'Pings' of hope: pulse signals detected in search for doomed Malaysia Airlines plane
A Chinese ship scouring the southern Indian Ocean detected a signal matching the frequency emitted by an aircraft's black box, which contains critical information regarding MH370's final hours. Still, officials cautioned that the signal did not amount to a breakthrough in the search, as it had not yet been confirmed the signal was tied to the missing Boeing 777.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, April 5, 2014, 10:10 AM
- A
- A
- A
|
- SHARE THIS URL
PreviousNext
A Chinese ship hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight detected a ping in the southern Indian Ocean — raising hopes searchers were closing in on what’s left of the plane.
The pulse signal had a frequency of 37.5 Hz per second — the same frequency of black boxes containing critical devices that recorded cockpit communications and flight data, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
Retired Australian Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston confirmed the report and said a second signal was detected later on Saturday, within about 1.4 miles of the first ping.
Houston stressed that the two electronic pulses detected by the ship had not been verified as connected to the missing jet.
China also reported seeing white objects floating in the sea, Houston said.
Time is of the essence. The black boxes’ sound-emitting beacons will soon fall silent as their batteries die after emitting the pings for a month.
CNSPHOTO/REUTERSChinese patrol ship Haixun 01 detected pulse signals that match the frequency emitted by the black box of an airplane.
Military and civilian planes, ships with deep-sea searching equipment and a British nuclear submarine were scouring the remote patch off Australia’s west coast.
Flight MH370 departing from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8.
Authorities were not about to declare a breakthrough in the search.
Previous sightings of possible debris from the plane have turned out to be unrelated to the crash — raising the hopes of grieving families desperate for answers, only to have them dashed again and again.
The China Maritime Search and Rescue Center said it had not yet been determined whether the pulse signal picked up by a black box detector deployed by the ship Haixun 01 was related to the missing Boeing 777, Xinhua reported.
AFP PHOTO/AUSTRALIA DEFENCE/LEUT KELLY LUNTA black box detector on the deck of Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield.
Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, confirmed that the frequency emitted by Flight 370’s black boxes were 37.5 kilohertz and said authorities were verifying the report. The Australian government agency coordinating the search would not immediately comment on it.
There are many clicks, buzzes and other sounds in the ocean from animals, but the 37.5 kilohertz pulse was selected for underwater locator beacons on black boxes because there is nothing else in the sea that naturally makes that sound, said William Waldock, an expert on search and rescue who teaches accident investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
“They picked that (frequency) so there wouldn’t be false alarms from other things in the ocean,” he said.
But Waldock cautioned “it’s possible it could be an aberrant signal” from a nuclear submarine if there was one in the vicinity.
If confirmed, the search area would be reduced to roughly 4 square miles, Waldock said. Unmanned subs would then scour the area with sonar.
LAI SENG SIN/APMessages are left in Kuala Lumpur for missing passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Search teams raced against time Saturday to find the jet’s black box recording devices because batteries transmitting its locator ping typically last only one month.
John Goglia, a former U.S. National Transportation Safety Board member, called the report “exciting,” but cautioned “there is an awful lot of noise in the ocean.”
“One ship, one ping doesn’t make a success story,” he said. “It will have to be explored. I guarantee you there are other resources being moved into the area to see if it can be verified.”
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian officials vowed to keep looking, no matter the costs.
"I can only speak for Malaysia, and Malaysia will not stop looking for the MH370," said Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
He announced an independent investigator would be appointed to pursue three main areas of inquiry. One team will look at airworthiness, including maintenance records, another will study flight recorders and meteorology, and a third will probe medical and human factors.
Saturday's search efforts constituted the biggest deployment yet of ships and planes. The multinational team included up to 13 military and civilian planes and nine ships that are scouring 88,000 square miles of remote waters some 1,000 miles northwest of Perth, Australia.
"If we haven't found anything in six weeks, we will continue because there are a lot of things in the aircraft that will float," said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the search operation.
"Eventually I think something will be found that will help us narrow the search area.”
Mechanical failure has not been ruled out as a cause, but officials say the cockpit crew's failure to communicate with air traffic controllers and the jet's wild departure from its flight route suggests it was deliberately diverted.
Massive search efforts have so far found nothing of the Boeing 777.
With News Wire Services
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/chinese-ship-detects-pulse-signal-malaysia-airlines-search-article-1.1746661#ixzz2y9GMUxyL
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Your comments are needed for helping to improve the discussion.