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Showing posts with label Captain Shah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Captain Shah. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Where Is MH370 Or The Libyan Planes? Will They Make A Reappearance Tomorrow On 9/11?

Obama Fails to Warn Americans of Possibility of 9-11 Anniversary Attack This Week
Townhall.com ^ | September 9, 2014 | Rachel Alexander 
Posted on 9/9/2014 9:32:28 AM by Kaslin

As the 13th anniversary of 9-11 approaches, the Obama administration and its friends in the mainstream media have been eerily quiet about the 11 commercial airliners reported stolen by Islamic terrorists from a Libyan airport a little over a week ago. It should have been front page news on every newspaper across the country, with preparations made to keep people out of the downtowns of the largest cities on September 11 in case the terrorists try another attack with suicide planes. Instead, this administration is more interested in saving face than protecting innocent Americans,downplaying the threat.

Incredulously, despite photos that have been posted online by terrorists posing next to the stolen planes, published by reputable news sources such as the British newspaper Mail Online, the Obama administration is still claiming it has no information confirming the hijacking of the planes. Obama’s State Department told The Blaze on Friday, “The national threat level has not been raised.” Some of these planes are long-range jumbo jets capable of reaching U.S. cities. None of them have been located since their disappearance.

Websites like Snopes, which investigates rumors, have expressed skepticism regarding potential suicide attacks, since a couple of the planes may have been transferred somewhere else for safety reasons, or were damaged in previous attacks. Even if true, the loss of a couple of planes does not downplay the seriousness of the rest of the planes in the hands of terrorists who view the U.S. as the Great Satan, who would love to target us again on the anniversary of 9-11.

This September 11 also marks the second anniversary of the fatal attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, more reason for the terrorists to strike. They have repeatedly shown a pattern of attacking the West on meaningful dates like 9-11, and virtually every news source is reporting credible evidence from intelligence agencies that Islamic terrorists intend to use the planes on 9-11 in terrorist attacks, at a minimum to attack northern Africa and Saudi Arabia.

Dallas Blog warns the planes could be used to target U.S. landmarks, and Catholic Online admits suicidal airplane attacks could take place within the U.S. One unnamed U.S. official acknowledges, “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.” The 11 jets have effectively formed a “de facto suicide air force.”

Muammar Gaddafi, the former dictator of Libya, was toppled in 2011 by the U.S. and its allies. Islamic radicals took over the capital of Tripoli on August 31, as well as an official U.S. residential compound in July. An unnamed State Department official said the official U.S. embassy is still in U.S. hands - which leaves it vulnerable to attack on 9-11.

At a minimum, intelligence reports that U.S. embassies in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt - the Maghreb region of Western Africa - could be targeted. Daniel Greenfield, writing for Front Page Mag, also observes, “Libya remains an oil-rich state and if the country is taken over completely by Islamist extremists, U.S. counterterrorism officials believe it will become another terrorist safe haven in the region.”

Moroccan military expert Abderrahmane Mekkaoui told Al Jazeera television the jets are being held by the Libyan Masked Men Brigade, which the U.S. State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization. The organization is linked to al Qaeda and the violent Ansar al Sharia. The latter is responsible for the Benghazi embassy bombing two years ago.

Obama has steadily downsized our military defense. Additionally, Michael Rubin, a counterterrorism specialist with the American Enterprise Institute, observed, “What is striking is that more than a decade later, the United States hasn’t taken the need to safeguard what are effectively giant guided missiles seriously.” He estimates that each of the hijacked planes could take out up to 1,000 civilians.

The only peep from the Obama administration about it, other than a denial of knowing anything, is a statement from Secretary of State John Kerry who said he will be sending Apache attack helicopters to Egypt.

Theavionist.com, a website with expertise in airplanes, is skeptical about airplane suicide attacks, but admits: “[W]e can’t completely rule out that a terrorist attack with civil planes can be carried out, as there are many unlikely (still not impossible) things that can be done to escape detection by radars, like flying in the shadow of another plane, but let’s stick to reality: a hijacked plane is, still today, a more serious threat even for the most prepared and well equipped air defense.”

The 113th Wing of the Air National Guard - U.S. pilots ready to respond to aerial threats - has been on 24/7-alert status since 9-11. But with Obama’s shrinking of defense, how prepared are they? No one can forget Carter’s downsizing and neglect of the military, which led to the embarrassing breakdown of helicopters in the failed attempt to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1979.

Where is Obama’s reassurance that the 113th Wing is ready to protect us from another 9-11 attack? He’s keeping quiet about it to save face, not wanting to acknowledge that terrorism has expanded so much under his indecisive leadership that it is now at our back door. This is very disturbing, considering more Americans may die needlessly if they are not made fully aware of how realistic this threat is. Obama is counting on the terrorists not attacking us; however, Americans working in large cities might consider staying away from downtown on 9-11.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Two Ships Looking Further South To Find MH370

Search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 moves further south

Investigators trying to solve the mystery of the jet's disappearance are moving to a zone 1,000 miles west of Perth
One of the ships searching for Malaysian Flight MH370
One of the ships searching for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photograph: David Le-May/BBC/David Le-May
The drawn-out search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will revert to an area hundreds of miles south of the previously suspected crash site following new analysis of the plane's flight path, a report said on Friday.
Investigators grappling to solve the mystery of the jet's disappearance are set to scour a zone 1,100 miles (1,800km) west of Perth – previously subject to an aerial search – when an underwater probe resumes in August, the West Australian newspaper said.
Citing unnamed US sources, the newspaper said Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) would soon announce that the hunt would move 500 miles south-west from where it was previously focused.
It said the sources had revealed that survey ship Fugro Equator was already operating in this area and would soon be joined by Chinese vessel Zhu Kezhen.
A massive aerial and underwater search for MH370, which had 239 people on board when it diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight path on 8 March, has failed to find any sign of the plane.
Scientists from British company Inmarsat told the BBC earlier this week that the search had yet to target the most likely crash site, or "hotspot", after becoming diverted by pings thought at the time to have originated from the plane's black boxes.
It was not clear from the West Australian report whether the new search area overlapped with the "hotspot".
JACC said on Friday that the revised search zone, based on an intensive study of satellite communications from the jet and other data, would be announced by the end of the month.
Australian officials have said repeatedly that the revised search zone would be in the area of the seventh arc, or the final satellite "handshake" from the plane, believed to be when the aircraft ran out of fuel and was in descent.
JACC said the Fugro Equator was now working in this zone.
"Located along the seventh arc, that area is consistent with provisional analysis of satellite and other data that is being used to determine the future search area," it said.
Australian officials announced earlier this week that a survey of the seabed, as yet mostly unmapped and crucial to the success of the underwater search, had resumed.
Two ships – Fugro Equator and Zhu Kezhen – will survey an area up to 6,000m deep and covering up to 60,000 sq km before a contractor begins an intensive undersea search looking for debris.
Previously an intensive undersea search for the plane, in the area in which the acoustic noises were detected, failed to find any sign of the jet. The source of the noises is unknown.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Mystery Of MH370 Continues. Families Setting Up Fund To Search For Someone Who Knows The Details Of The Disappearance.

MH370 families: 'A fresh set of eyes needed'

Several families of those aboard Flight MH370 have launched a fund-raising drive to encourage an insider to come forward. Sarah Bajc, whose partner was on the flight, tells DW she believes information is being withheld.
flugzeugabsturz malaysia vietnam china MH370 airlines
The fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been shrouded in mystery ever since the passenger jet left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing in the early morning hours of March 8 with 239 people on board. While the Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, international search efforts have so far failed to provide any clues as to what happened to the plane.
Objects spotted by radar, ships and airplanes that have turned out to be floating garbage have led to growing frustration among the victims' relatives. Some of them fear the authorities might know more than they are willing to reveal and have therefore launched the "Reward MH370" campaign on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The project aims to raise at least 5 million USD "to encourage a whistleblower to come forward with information," the families said in a press release.
In a DW interview, Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on board the flight, talks about why some of the victims' families mistrust the conclusions reached by the authorities and why they consider an insider is needed to help solve the mystery of Flight MH370.
DW: How many of the victims' relatives are participating in the "Reward MH370" campaign?
Sarah Bajc: "Reward MH370" has been organized by a team of seven people, including five family members and two independents.
What is the purpose of the campaign?
Philip Wood (L) and his partner Sarah Bajc
Copyright: private
"I am fully committed to bringing Philip home, be that in celebration, or to his final resting place," says Bajc (R)
The main purpose of the campaign is to raise funds to provide a reward for a whistleblower to come forward with information that leads us to find the plane. A portion of the funds will also be used to fund a private investigation firm to chase those leads.
We are confident that we will raise at least a substantial portion of our goal of 5 million USD. We do believe it is possible we could even exceed that goal. If we can, we will make the reward even larger.
Why do you think a whistleblower is needed to provide more information on the fate of the missing plane?
Over the last three months, there have been many indications that information is being withheld and/or modified prior to release to the public. That makes us confident that there are people who know more than is being shared. That may even include someone who knows exactly where the plane is, and perhaps even the details of what happened. Our hope is that someone will come forward with the information needed to find the plane. A fresh set of eyes is needed.
What evidence do you have that information is being withheld?
Besides the dozens of changed or redacted stories, there was the preliminary report itself. The cargo manifest was missing pages of information, the air traffic control audio files appear to be tampered with, and there are a significant number of factual inaccuracies in the 'Actions Taken' report. There is also the modified data release from Inmarsat and the withdrawal of the acoustic pings from consideration as leads.
What information do you hope a whistleblower will provide?
We have set parameters for submissions to include the need for concrete evidence to support the claim. Evidence may include photographs, audio clips, genuine documents, and validated eyewitness accounts. A theory based on circumstantial evidence, or on ambiguous satellite photos, would not be considered a valid lead.
It seems that you are not satisfied with the conclusions the authorities have reached so far. Why is that?
It just doesn't sound reasonable to us. If we are to accept the conclusion provided by the authorities, then we must also accept the reasonableness of the following things:
First, it is possible for a fully loaded Boeing 777 to crash in the water without a single piece of debris surfacing in the ocean, on a beach, or in fishing nets over a three-month period of time. Second, a Five Power Defense Arrangement military base at Butterworth, Malaysia either didn't see or ignored a huge unidentified object flying almost directly over its base.
Third, Australia's famous JORN over-the-horizon radar defenses were not operating on March 8. And last but not least, a mechanical failure could happen that is significant enough to knock out all communication capabilities and human intervention, yet still allow the auto-pilot to fly the airplane smoothly for many hours.
Do you have any indications of intentional misdirection on the part of the authorities?
We have no proof that the authorities are intentionally misdirecting this investigation, however, if it is not intentional misdirection, it certainly is gross incompetence. The Malaysian government is continuing to stay in control of an operation they have clearly failed at. This is an intentional decision to remain an obstacle, which is then intentional misdirection through stubborn ignorance and pride.
What it your personal feeling as to what happened to the plane?
I have too many feelings to put into words. That is why I am on a quest to find facts. Only proof will lead us to the plane and the passengers. I am fully committed to bringing Philip home, be that in celebration, or to his final resting place.
A Japan Coast Guard (JCG) studies a map with a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency pilot (L) in JCG's Gulfstream V Jet aircraft customized for search and rescue operations as they search for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane over the waters of the South China Sea March 15, 2014. Investigators believe someone aboard the missing Malaysian airliner deliberately shut off its communications and tracking systems, turned the plane around and flew for nearly seven hours after it vanished,
"The conclusions reached by the authorities just don't sound reasonable to us," says Bajc
How are you and other relatives of the victims coping with this difficult situation?
We are coping with the situation by staying busy and doing what we can to continue to push for the truth. The only other option would be hopelessness and despair, but that solves nothing.
An international team is now determining an expanded search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometers. What more would you like authorities to do to help find the missing plane and passengers?
We are confident in Australia's ability to run a competent underwater search. Our challenge to the investigation, however, is that we believe they are looking in the wrong place because of failures in the early stages of the investigation.
We are hoping that the authorities will cooperate with our efforts should we find appropriate leads to pursue beyond what our investigation firm can pursue. Our call for a whistleblower to come forward aims to identify the correct place to find the plane. At that point we will of course need to get the authorities to drive that search and rescue process.
Sarah Bajc teaches economics and business studies in Beijing, China. Her partner Philip Wood was on Flight MH370 when it disappeared March 8.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Are We Getting Closer To Finding MH370? Independent Analysis Looks Like We Are.

Search teams ARE looking in the right place for missing plane MH370, an independent report confirms

  • On Thursday Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed search area in southern Indian Ocean was correct
  • A week ago the ATSB announced 'pings' detected off WA coast were not from the missing plane
  • The ATSB said a study after the 2009 Air France crash concluded majority of lost aircrafts were found within 32km of last known position
  • Searchers will continue looking in the long flight path 'arc' determined by aviation company Inmarsat

An independent analysis has confirmed search teams are looking in the right area of the southern Indian Ocean for MH370, a week after it was revealed that pings detected more than 2,000 kilometres off the coast of Perth were not from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
A new specific underwater search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres is now being determined after scientists reviewed original data and concluded that the search should still follow the original arc defined by British satellite company Inmarsat.
The search arc is defined by the final 'handshakes' between the Boeing 777 and satellites - electronic transmissions from the plane - when MH370 disappeared on March 8 during its scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpar to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.
By the time MH370 would have reached the seventh arc, the outermost arc determined by Inmarsat's data analysis, the aircraft is considered to have exhausted its fuel and would have been descending.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Thursday independent research confirmed searchers was looking in the right place for the plane
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Thursday independent research confirmed searchers were looking in the right place for the plane
The latest information and analysis confirms that MH370 will be found in close proximity to the arc set out in this map and labelled as the 7th arc. At the time MH370 reached this arc, the aircraft is considered to have exhausted its fuel and to have been descending. As a result, the aircraft is unlikely to be more than 20 NM (38 km) to the west or 30 NM (55 km) to the east of the arc.
The latest information and analysis confirms that MH370 will be found in close proximity to the arc set out in this map and labelled as the 7th arc. At the time MH370 reached this arc, the aircraft is considered to have exhausted its fuel and to have been descending. As a result, the aircraft is unlikely to be more than 20 NM (38 km) to the west or 30 NM (55 km) to the east of the arc.
The 7th arc: The seventh arc on this globe is the area where MH370 is thought to be. The arc was determined by measuring the time difference between communication messages sent between MH370 and an Inmarsat satellite
The 7th arc: The seventh arc on this globe is the area where MH370 is thought to be. The arc was determined by measuring the time difference between communication messages sent between MH370 and an Inmarsat satellite
The news comes a week after the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said a narrowed-down area where acoustic 'pings' were detected could be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.
These pings were detected in the southern Indian Ocean in early April.
After they were heard, the search area was refined to a single zone, about 75,423 square kilometres in size, 2261 kilometres north west of Perth.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott was confident about the defined area holding the key to the plane's location. He said in a speech in Shanghai, in April, that the position of the black box flight recorders had been narrowed to 'within some kilometres'.
The Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, headed by former Defence chief Angus Houston, was then forced to downplay the PM's comments.
They said the overall search area remained at 46,713 square kilometres.
False hope: Search teams have given up listening to pings detected by this machine as it's now been confirmed they did not come from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's black box
False hope: Search teams have given up listening to pings detected by this machine as it's now been confirmed they did not come from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's black box
This diagram shows where the pings were detected, around 1,500 miles north west of Perth, in western Australia. They lead to the search area being defined to a smaller space around them, but they have now been discounted from the investigation
This diagram shows where the pings were detected, around 1,500 miles north west of Perth, in western Australia. They lead to the search area being defined to a smaller space around them, but they have now been discounted from the investigation
New method: The American navy then used the Bluefin-21 (pictured being hoisted on board Ocean Shield) to map the ocean floor
The TPL-25 and Bluefin-21 underwater autonomous vehicle were on board the Royal Australian Navy Ship Ocean Shield (pictured)
New method: The American navy then used the Bluefin-21 (pictured being hoisted on board Ocean Shield) to map the ocean floor. The autonomous vehicle was managed by the Royal Australian Navy Ship (right)
Then, last week, it was back to the drawing board for the search teams when the pings that were at the centre of the search were no longer believed to be coming from the aircraft's black box.
On Thursday, it was announced that although this narrowed-down area has been discounted, the wider area around it is still believed to be where MH370 crashed.
By going back over the original data and satellite information collected by British company Inmarsat, searchers said they remained confident in a long flight path 'arc' over the southern Indian Ocean holding the key to the plane's location.
The 'arc' is based on the seventh and final 'handshake' between the Boeing 777 and satellites on March 8.
The ATSB said the independent analysis had confirmed the original arc is still the right place to search.
'At the time MH370 reached this arc, the aircraft is considered to have exhausted its fuel and to have been descending,' the ATSB said in a statement.
As a result, the aircraft was unlikely to be more than 38km to the west or 55km to the east of the arc, the ATSB said.
Back in March the AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) was searching this relatively small area for MH370. This handout satellite image shows a map of the planned search area on March 24, 2014
Back in March the AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) was searching this relatively small area for MH370. This handout satellite image shows a map of the planned search area on March 24, 2014
It said the analysis would be refined in coming weeks to reduce the underwater search area along the arc to 60,000sq km.
The 'prioritised' length of the search area along the arc is expected to be 650km.

WHERE IS MH370? THEORIES ABOUT THE MISSING PLANE

  • The latest 'possible evidence' suggests the MH370 came down in the Indian Ocean south of India almost 4,000 miles north of where 26 nations, using either ships, aircraft or technical expertise, have been searching the waters off the Australian coast.
  • British woman Katherine Tee claimed that she saw a burning plane as she sailed from Cochin, in southern India, to Phuket in Thailand on the night of March 8.
  • A day earlier Duncan Steel, a New Zealand space scientist and physicist, said it would not be impossible for the missing jet to have flown north west across the ocean and crashed either in the sea or even in central Asia.
  • Earlier in the search a worker on an oil rig off the southern coast of Vietnam said he saw a burning plane at around the time MH370 made a 'u-turn' over the South China Sea and headed west.
  • Malaysian wife Raja Dalelah Raja Latife insisted she saw an aircraft partially submerged on the surface of the Indian Ocean near the Andaman Islands as she flew on a commercial flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur during daylight about 12 hours after MH370 disappeared.
  • Another possible sighting of the Boeing 777 has come from residents on the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo who say they saw a low flying 'jumbo jet' at around 6.15am on March 8. It was white, they said, with red stripes - like the planes operated by Malaysian Airlines.
Based on all the independent analysis of satellite communications and aircraft performance, the total extent of the 7th arc reaches from latitude 20 degrees S to 39 degrees S.
The ATSB said a study completed after the 2009 Air France crash concluded that the majority of aircraft in loss-of-control accidents were found within 32km of their last known position.
'This provides a reasonable limitation for the size of the search area across the arc.'
The satellite data indicates the Boeing 777 flew for six hours after falling off radar screens.
A new and potentially deeper underwater search taking up to 12 months will begin in August, with a formal request for tender to undertake the search to soon be released, according to The Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre. 
Meanwhile, a Chinese vessel is currently conducting a bathymetric survey - or mapping of the ocean floor - to help experts determine how to carry out the next stage of the search on the previously unmapped ocean seabed.
Recently, there have been many claims of knowledge about the whereabouts of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Curtin University in Western Australia released information that an underwater sound recorded just 10 minutes after the plane lost contact with air traffic control could have been the plane crashing into the water.
However, Dr Alec Duncan from the University said there is only a 10 percent chance the 'dull oomph' was actually MH370.
And a British sailor reported she spotted what she believed to be a plane on fire with black smoke trailing behind it while on a 13 month expedition with her husband.
Katherine Tee said she didn't say anything at the time as she was the only one who spotted it and didn't realise it's potential relevance.
Relatives of the 239 passengers and crew were recently successful in demanding Inmarsat publicly release its data, after losing faith that searchers were looking in the right area.
The search for the missing plane continues, with Chinese vessels mapping the sea floor in preparation for the next step of the search
The search for the missing plane continues, with Chinese vessels mapping the sea floor in preparation for the next step of the search


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2649544/Search-teams-ARE-looking-right-place-missing-plane-MH370-independent-report-confirms.html#ixzz33oJue8Pj
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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Have We Been Misled On MH370--Is There A Bigger Story Here? Is There More To This Story Than Is Being Reported?

Navy official: Pings not thought to be from Flight 370's black boxes

By Rene Marsh and Mike M. Ahlers, CNN
updated 7:34 AM EDT, Thu May 29, 2014
Your video will play in 9 secs
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Navy spokesman says Michael Dean's comments on pings are "premature"
  • The pings have been at the center of the search for weeks
  • The new development comes as searchers wrap up first phase of their efforts
  • Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared in March
(CNN) -- The four acoustic pings at the center of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for the past seven weeks are no longer believed to have come from the plane's black boxes, a U.S. Navy official told CNN.
The acknowledgment came Wednesday as searchers wrapped up the first phase of their effort, having scanned 329 square miles of southern Indian Ocean floor without finding any wreckage from the Boeing 777-200.
Authorities now almost universally believe the pings did not come from the onboard data or cockpit voice recorders but instead came from some other man-made source unrelated to the jetliner that disappeared on March 8, according to Michael Dean, the Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering.
If the pings had come from the recorders, searchers would have found them, he said.
Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia missing plane data released
Missing plane search enters new phase
Dean said "yes" when asked if other countries involved in the search had reached the same conclusions.
"Our best theory at this point is that (the pings were) likely some sound produced by the ship ... or within the electronics of the Towed Pinger Locator," Dean said.
The pinger locator was used by searchers to listen for underwater signals.
"Always your fear any time you put electronic equipment in the water is that if any water gets in and grounds or shorts something out, that you could start producing sound," Dean explained.
He said it is not possible to absolutely exclude that the pings came from the black boxes, but there is no evidence now to suggest they did.
However, a U.S. Navy spokesman called Dean's statement to CNN "speculative and premature."
"I am not saying that what Michael Dean said was inaccurate," the spokesman said, "but what we are saying is that it is not his place to say it."
The Navy is continuing "to work with our partners to more thoroughly understand the data acquired by the Towed Pinger Locater," according to the spokesman.
"As such, we would defer to the Australians, as the lead in the search effort, to make additional information known at the appropriate time," the spokesman said.
Key role in search
The pings have played a key role in shaping the search for the plane, which disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.
The man leading the hunt said earlier this month the effort was the most difficult in human history, but technology greatly increased the chances of success.
Search officials expressed "cautious optimism" in the pings when they were discovered April 5 and 8.
Angus Houston, the man leading the hunt for the missing plane, said as recently as this month that the pulse signals remained "the most promising lead" in the search.
The optimism stemmed from the fact the pings were detected near an arc where an Inmarsat satellite had last communicated with the plane.
And it was bolstered by the pinger's steady one-ping-a-second cadence, matching that of equipment known to be on the plane.
But caution stemmed from the ping's 33.3 kHz frequency, slightly lower than 37.5 kHz design frequency. There were also concerns because the four ping detection sites were miles apart.
But experts said crash damage or deep ocean pressures could alter the pinger frequency. And they said the plane's two black boxes could have been separated during an explosion or crash. And they noted sounds can travel far, and even echo, in underwater environments.
Dean said Wednesday officials were also concerned because, after twice detecting pings on April 5, searchers had difficulty reacquiring the pings the next day.
One incident -- the loss of the pinger signal on April 8 -- had the peculiar impact of both lowering and raising expectations. The signal loss made it harder to zero-in on the black boxes. But it also boosted confidence that they had found the pingers, since the batteries were expected to die at about that time.
First phase complete
On Wednesday, Australia ended the first phase of the underwater search, having finished scanning large areas around all four ping sites.
The Bluefin-21 was not able to look at one area in the northernmost ping area because of the depth of the water there, Dean said.
With no tangible evidence found by the underwater drone, which costs an estimated $40,000 a day to operate, search officials are regrouping and preparing to deploy more high-tech equipment.
Australia said this week it will negotiate with private companies to conduct the next phase, which will resume in two months, if not later.
That phase, which aims to scour about 23,166 square miles (60,000 square kilometers), probably won't start for at least two months. The cost? About $60 million.