User:AHeneen/sandbox/Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

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Main map shows southeastern Indian Ocean and western Australia, with the locations of search zones, sonobouy drops, and calculated flight paths. The main map & all three inset maps are bathymetric with land displayed in one color with borders. An inset in the upper left shows the path of the ADV Ocean Shield which towed a Towed Pinger Locator and where it detected acoustic signals; the same inset also shows the seafloor sonar search performed in April-May 2014. An inset in the bottom right shows southeast Asia with the search area along with Flight 370's path and stars noting where it disappeared from secondary radar and disappeared from military radar. A third inset (bottom center) depicts most of the eastern hemisphere and shows Flight 370's planned flight path (Kuala Lumpur to Beijing), the ping corridors announced in mid-March, and locator boxes for the main map and southeast Asia inset.
The shifting search zones for Flight 370 from South China Sea and Strait of Malacca (lower right inset) to the underwater phase that began in October (pink).

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is an ongoing effort to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 passengers and crew which disappeared on the night of 8 March 2014. It is the largest and most expensive search and rescue effort in modern history. The search has not yielded any confirmed debris from the aircraft.

The search began soon after Malaysia Airlines issued a media statement at 7:24 MYT that contact had been lost with the aircraft, with a focus on the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea near the last known location of Flight 370. Flight 370 had departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41 MYT (16:41 UTC, 7 March) and last communicated with air traffic control (ATC) at 01:19 MYT while transitioning from Malaysian to Vietnamese controlled airspace. The search was later expanded to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea after a review of military radar revealed that Flight 370 made a sharp left turn and crossed the Malay Peninsula.

On 15 March, based on military radar data and transmissions between the aircraft and an Inmarsat satellite, investigators concluded that the aircraft had diverted from its intended course and headed west across the Malay Peninsula, then continued on a northern or southern track for around seven hours. The focus of the search shifted to the southern part of the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. In the first two weeks of April, aircraft and ships deployed equipment to listen for signals from the underwater locator beacons attached to the aircraft's "black boxes". Four unconfirmed signals were detected between 6 and 8 April near the time the beacons' batteries were were likely to have been exhausted. A robotic submarine searched the seabed near the detected pings until 28 May, with no debris being found.

An analysis of possible flight paths was conducted, identifying a 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) search area, approximately 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) west of Perth, Australia, as the most likely region Flight 370 ended. The underwater search of this area is expected to begin in August 2014 and last up to 12 months at a cost of A$60 million (approximately US$56 million or €41 million).

Disappearance[edit]

Main article: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41 local time (MYT) on 8 March 2014 (16:41 UTC, 7 March), bound for Beijing Capital International Airport. At 01:07 MYT, the aircraft was at flight level 350—approximately 35,000 feet (11,000 m) above sea level—when the final ACARS message was sent from the aircraft. At 1:19 MYT, Lumpur area air traffic control (ATC) initiated a hand-off to Ho Chi Minh area ATC. One of Flight 370's pilots responded "Good night Malaysian Three Seven Zero", after which no further communications were made with the pilots.

The crew was expected to contact air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City as the aircraft passed into Vietnamese airspace, just north of the point where contact was lost. The captain of another aircraft attempted to reach the crew of Flight 370 "just after 1:30 am" using the international distress frequency to relay Vietnamese air traffic control's request for the crew to contact it; the captain said he was able to establish contact, but just heard "mumbling" and static.

Flight 370 was expected to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 local time (same time zone as Malaysia; 22:30 UTC, 7 March). At 7:24, Malaysia Airlines issued a media statement that Flight 370 was missing after contact was lost with Malaysian ATC at 2:40. The time of the last contact with ATC was later corrected to 1:19; Malaysian Airlines was notified at 2:40.

Initial search efforts[edit]

Malaysia Airlines issued a media statement at 07:24 MYT—one hour after the expected arrival of Flight 370 at Beijing Capital International Airport—stating that contact with the flight had been lost by Subang Air Traffic Control and that search and rescue teams had been dispatched.[1][2] Since contact was lost while Flight 370 was flying over the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea, an intensive search began there soon after Malaysia Airline's public announcement.

South China Sea and Strait of Malacca[edit]

refer to caption
A MH-60R Sea Hawk lands aboard USS Pinckney during a crew swap before returning to the search and rescue on 10 March 2014.

An admiral of the Vietnamese navy reported that radar contact with the aircraft was last made over the Gulf of Thailand.[3][4] Oil slicks detected off the coast of Vietnam on 8 and 9 March later tested negative for aviation fuel.[5][6] Alleged discovery of debris about 140 km (87 mi) south-west of Phú Quốc Island and 80 km (50 mi) south of Thổ Chu Island on 9 March was also found to be not from an aircraft.[7] Searches following a Chinese website's satellite images, taken on 9 March, showing three floating objects measuring up to 24 × 22 metres (79 × 72 ft) at 6°42′N 105°38′E / 6.7°N 105.63°E / 6.7; 105.63 (Three floating objects, 9 March) also turned up blank;[8][9] Vietnamese officials said the area had been "searched thoroughly".[10][11]

The Royal Thai Navy shifted its focus in the search away from the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea at the request of its Malaysian counterpart, which was investigating the possibility that the aircraft had turned around and could have gone down in the Andaman Sea, near Thailand's border.[12] The chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Rodzali Daud, claimed that military recordings of radar signals did not exclude the possibility of the aircraft turning back on its flight path.[13][14] The search radius was increased from the original 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) from its last known position,[15] south of Thổ Chu Island, to 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi), and the area being examined then extended to the Strait of Malacca along the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, with waters both to the east of Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand, and in the Strait of Malacca along Malaysia's west coast, being searched.[16][17][14]

On 12 March, authorities also began to search the Andaman Sea, northwest of the Strait of Malacca, and the Malaysian government requested help from India to search in the area.[18]

Assets involved[edit]

  • China: amphibious transport docks Kunlun Shan and Jinggang Shan, helicopters, medical personnel, divers and marines, life-saving and underwater detection equipment;[23] Type 052C destroyer,[24] coast guard and rescue vessels, divers and salvagers. Retasked military satellites.[25]
  • Indonesia: corvette and rapid patrol vessels;[32] PC-40-type fast patrol vessels; IPTN NC-212 maritime patrol aircraft.[33]
  • South Korea: navy P-3C Orion and air force C-130H Hercules aircraft.[49]

Satellite communications & radar analysis[edit]

refer to caption
Search for aircraft. Pink circle: Range of aircraft based on fuel (5,300 kilometres (3,300 mi)). Ping corridors: possible locations (in red) of aircraft at last ping to Inmarsat and possible last location (lighter red) based on residual fuel. Search areas: 1) 8–20 March, 2) 20–27 March, 3) 28 March.
Further information: Analysis of satellite communication from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

On 11 March, New Scientist reported that, prior to the aircraft's disappearance, two reports using the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) protocol had been automatically sent to engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce's monitoring centre in the United Kingdom;[60] The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the US government, asserted that Rolls-Royce had received an aircraft health report every thirty minutes for five hours, implying that the aircraft had remained aloft for four hours after its transponder went offline.[61][62][63]

The following day, Hishammuddin Hussein, the acting Malaysian Minister of Transport, refuted the details of The Wall Street Journal report stating that the final engine transmission was received at 01:07 MYT, prior to the flight's disappearance from secondary radar.[63] The WSJ later amended its report and stated simply that the belief of continued flight was "based on analysis of signals sent by the Boeing 777's satellite-communication link... the link operated in a kind of standby mode and sought to establish contact with a satellite or satellites. These transmissions did not include data..."[64][65]

Inmarsat said that "routine, automated signals were registered" on its network,[66] and that analysis of "keep-alive message[s]" that continued to be sent after air traffic control first lost contact could help pinpoint the aircraft's location,[67] which led The Independent to comment on 14 March that the aircraft could not have met with a sudden catastrophic event, or all signals would have stopped simultaneously.[68]

Southern Indian Ocean[edit]

Crew members on board a P-8A Poseidon manning terminals while searching for surface debris and locator beacons from Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean.
refer to caption
Chinese PLAAF Ilyushin Il-76 arriving at RAAF Base Pearce in Perth, Australia on 21 March 2014.

First phase[edit]

On 13 March, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said "an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean based on some new information"[61][69] and a senior official at The Pentagon told ABC News: "We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean."[70] On 17 March, Australia agreed to lead the search in the southern locus from Sumatra to the southern Indian Ocean.[71][72] The search would be coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), with an area of 600,000 km2 (230,000 sq mi) between Australia and the Kerguelen Islands lying more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) Southwest of Perth, to be searched by ships and aircraft of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.[73] This area, which Australian PM Tony Abbott described as "as close to nowhere as it's possible to be", is renowned for its strong winds, inhospitable climate, hostile seas, and deep ocean floors.[74][75] On 18 March, the search of the area began with a single Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft.[76] On 19 March, the search capacity was ramped up to three aircraft and three merchant ships;[77] the revised search area of 305,000 square kilometres (118,000 sq mi) was about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) south-west of Perth.[78]

Search efforts intensified on 20 March, after large pieces of possible debris had been photographed in this area four days earlier by a satellite.[79][80][81][82][83] Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea assigned military and civilian ships and aircraft to the search.[84][85] China published images from satellite Gaofen 1 on 22 March that showed large debris about 120 km (75 mi) south west of the previous sighting.[86][87][88] On 26 March, images from French satellites indicated 122 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean.[89][90] Thai satellite images published on 27 March showed about 300 floating objects about 200 km (120 mi) from the French satellites' target area.[91] The abundant finds, none confirmed to be from the flight, brought the realisation of the prior lack of surveillance over the area, and the vast amounts of marine debris littering the oceans.[92][93]

On 28 March, revised estimates of the radar track and the aircraft's remaining fuel led to a move of the search 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) north-east of the previous area,[94][95] to a new search area of 319,000 square kilometres (123,000 sq mi), roughly 1,850 kilometres (1,150 mi) west of Perth.[96][97][98][99] This search area had more hospitable weather conditions.[87]

On 30 March, four large orange-coloured objects found by search aircraft, described by media as "the so far most promising lead", turned out to be fishing equipment.[100] On 2 April, the centre of the search area was shifted again 456 kilometres (283 mi) east, to a position 1,504 kilometres (935 mi) west of Perth.[101] The same day, Royal Navy survey vessel HMS Echo and submarine HMS Tireless arrived in the area,[102] with HMS Echo starting immediately to search for the aircraft's underwater locator beacons (ULBs) fitted to the "black box" flight recorders,[103] whose batteries were expected to expire around 7 April.[104][105]

Second phase[edit]

Crane lowering the Bluefin 21 into the water.
Ocean Shield deploys Bluefin-21, 14 April 2014.
Diagram of location of ship, thermocline, towed pinger locater at end of tow cable, and blackbox pinger.
Deployment of a towed pinger locator for detecting an aircraft's ULB.

On 4 April, the search was refocused to three more northerly areas from 1,060 to 2,100 kilometres (660 to 1,300 mi) west of Learmonth, spanning over 217,000 square kilometres (84,000 sq mi).[106][107] ADV Ocean Shield, fitted with a TPL-25 towed pinger locator, together with HMS Echo – which carried a "similar device", began searching for pings along a 240-kilometre (150 mi) seabed line believed to be the Flight 370 impact area.[104][108][109] Operators considered it a shot in the dark,[110] when comparing the vast search area with the fact that TPL-25 could only search up to 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) per day.[110]

On China's announcement of two unconfirmed acoustic events picked up by Haixun 01 through a handheld hydrophone on 4 and 5 April,[111][112][113][114][115] the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) ordered HMS Echo to the area, to attempt verification with more advanced equipment.[116]

On 6 April, JACC announced that Ocean Shield had also picked up a signal, about 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) from Haixun 01.[116][117] It was announced the next day that the TPL-25 pinger locator towed by Ocean Shield had picked up a signal twice on 6 April.[118][119] The first was on the morning of 6 April, at approximately 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) depth, and lasted two hours and 20 minutes. The second signal reception took place at approximately 300 metres (980 ft) depth and lasted 13 minutes. During the second episode, two distinct pinger returns were audible. Both episodes of recorded signals, which took place at roughly the same position though several kilometres apart, were considered to be consistent with signals expected from an aircraft's flight recorder ULB.[120] The signals received by Ocean Shield were recorded at the north of a newly calculated impact area, which was announced on 7 April, while the Haixun 01 signals had been recorded at its southern edge.[120][121][122] Ocean Shield detected two more signals on 8 April. The first was acquired at 16:27 AWST and held for 5 minutes, 32 seconds and the second was acquired at 22:17 AWST and held for around seven minutes.[123][124][125] Experts had determined that the earlier signals captured by Ocean Shield were "very stable, distinct, and clear ... at 33.331 kHz and ... consistently pulsed at a 1.106-second interval". These were said to be consistent with the flight recorder ULB.[123] but the frequency of the detections was well outside the manufacturer's specification of 37.5 +/- 1.[126] The later signals were at a frequency of 27 kHz, which raised doubts that they were from a black box.[127] On 10 April, a signal recorded by one of the sonobuoys deployed with a hydrophone at 300 metres depth[128][129] was found unlikely to have originated from Flight 370.[130]

On 14 April, due to the likelihood of the ULBs' acoustic pulses having ceased because their batteries would have run down, the Towed Pinger Locator search gave way to a sea-bed search using side-scan sonar installed in a Bluefin-21 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.[131] The first day's search was aborted because the sea bed was considerably deeper than the maximum operating depth of Bluefin. Scanning subsequently resumed[132] and after covering 42 square miles in its first four dives, the submersible was reprogrammed to allow it to dive 604 feet lower than its operational limit of 14,800 feet, when the risk of damage was assessed as "acceptable". By this time the search was believed to have cost $100 million (£72m) and had been labelled "the costliest in aviation history".[133]

Bluefin-21 required 16 missions to complete its search of the 314 square kilometre area around the detections made by the Towed Pinger Locator.[134][135] At a news conference in Canberra on 28 April, Tony Abbott said "It is now 52 days since Malaysia Airlines Fight MH370 disappeared and I'm here to inform you that the search will be entering a new phase". Abbott also explained that "a much larger" area of the ocean floor would then be searched; it was "highly unlikely" that any surface wreckage would be found; and that the aerial searches had been suspended.[136][137][138] Mission 17 of Bluefin-21, covering the new, wider search area, was on 30 April.[135]

On 12 May, it was reported that the captain of Ocean Shield said there was increasing doubt that pings No. 3 and No. 4 detected on 8 April originated with MH370's black boxes because their frequency of about 27 kHz was too far below the pinger's design frequency of 37.5 kHz. Pings No. 1 and No. 2, detected on 5 April at 33 kHz, were still being considered by the search authorities.[139] On 13 May the search was interrupted due to problems with both the transponder mounted on Ocean Shield and that mounted on Bluefin-21.[140] By 22 May those problems had been resolved and the search was resumed, with Ocean Shield being joined by the Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen, which was to conduct a bathymetric survey of the area.[141]

On 29 May the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, announced that no aircraft debris had been found in that part of the ocean where searchers previously had reported 'pings' from the black boxes. The announcement followed a statement by US Navy's Deputy Director of Ocean Engineering that all four pings were no longer believed to have come from the aircraft's flight recorders.[142] Truss informed parliament that, beginning in August, after a new commercial operator for the search effort had been selected, the search would move into a new phase "that could take twelve months".[143] Equipment envisaged to be used would include towed side-scan sonar.[144]

On 4 June 2014 Australian researchers released an audio recording of an underwater sound that they considered might be related to the final moments of the aircraft. The ATSB had first referenced these signals in a document posted on its website on 26 May.[145]

Third phase[edit]

Data obtained from the baseline bathymetric survey (coloured) contrasted with previously-available satellite data (grey). The substantially higher resolution was needed because the towed underwater vehicles used for the fifth phase of the search will need to operate 100 m above the sea floor.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) signed a contract with the Dutch deep sea survey company Fugro on 10 June to conduct a bathymetric survey of the seafloor in a new search area southwest of Australia (actual area wasn't publicly announced until 26 June, see below).[146] It was necessary for planning the fifth phase of the search and because equipment used for the underwater search in this area would need to operate close to the seafloor (about 100 m).[147] The bathymetric survey has been made at a resolution of 100 metres (330 ft) per pixel, which is substantially higher than previous measurements of the seafloor in this area made by satellites (see image at right) and a few passing ships which had their sonar turned on.[148][149] Fugro deployed their vessel MV Fugro Equator, which began the survey on 18 June.[150] The Chinese naval vessel Zhu Kezhen also assisted in the survey. As of October 5[needs update], the MV Fugro Equator had completed 110,000 square kilometres (42,000 sq mi) and was expected to continue working on the bathymetric survey until late October.[149][151]

On 26 June, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss announced that Australia, Malaysia, and China would shift search efforts to a new region of up to 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) near Broken Ridge in the southern Indian Ocean based on a report by the ATSB.[152] The search was expected to begin in August and after the bathymetric survey was complete, but it was delayed until October with only part of the survey completed. Australia and Malaysia were working on a Memorandum of Understanding to cover financial and co-operation arrangements for search and recovery activities.[153]

Malaysia announced in July that they had contracted with state-run oil company Petronas to supply a team to participate in the search. Petronas, in turn, has contracted the vessel GO Phoenix—owned by Australian company GO Marine Group—and the marine exploration firm Phoenix International (or simply "Phoenix"), who will supply experts and equipment.[154][155] Phoenix recovered black boxes from several recent undersea aircraft wrecks: Air France Flight 447, Yemenia Flight 626, Adam Air Flight 574, & Tuninter Flight 1153. Phoenix will use the SLH ProSAS-60 towed synthetic aperture side scan sonar system (rated to 6000 m depth) to produce a high-resolution image of the ocean floor.[156] Also contracted for the Malaysian government's effort, Boustead Heavy Industries and iXBlue Australia will supply a remotely operated vehicle that can be used to identify any positive leads detected by the towed sonar vehicles, which will be deployed aboard the MV John Lethbridge.[157][158]

On 6 August, Australia, Malaysia, & China jointly announced that Fugro had been awarded a contract to conduct this latest phase of the search. Fugro will use the vessels Fugro Equator—already in the area to conduct the baseline bathymetric survey—and Fugro Discovery. These will be equipped with towed deep water vehicles and use side-scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounders, and video cameras to locate and identify aircraft debris. The towed vehicles are also equipped with instruments to detect jet fuel.[155] The Chinese naval vessel Zhu Kezhen—already assisting in the baseline bathymetric survey—will assist in the search through at least mid-September. Malaysia will contribute four vessels to the effort, including the naval survey ship KD Mutiara and naval vessel Bunga Mas,[159] and the GO Phoenix.

The underwater search began on 6 October with the vessel GO Phoenix, which departed Jakarta on 24 September and calibrated its instruments before arriving in the search zone on 5 October.[151] Fugro Discovery departed Perth on 18 October to join the search search.[160] They will be joined by MV Fugro Equator at the end of October, once it has completed the bathymetric survey.[149] Australia has earmarked A$60 million for the search—a figure which will be matched by the Malaysian government.[147]

Assets involved in Indian Ocean[edit]

Surface search 17 March-28 April[edit]

Between 17 March and 28 April, military aircraft from eight countries carried out 345 search sorties, for a total of over 2998 hours of flight time. Aircraft involved in the visual search included:[161]

Ships:[161]

Bathymetric survey[edit]

Underwater search[edit]

Search timeline[edit]

Date (UTC) Event
7 March Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines confirm Subang Air Traffic Control outside Kuala Lumpur lost contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March 2014 at 02:40 local time (on 7 March 2014 at 18:40 UTC), later corrected to 01:30 local time (17:30 UTC) located at 6°33′05″N 103°20′39″E / 6.55139°N 103.34417°E / 6.55139; 103.34417 (ATC Subang lost contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370, 8 March 2014)[163]
Malaysian and Vietnamese authorities jointly searching in the Gulf of Thailand area; China dispatches two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea.[164]
8 March An international search and rescue mission mobilised, focusing on Gulf of Thailand. Natuna Islands archipelago and South China Sea. Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Singapore and Indonesia.
9 March The search zone expanded, to include areas in the Strait of Malacca as military radar tracking indicates aircraft might have turned west from its flight plan and flight path.[165]
10 March Ten Chinese satellites deployed in the search. Oil slicks on the surface of the South China Sea test negative for jet fuel.
12 March Chinese satellite images of possible debris from Flight 370 in the South China Sea at 6°42′N 105°38′E / 6.7°N 105.63°E / 6.7; 105.63 (Possible debris, 12 March) released, but surface search finds no wreckage.[9] Malaysian government receives Inmarsat info that Flight 370 pinged for hours after ACARS went off-line.
Royal Malaysian Air Force chief says that an aircraft plotted on military radar crossed the Malay Peninsula after changing course, towards a waypoint called GIVAL at 2:15 local time (18:15 UTC, 7 March), 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia's west coast. It followed standard aviation corridors. Search and rescue efforts being stepped up in Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.[166][167]
15 March New phase of multi-national search and rescue operations within two areas in the northern and southern "corridors". Twenty-six countries involved, among the northern corridor countries are Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China, Thailand, including South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. The southern corridor covers Indonesia, Australia, and the Indian Ocean.[168][169]
India continues search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; Malaysia ends hunt in South China Sea.[170]
16 March Twenty-five countries are involved in the search. India ends its search in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.[171]
17 March Search area reported by Malaysian authorities to be 2,000,000 square miles (5,200,000 km2), as a belt beneath the last possible arc position stretching from Kazakhstan over Indonesia to the southern part of the Indian Ocean.[168] Australia pledges to lead a search from Sumatra to the southern Indian Ocean.[172]
18 March China starts a search operation in its own territory. Australia conducts an aerial search through waters West and North of Cocos Islands and Christmas Island (close to Indonesia). Australia also conducts its first aerial search of the southern Indian Ocean,[76] roughly 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) southwest of Perth.[75]
19 March Australia searches the southern Indian Ocean with three aircraft and three merchant ships,[77] transiting through a slightly revised search area of 305,000 square kilometres (118,000 sq mi) about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) southwest of Perth.[78]
20 March Five aircraft and a fourth (merchant) ship are dispatched to 44°03′02″S 91°13′27″E / 44.05056°S 91.22417°E / -44.05056; 91.22417 (Two objects investigated, 16 March).[79]
22 March Chinese satellite image taken on 18 March shows a possible object measuring 22.5 by 13 metres (74 by 43 ft) at 44°57′30″S 90°13′40″E / 44.95833°S 90.22778°E / -44.95833; 90.22778 (Possible object, 18 March), approximately 3,170 kilometres (1,970 mi) west of Perth and 120 kilometres (75 mi) from the earlier sighting, but did not confirm the object's nature.
24 March Prime Minister of Malaysia announces that Flight 370 is assumed to have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean; Malaysia Airlines states to families that it assumes "beyond reasonable doubt" there are no survivors.[173]
Search area narrowed to the southern part of the Indian Ocean west and southwest of Australia. The northern search corridor (northwest of Malaysia) and the northern half of the southern search corridor (the waters between Indonesia and Australia) are definitively ruled out. An Australian search aircraft spots two objects at sea, 1,550 miles (2,490 km) southwest of Perth.[174]
26 March French satellite images captured on 23 March show 122 possible pieces of debris[89] at 44°41′24″S 90°25′19.20″E / 44.69000°S 90.4220000°E / -44.69000; 90.4220000 (Debris field 1, 23 March), 44°41′38.45″S 90°29′31.20″E / 44.6940139°S 90.4920000°E / -44.6940139; 90.4920000 (Debris field 2, 23 March) and 44°40′10.20″S 90°36′25.20″E / 44.6695000°S 90.6070000°E / -44.6695000; 90.6070000 (Debris field 3, 23 March).[175]
27 March The search area narrows to roughly 76,000 square kilometres (29,000 sq mi). Thai and Japanese[citation needed] satellite images, captured 24–26 March show floating objects 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of the French observations.[91] Five ships from Australia and China are engaged.
28 March Search shifts to a new 319,000-square-kilometre (123,000 sq mi) area 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) northeast of the previous search area.[96][97]
30 March Prime Minister of Australia announces newly formed Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) headed by Angus Houston.[176] Military air crew from Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States are actively engaged.[177]
5 April Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 detects a pulse signal at 25°S 101°E / 25°S 101°E / -25; 101 (Pulse signal, 5 April).[112][113][114][178] Ocean Shield also picks up two longer lasting signals.[123][118]
8 April Ocean Shield picks up two further signals 3,500 metres deep, close to those of 5 April.[123][125]
10 April Another signal is acquired by a sonobuoy deployed near the Ocean Shield signal acquisitions.[179] JACC declares the contact unlikely to be related to Flight 370.[130] Hydrographic survey ship HMS Echo arrives on scene to provide advanced computer analysis of Ocean Shield collected sonar data and to measure the thermoclines in the area to predict the trajectory of the detected pings.
14 April An oil slick is found 5.5 km from the estimated location of the pings by Ocean Shield.[180] Ocean Shield ceases towed passive sonar operations; the AUV Bluefin-21 is deployed with side-scan sonar to search for wreckage on the ocean floor,[181] but its mission is automatically aborted on reaching its maximum operating depth.[132]
15 April Bluefin-21 resumes scanning after its abortive initial mission.[132]
18 April The oil slick discovered four days earlier is determined by an Australian laboratory analysis not to be related to Flight 370.[182]
24 April Debris consisting of riveted metal sheets washes up on the Western Australian coast. This is later confirmed to be unrelated to Flight 370.[183]
28 April PM Abbott and Angus Houston of JACC announce that a larger area of the ocean floor would now be searched and there would be a suspension of the aerial search due to the likelihood that any wreckage would have sunk.[136][137][138]
5 May The US Navy extends contract for Bluefin-21 by four weeks.[184]
12 May Searchers say two of the four 'pings' they thought were from flight recorder ULBs may not have been from the flight recorder.[185]
22 May Bluefin-21 resumes search after repair.[186]
28 May Final Bluefin mission completed with nothing found in the area of the supposed pings heard on 5 April; a day later Australian Transport Safety Bureau rules out area as final resting place of MH370.[187]
4 June Australian researchers release recording of an underwater sound that could have been that of MH370 hitting the water.[145]
17 June Inmarsat states that it has pinpointed the most likely end of MH370 in an unsearched area of the Southern Indian Ocean.[188]
20 June Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) announces that a new search will concentrate on the area identified by Inmarsat, south of the previous search site.[189]
24 June British director of commercial operations for Malaysia Airlines, Hugh Dunleavy says that he believes MH370 ended somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean but warns that the search operation could take decades.[190]
26 June Australia announced a new search area of up to 60,000 km2 in the southern Indian Ocean, based on a report by the ATSB. A bathymetric survey, already underway, of the region will take around three months to complete; the new underwater search is expected to begin in August. Australia & Malaysia are working on a Memorandum of Understanding to cover financial and co-operation arrangements for search and recovery activities.[153]
6 July Malaysian Defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein announces that Malaysia will be deploying more ships and equipment to assist in the search.[191]
6 August Australia awards Fugro a AU$50 million contract to conduct a search of 60,000 km2 of seafloor near Broken Ridge starting in September. They will be assisted by one Chinese & four Malaysian vessels.[192][193]
20 September Zhu Kezhen finished bathymetric survey operations and began return passage to China.[162]
6 October The fifth phase of the search begins. GO Phoenix, which left port at Jakarta on 24 September, begins work about 1800 km west of Western Australia.[194][149][195]
23 October Fugro Discovery commenced search operations.[162]
26 October Fugro Equator ends its bathymetric survey operations and commenced passage to Freemantle, where it will be refitted and mobilized to join GO Phoenix and Fugro Discover in the underwater search. Over 150,000 square kilometres (58,000 sq mi) of seafloor have been surveyed. If necessary, bathymetric survey operations may recommence in the future.[162]

Cooperation[edit]

Search coordination[edit]

On 17 March, Australia took control for coordinating search, rescue, and recovery operations; the task of coordinating search activities was initially carried out by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. On 30 March, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott established the Joint Agency Coordination Centre—a government agency to coordinate Australian and international search efforts and serve as a single point of contact for media and families of the passengers.[196]: 1 [197][198]

Information sharing[edit]

Although Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the country's Defence Minister, denied the existence of problems between the participating countries, academics said that because of regional conflicts, there were genuine trust issues involved in co-operation and sharing intelligence, and that these were hampering the search.[199][200] International relations experts said entrenched rivalries over sovereignty, security, intelligence, and national interests made meaningful multilateral co-operation very difficult.[199][200] A Chinese academic made the observation that the parties were searching independently, thus it was not a multilateral search effort.[200] However, The Guardian noted the Vietnamese permission given for Chinese aircraft to overfly its airspace as a positive sign of co-operation.[200] Vietnam temporarily scaled back its search operations after the country's Deputy Transport Minister cited a lack of communication from Malaysian officials despite requests for more information.[201] China, through the official Xinhua News Agency, said that the Malaysian government ought to take charge and conduct the operation with greater transparency, a point echoed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry days later.[199][202]

Submarines patrolling the South China Sea might have information in the event of a water impact, and sharing such information could reveal their locations and listening capabilities.[203] This is quite plausible, given how quickly the US redirected USS Kidd to begin searching the Indian Ocean, even as other search assets were then still focused on searching previous search areas.[70]

Criticism was also leveled at the delay of the search efforts. On 11 March, three days after the aircraft disappeared, British satellite company Inmarsat had provided officials (or its partner, SITA) with data suggesting the aircraft was nowhere near the areas in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea being searched at that time; and may have diverted its course through a southern or northern corridor. This information was only publicly acknowledged and released by Najib on 15 March in a press conference.[204][205] Explaining why information about satellite signals had not been made available earlier, Malaysia Airlines said that the raw satellite signals needed to be verified and analysed "so that their significance could be properly understood" before it could publicly confirm their existence.[206] Hishammuddin said Malaysian and US investigators had immediately discussed the Inmarsat data upon receiving them on 12 March, and on two occasions, both groups agreed that it needed further processing and sent the data to the US twice for this purpose. Data analysis was completed on 14 March: by then, the AAIB had independently arrived at the same conclusion.[207]

See also[edit]

  • Air France Flight 447 - Crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. After several, extensive searches, the fuselage and flight recorders were discovered two years later.
  • Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 - Disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Despite one of the largest ever search & rescue operations, the aircraft was never found.

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  201. ^ Harlan, Chico (11 March 2014). "Malaysia Airlines plane may have veered wildly off course during flight, military says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  202. ^ "China appeals to Malaysia for search information". Associated Press. 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  203. ^ Spoonts, Sean (22 March 2014). ""Alright, Goodnight" – Does Malaysia Want To Know What Happened To Flight MH-370?". SOFREP.COM (Special Operations Forces Report-Special Ops News & Intel). Sean Spoonts. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  204. ^ Rayner, Gordon (24 March 2014). "MH370: Britain finds itself at centre of blame game over crucial delays". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  205. ^ Pasztor, Andy; Ostrower, Jon; Hookway, James (19 March 2013). "Critical Data Was Delayed in Search for Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370". The Wall Street Journal.
  206. ^ "Saturday, March 15, 05:45 PM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident – 19th Media Statement". Malaysia Airlines. scroll down to find "19th Media Statement". Retrieved 15 March 2014.
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External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Search of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
  • MH370 – Definition of Underwater Search Areas – Report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, released 26 June 2014, and the most comprehensive report on MH370 publicly released at that time. The report focuses on defining the search area for the fifth phase, but in doing so provides a comprehensive overview/examination of satellite data, the failed searches, and possible "end-of-flight scenarios".

Press releases[edit]

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