERY SAD

[ZR]

No excuse for it being gone missing, did they learn nothing from the last one?
Morons.

[Sswitch]

I just got back from that area not too long ago. There is this really uneasy feeling about being in the air and I'm glad my traveling days are finally over. No more airplanes for me please!

Terrible news.

[ZR]

Update.

Australian authorities searching for the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that went missing 20 months ago have been asked to urgently re-investigate an area in the Indian Ocean.
Sonar pictures collected in the remote area off Western Australia between September 22 to 25 by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) show what could be debris from the plane, experts said.
U.S. geophysical consulting firm Williamson & Associates said the images bore a striking similarity to the underwater debris field Air France Flight 447 left on the Atlantic Ocean floor when it crashed in 2009 - killing all 228 passengers and crew.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3281898/New-images-Indian-Ocean-missing-Malaysian-passenger-plane-MH370.html#ixzz3pFqzQpSx
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[ZR]

CANBERRA, Australia -- The deep sea hunt for a missing Malaysian airliner has shifted to a remote part of the Indian Ocean where a British pilot has calculated that the Boeing 777 made a controlled ditching last year with 239 people aboard, officials said Monday.
The patch of deep ocean southwest of Australia that Capt. Simon Hardy has determined is the most likely resting place of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be searched through December, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is co-ordinating the search on Malaysia's behalf, said in a statement.
But Australian authorities are not being guided by the experienced Boeing 777 pilot's analysis. Martin Dolan, the bureau's chief commissioner, said the search was moving farther south within a 120,000-square-kilometre (46,000-square-mile) priority area because the southern hemisphere spring had made the extreme conditions in the southern ocean calmer.
"We're aware that we're in the area that Capt. Hardy specifies, but we're in that area because it was next in our search sequence, and we've been moving progressively south because the weather is improving," Dolan said.
Hardy's theory of where Flight 370 went after it inexplicably flew far off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8, 2014, has been widely published in recent months. He used mathematical analysis and a flight simulator to plot the course he believed the airliner took when it vanished in one of aviation's most baffling mysteries.
"I am fairly confident that the wreckage will be found within the next four to eight weeks," Hardy told The Australian newspaper.
Experts directing the search have discussed Hardy's theory with him. Hardy could not be immediately contacted for comment on Monday.
"There are many theories from members of the public and various independent experts and all are considered," the bureau said in its statement, which described Hardy's analysis as credible.
But searchers do not accept a key aspect of Hardy's conclusion: that whoever was flying the plane made a controlled landing at sea, which allowed it to sink largely intact.
The only confirmed wreckage of Flight 370 to be recovered was a wing flap found on a remote Indian Ocean island in July.
Dolan said authorities still believe that the final satellite transmission from one of the jet's engines indicated that it was out of fuel, meaning the plane would have plummeted into the ocean out of control and disintegrated.
Australia and Malaysia have split the cost of the search of the vast expanse of seabed that began in October last year based on satellite analysis of the jet's flight for more than six hours after it went off course. The search, taking place more than 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off the Australian coast, has so far covered 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles).
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged an additional $14.5 million over the weekend to fund the continuing search. China lost 153 citizens in the disaster.

[ZR]

Malaysia announced Tuesday that another piece of suspected plane debris was found in South Africa as authorities searched coastal areas for potential wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The news comes as authorities continue to determine the origin of debris found in Mozambique in March.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that it is too early to confirm if the new debris belonged to the Boeing 777-200, which went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
“We first need to check if the debris belonged to a Boeing 777 plane,” Liow said, according tothe Straits Times (http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/another-piece-of-suspected-mh370-debris-found-in-south-africa-malaysia-transport).
Last week, Australian government (http://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/chester/releases/2016/March/dc029_2016.aspx) investigators completed their analysis of the two debris pieces found on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel, the ocean strait between Mozambique and Madagascar. Authorities said that the debris “is almost certainly” from the Flight MH370.
Also last week, another debris (http://www.ibtimes.com/flight-mh370-update-malaysia-scour-south-african-coast-mozambique-debris-analysis-2342454) item was discovered on a beach near Mossel Bay, a town in a Western Cape province in South Africa. Australian authorities said Wednesday that the part was "suspected to be the cowling from an engine."
A multimillion-dollar search for Flight MH370 has been continuing in the southern Indian Ocean, with 9,652 sq. miles of the total 46,332 sq. miles left to be scoured. Authorities earlier said that the underwater search will be called off in June if no wreckage is found.
The search for the Malaysian airliner, which has been ongoing for more than two years, has cost the Malaysian government (http://www.ibtimes.com/mh370-search-hits-record-price-tag-malaysia-government-spends-70m-aviation-2344123) nearly $70 million, Sky News Australia reported Monday.

[ZR]

Two pieces of aircraft debris found on beaches in Mauritius and South Africa almost certainly came from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, say Malaysian and Australian officials.
It is the latest development in efforts to solve the mystery of the aircraft, which went missing in March 2014.
The plane, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, had 239 people on board when it vanished.
It is presumed to have crashed into the sea after veering off course.
Three ships are searching a 120,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean but have so far found no trace of the plane.
Five pieces of debris have been confirmed as definitely or probably from the plane.
Each was found thousands of miles from the search zone, though within the area models of ocean currents have indicated debris could wash up.

[ZR]

The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be suspended once the current search area in the Indian Ocean has been completely scoured, the ministers of the three countries conducting the operation announced Friday, possibly ending all hopes of solving aviation's greatest mystery.
"In the absence of new evidence, Malaysia, Australia and China have collectively decided to suspend the search upon completion of the 120,000-square-kilometre (46,300-square-mile) search area," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said after a meeting with his Australiana and Chinese counterparts.
He said suspension of the search does not mean an end to it.
"Should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given in determining next steps," he said, reading from a joint statement. But it was clear that the searchers have given up hopes of finding the jetliner with less than 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 square miles) left to be searched.
In their statement, the ministers acknowledged that "the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading."
As Liow and the other two ministers were addressing the news conference, representatives of the passengers' families stood outside the building holding placards. "Find the plane, ease our pain," read one placard.
The Boeing 777 vanished more than two years ago while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. It is believed to have turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated.
Liow said the current search is being hampered by bad weather and damaged equipment, but still it would end by December. Although the ministers were at pains to say the search has not ended, it is evident that it highly unlikely to be resumed after December, given how few clues have emerged since the disappearance of the plane except for some debris that has been found off East Africa thousands of kilometres (miles) away.
The search has so far cost 180 million Australian dollars ($135 million) -- the most expensive in aviation history.
Representatives from Voice 370, a group representing family members of the plane's 239 passengers and crew, met with Australian officials in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and urged the governments to suspend the search until new funds can be raised. They also called for a wider base of funding, including from Boeing and other plane and component manufacturers.
The three governments are involved because the airline was Malaysian, most of the passengers were Chinese, and the suspected crash site is off southwestern Australia.
There have been several theories surrounding the disappearance and the final hours of the flight, including that the plane glided into the water and didn't dive in, indicating a controlled ditching.
"We do not have any evidence to confirm that it was controlled ditching," Liow said.
He said the plane debris found so far "did not identify the exact location of the aircraft" but the location of the debris is consistent with the drift modeling pattern done by Australia, which indicated a general search area.
A Western Australia University oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi , who has done extensive drift modeling, said the plane could have crashed slightly north of the current search area.
"The best guess that we think is that it's probably around the Broken Ridge region, which is slightly to the north of the area that they're looking at," Pattiaratchi said.
Drift modeling was not used to define the search area because no parts of Flight 370 had been found before a wing flap washed up on La Reunion island off the African coast a year ago. The search area was determined by analysis of satellite signals that the plane emitted in its final hours.
But the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has previously said wreckage found on the southwestern shores of the Indian Ocean was consistent with the plane crashing in the expansive search area.
Pattiaratchi's modeling was based on how long the first piece of confirmed Flight 370 wreckage took to reach La Reunion, an island where confirmed plane debris was found, and his team's calculations of the effects of currents, wind and waves on drifting debris put the crash site just north of the current search area.
Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said experts will continue to analyze data and inspect the debris.
"Future searches must have a high level of success to justify raising hopes of loved ones," he said.

[ZR]

Still no location for the wreck but some pieces found have been confirmed as being from the plane.

[Ponyryd]

That's really crazy, you would think the crash would have penetrated the cabin and some luggage or bodies would have emerged....this is really weird. Almost like its a conspiracy.

[ZR]

If odd piece of the plane ended up on a beach, why not other stuff?

[Ponyryd]

Almost like it was planned or something, just to give the illusion it's lost in the ocean, never to be found by anyone.

[RedSN]

If odd piece of the plane ended up on a beach, why not other stuff?

Because the odd pieces float, while the even pieces sink.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ZR]

SYDNEY, Australia -- The nearly three-year search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended Tuesday, possibly forever -- not because investigators have run out of leads, but because the countries involved in the expensive and vast deep-sea hunt have shown no appetite for opening another phase.
Late last year, as ships with high-tech search equipment covered the last strips of the 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) search zone, experts concluded they should have been searching a smaller area immediately to the north. But by then, $160 million had already been spent by Malaysia, Australia and China, who had agreed over the summer not to search elsewhere without pinpoint evidence.
The transport ministers of those countries reiterated that decision Tuesday in the joint communique issued by the Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia that announced the search for Flight 370 -- and the 239 people aboard the aircraft -- had been suspended.
"Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," said the agency, which helped lead the hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia. "Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended. The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness."
Relatives of those lost on the plane, which vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, responded largely with outrage. A support group, Voice 370, issued a statement saying that extending the search is "an inescapable duty owed to the flying public."
Without understanding what happened to the plane, there's a "good chance that this could happen in the future," said K.S. Narendran, a member of the group.
But last year, Australia, Malaysia and China -- which have each helped fund the search -- agreed that the hunt would be suspended once the search zone was exhausted unless new evidence emerges that pinpoints the plane's specific location. More than half of those aboard the plane were Chinese.
Since no technology currently exists that can tell investigators exactly where the plane is, that means the most expensive, complex search in aviation history is over, barring a change of heart from the three countries.
There is the possibility that a private donor could offer to bankroll a new search, or that Malaysia will kick in fresh funds. But no one has stepped up yet, raising the bleak possibility that the world's greatest aviation mystery may never be solved.
For the families of the aircraft's 227 passengers and 12 crew members, that's a particularly bitter prospect given the recent acknowledgment by officials that they had been looking for the plane in the wrong place all along.
In December, the transport bureau announced that a review of the data used to estimate where the plane crashed, coupled with new information on ocean currents, strongly suggested that the plane hit the water in an area directly north of the search zone. Officials investigating the plane's disappearance recommended that search crews head north to a new 25,000-square-kilometre (9,700-square-mile) area identified in a recent analysis as where the plane most likely crashed.
But Australia's government rejected that recommendation, saying the results of the experts' analysis weren't precise enough to justify continuing the hunt.
"Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft," the transport ministers of the three countries involved said in their statement Tuesday.
The lack of resolution has caused agony for family members of the flight's passengers, who have begged officials to continue the hunt for their loved ones.
"The whole series of events since the plane disappeared has been nothing but frustrating," said Grace Nathan, a Malaysian whose mother was on board Flight 370. "It continues to be frustrating and we just hope they will continue to search. ... They've already searched 120,000 square kilometres. What is another 25,000?"
Investigators have been stymied again and again in their efforts to find the aircraft. Hopes were repeatedly raised and smashed by false leads: Underwater signals wrongly thought to be emanating from the plane's black boxes. Possible debris fields that turned out to be sea trash. Oil slicks that contained no jet fuel. A large object detected on the seafloor that was just an old shipwreck.
In the absence of solid leads, investigators relied largely on an analysis of transmissions between the plane and a satellite to narrow down where in the world the jet ended up -- a technique never previously used to find an aircraft. Based on the transmissions, they narrowed down the possible crash zone to a vast arc of ocean slicing across the Southern Hemisphere.
Even then, the search zone was enormous and located in one of the most remote patches of water on earth -- 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off Australia's west coast. Much of the seabed had never even been mapped. For years, search crews painstakingly combed the search area in several ships, largely pinning their hopes on towfish, small vessels equipped with sonar that sent information back to the boats in real-time. The ships slowly dragged the towfish through the ocean just above the seabed, hoping the equipment would detect some trace of the plane. Unmanned submarines were used to examine areas of rougher terrain and objects of interest picked up by sonar that required a closer look.
The search zone shifted multiple times as investigators refined their analysis, all to no avail. Some began to question whether the plane had gone down in the Southern Hemisphere at all.
Then, in July 2015, came the first proof that the plane was indeed in the Indian Ocean: A wing flap from the aircraft was found on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar. Since then, more than 20 objects either confirmed or believed to be from the plane have washed ashore on beaches throughout the Indian Ocean. But while the debris proved the plane went down in the Indian Ocean, the location of the main underwater wreckage -- and its crucial black box data recorders -- remains stubbornly elusive.
If the plane is never found, the reasons for its disappearance and crash will probably never be known, though Malaysia has said the plane's erratic movements after takeoff were consistent with deliberate actions.
The sister of the pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, slammed authorities for ending the search without settling the mystery, saying her brother will not be absolved of suspicions he deliberately crashed the plane.
"How can they end the search like that? There will be finger-pointing again," Sakinab Shah said.
The transport ministers praised the efforts of the search crews and said the search had presented an "unprecedented challenge."
"Today's announcement is significant for our three countries, but more importantly for the family and friends of those on board the aircraft. We again take this opportunity to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives and acknowledge the enormous loss felt by their loved ones," the ministers wrote. "We remain hopeful that new information will come to light and that at some point in the future the aircraft will be located."

[RedSN]

bleak possibility that the world's greatest aviation mystery may never be solved.
I think "one of the greatest" would have been more accurate. MH370 has lots of pretty big company on that list:


Flight 19 - 5 Avengers disappear in Bermuda Triangle
Amelia Earhart - her Electra lost in the Pacific
Broken Arrow - B47 goes missing into the Mediterranean

[ZR]

Thought the same as I read it Don.

[ZR]

Latest news.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia -- Malaysia's government said Wednesday it will pay U.S. company Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it can find the wreckage or black boxes of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 within three months, in a renewed bid to solve the plane's disappearance nearly four years ago.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said there was an 85 per cent chance of finding the debris in a new 25,000 square kilometre (9,650 square mile) area -- roughly the size of Vermont -- identified by experts.
The government signed a "no cure, no fee" deal with the Houston, Texas-based company to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search by Malaysia, Australia and China in the southern Indian Ocean was called off. The plane vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

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"The primary mission by Ocean Infinity is to identify the location of the wreckage and/or both of the flight recorders ... and present a considerable and credible evidence to confirm the exact location of the two main items," he told a news conference.
If the mission is successful within three months, payment will be made based on the size of the area searched. Liow said the government will pay Ocean Infinity $20 million for 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square mile) of a successful search, $30 million for 15,000 square kilometres (5,790 sq. miles), $50 million for 25,000 square kilometres (9653 sq. miles) and $70 million if the plane or recorders are found beyond the identified area.
Ocean Infinity Chief Executive Oliver Plunkett said the search vessel Seabed Constuctor, which left the South African port of Durban last week, is expected to reach the southern Indian Ocean by Jan. 17 to begin the hunt.
He said eight autonomous underwater vehicles, which are drones fitted with high-tech cameras, sonars and sensors, will be dispatched to map the seabed at a faster pace. Plunkett said the underwater drones can cover 1,200 square kilometres (463 sq. miles) a day and complete the 25,000 square kilometres within a month.
"We have a realistic prospect of finding it," he said. "While there can be no guarantees of locating the aircraft, we believe our system of multiple autonomous vehicles working simultaneously is well suited to the task at hand."
The official search was extremely difficult because no transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight. Systems designed to automatically transmit the flight's position failed to work after this point, said a final report from Australian Transport Safety Board last January.
"I feel very happy but at the same time very panicky whether it can be found or not. Now it's back to four years ago where we have to wait everyday (to find out) whether debris can be found," said Shin Kok Chau, whose wife Tan Ser Kuin was a flight attendant on MH370.
Underwater wreck hunter David Mearns said the new search takes into account oceanographic models used to drastically narrow the possible locations of the crash and deploys state-of-the art underwater vehicles that will allow the company to cover far more seabed at a faster pace.
"There are no guarantees in a search of this type. However, notwithstanding that uncertainty, this upcoming search is the best chance yet that the aircraft wreckage will be found," said Mearns, director of Blue Water Recoveries Ltd.

[ZR]

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by a U.S. company will likely end in June, a Malaysian official said, as families of passengers marked the fourth anniversary of the plane's disappearance with renewed hope that the world's biggest aviation mystery will be solved.
Malaysia inked a "no cure, no fee" deal with Houston, Texas-based Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Malaysia, Australia and China was called off.
Ocean Infinity started the search on Jan. 22 and has 90 search days to look for the plane. Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said the 90-day term will spread over a few months because the search vessel has to refuel in Australia and bad weather could be a factor.

Azharuddin said Saturday the search is going smoothly and is expected to end by mid-June."The whole world, including the next of kin, have (new) hope to find the plane for closure," he told reporters at a remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur. "For the aviation world, we want to know what exactly happened to the plane."<iframe name="fsk_frame_splitbox" id="fsk_frame_splitbox" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: initial; border-style: none; outline: 0px; line-height: 1.6; vertical-align: baseline; width: 603px; height: 438px;"></iframe>
Officials have said there was an 85 per cent chance of finding the debris in a new 25,000-square-kilometre (9,650-square-mile) search area -- roughly the size of Vermont -- identified by experts.
If the mission is successful within three months, payment will be made based on the size of the area searched. Malaysia says it will pay Ocean Infinity $20 million for 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) of a successful search, $30 million for 15,000 square kilometres (5,790 square miles), $50 million for 25,000 square kilometres (9,653 square miles) and $70 million if the plane or flight recorders are found beyond the identified area.
The plane vanished March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The official search was extremely difficult because no transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight. Systems designed to automatically transmit the flight's position failed to work after this point, according to a final report issued in January 2017 by the Australian Transport Safety Board.
Family members lit candles on a stage Saturday and observed a moment of silence during the three-hour event. Most are split over whether the search will be fruitful.
"It doesn't renew (any hope) because I also have to be realistic. It has been four years," said Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband was a flight attendant on the plane. She was pregnant when the plane disappeared and attended the event with her now 4-year-old son.
Jiang Hui of China, whose mother was on board the plane, said that he was grateful for Ocean Infinity's courage to mount the search, but that he hopes it will not be the end if the mission fails. He proposed for a public fund to be set up to continue the search.
"Without a search, there will be no truth," Jiang said.

[ZR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IooUYvy5h0o