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Malaysia Airlines Flight Goes Missing En Route to China - Flight MH370

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  • Earlier in this thread people speculated the search would be cut short and 'given up' on due to the costs. Only to be told it's quite doubtful that would be the case.

    As you can see by statements from members of each nation conducted recently, cost is not a defining factor when it comes to SAR operations. As many of the aircraft/staff/equipment are positioned on standby with a usable annual budget for just these sorts of missions.



    The "Bluefin-21" is also on standby ready for deployment to scan the surface.

    Plans to send a submarine to probe the deep ocean for the remains of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been put on hold until another signal is received, or it is certain the batteries in the black box recorder have expired. At the weekend, Australian Navy ship Ocean Shield picked up two acoustic signals "consistent" with those emitted by a black box recorder. Searchers were on the verge of sending an unmanned submarine to look for the wreckage today, but the man in charge of the operation says another signal needs to be picked up before the search progresses. "We need another transmission to better refine the area, then we need to go down, have a look and find confirming evidence that that's where the aircraft is," Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said. With the search for the ill-fated flight in its 32nd day, the international search team is focusing on a 600-kilometre arc in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,600km off the West Australian coast.
    Last edited by Oblivian; 2014-04-08, 03:41.
    Posts not to be taken as official support representation - Just a helpful uploader who tinkers

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    • Latest update from Aviation Herald

      "The manufacturer of the underwater locator beacons (ULB), that were mounted to the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of MH-370, specified their ULB would transmit ultrasonic pulsed sounds at 37.5kHz +/- 1kHz at 160dB (re 1µPa). After a period of 30 days the ULB would still transmit at that frequency at 157 dB. The manufacturer did not publish any data beyond 30 days (certification criteria). Other manufacturers specifying their ULBs also at 160dB initially and 157dB after 30 days state the ULB would still transmit after 90 days though at around 150dB, the frequency drift may exceed 1kHz."

      Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation
      AMS Daily Fight Information: http://schiphol.dutchplanespotters.nl/

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      • Latest update from Aviation Herald

        "On Apr 9th 2014 the JACC reported three days after the first two detections of late Apr 5th ADV Ocean Shield succeeded to re-acquire the ping signals on two occasions (detections #3 and #4) late Apr 8th. Detection #3 lasted 5:32 minutes and detection #4 7 minutes, all in the same broad area, however these two detections recorded one source of pings only. The JACC believes they are searching in the right area defining a reduced and much more manageable search area at the ocean floor, however, they need to visually identify aircraft wreckage before they can confirm with certainty that this is the final resting place of MH-370. The ADV Ocean Shield is continuing methological work to refine the search area around the 4 ping detection locations, the autonomous underwater vehicle has not yet been deployed, the towed pinger locator can cover six times the area in the same time the autonomous underwater vehicle would be able to do with its sonar equipment. Acoustic analysis of the recordings of the detections so far indicates the pulsed signals at a very stable frequency of 33.331kHz at 1.106 seconds intervals, this is not a signal of natural origin and is consistent with the signals to be emitted by the underwater ping locator of flight data or cockpit voice recorders. The size of the search area has significantly reduced in the last few days based on the detections by ADV Ocean Shield and known ocean drift. 84 hydroacoustic buyos are being dropped in the area, that will place their hydrophones about 1000 feet below the water surface and radio their signals to a ground station. The sea floor is covered with silt that limits acoustic propagation of signals (not reflecting signals) and at the same time permits debris to "hide" in the silt. The knowledge of silt on the ocean floor comes from a sample that has been taken several years ago in a location about 160nm from the current search area."

        Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation
        AMS Daily Fight Information: http://schiphol.dutchplanespotters.nl/

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        • Further contact, this time via dropped buoys from RAAF P3 in vicinity of Ocean Shield

          Posts not to be taken as official support representation - Just a helpful uploader who tinkers

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          • Unfortunately no more signals in nearly a week

            The dragged 'ping locator' behind Ocean Sheild is being withdrawn. And now Bluefin-21 is to take over.

            The search for flight MH370 has entered a new stage with searchers to send an "autonomous underwater vehicle" four kilometres underwater to look for the plane's wreckage on the sea floor.


            Latest release from local NZ media suggests an 'oil slick' in the search region. However I am yet to find information backing this up.
            Posts not to be taken as official support representation - Just a helpful uploader who tinkers

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            • And to supplement above care of 'YSWG'

              An unmanned submarine will be sent to try to find wreckage from Malaysia Airlines MH370 after signals suspected to be from the aeroplane's black box fell silent.
              Posts not to be taken as official support representation - Just a helpful uploader who tinkers

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              • Latest updates from Aviation Herald.

                "On Apr 14th 2014 the JACC announced that there have been no signal detections since Tuesday last week (Apr 8th), however, the four signal detections by ADV Ocean Shield so far permit to identify a reduced and manageable search area on the ocean floor. The detections by Haixun 01 and by the RAAF AP-3C Orion Aircraft have been discounted as credible transmissions. The JACC has therefore decided to end the search with the towed pinger locator today (Apr 14th) and deploy the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Bluefin-21 as soon as possible, possibly in the evening of Apr 14th already. The AUV will need 2 hours to get down to the ocean floor, will operate 16 hours at the ocean floor and take again 2 hours to return to the surface. It will then take 4 hours to download and assess the data, a mission will thus take a total of 24 hours. The first mission is scheduled to search an area of 8000 by 5000 meters (40 square kilometers) on the ocean floor. The AUV uses in sight pulse sonar, transmitting and receiving a sonar pulse permitting to create a threedimensional map of the ocean floor. ADV Ocean Shield has detected an oil slick on Apr 13th in her search area, a sample of about two liters was taken and is being brought ashore for laboratory analysis. The JACC stated: "I stress the source of the oil is yet to be determined but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 metres down-wind and down-sea from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the Towed Pinger Locator on Ocean Shield."

                In the morning of Apr 15th 2014 the JACC reported that the first mission of the UAV needed to be terminated prematurely after about 6 hours when Bluefin-21 went below its operational limit of 4500 meters depth and returned to the surface by a built in safety feature. The data of 6 hours operation are being read out and assessed. Bluefin-21 is going to deploy again during the day weather permitting.

                On Apr 18th 2014 the JACC reported that laboratory analysis of the oil slick found on Apr 13th 2014 identified the oil was not related to aircraft (neither hydraulic nor engine oil). The risks of operations of UAV Bluefin-21 have been re-assessed by the operator and manufacturer, there is a small but acceptable risk of operating the UAV below 4500 meters of water depth, Bluefin-21 is therefore able to completely explore the sea floor within the defined search area. Bluefin has descended to its fifth mission, the four missions so far have not revealed any objects of interest."

                Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation
                AMS Daily Fight Information: http://schiphol.dutchplanespotters.nl/

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                • Possible MH370 debris found in SW

                  Some interesting news re MH370 'possible' sighting if debris sighted on the southern coastline of Australia;








                  "UPDATE: Authorities are investigating if apparent aircraft wreckage that washed up at a beach in WA's South West is from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

                  The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating a piece of debris picked up 10km east of Augusta this afternoon.

                  An ATSB spokesman confirmed to thewest.com.au that the piece of debris was interesting and the bureau was passing on photographs to Malaysian authorities and Boeing for analysis.

                  ATSB chief commissioner Martin Dolan said the object appeared to be sheet metal with rivets, CNN reported.

                  "It's sufficiently interesting for us to take a look at the photographs," he said."

                  'Agusta' is to the south of Perth, Western Australia and further details can be found via the links.

                  Regards,
                  Gregg
                  Last edited by speedbird1960; 2014-04-23, 16:57. Reason: Moved to this thread as information is relevant, Speedbird
                  YSSY2/T-YSSY4 [SBS-1 Basestation w/- SSE-1090 SJ Mk2 Antenna (Thanks Delcomp) ] [Uniden UBCD996T w/- 16 element Wideband Discone VHF/UHF Antenna, and tuned 108MHz-137MHz Airband Antenna] [Trialing a home-brew 1090MHz collinear antenna]

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                  • Malaysia Airlines MH370: Aerial search for missing plane officially ends



                    The aerial search for wreckage from MH370 has officially been brought to a close. The intensive search for surface wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has officially ended, with ships also moving out of the remote Indian Ocean area where the plane is believed to have gone down.

                    Australian authorities said the focus would transition "over the coming weeks" to a more intensified underwater search in the quest to find out what happened to the aircraft that disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, including six Australians.

                    Eight nations have been involved in the unprecedented hunt - Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Britain and China - with more than 300 sorties flown across a vast expanse of remote ocean looking for debris.

                    But with nothing to show for their efforts from scanning more than 4.5 million square kilometres from the air since March 18, the planes have been stood down.

                    "Most of the aircraft will have left by the end of today," a spokesman for the Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.

                    However, an Australian P3 Orion will remain on standby in Perth.

                    The US, Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia all confirmed that their aircraft were returning to base.

                    There was no immediate word from China, which accounted for most of the passengers on board.

                    As many as 14 ships from Australia, China and Britain were also involved in scanning the ocean surface for debris or black box signals, but many of these were also pulling out.

                    "Some need to head back to port and refuel and give the crew a rest, others will go back to doing what they were doing for their respective nations before they joined the search," the spokesman said.

                    "In essence, the surface search has been scaled back.

                    "We will keep a few vessels out there and others on standby, but the large-scale air and sea search has ended."

                    On Monday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the focus would shift to an expanded underwater search across a huge swathe of seabed where the plane might have crashed, admitting it was now "highly unlikely" that any surface wreckage would be found.

                    The US Navy submersible Bluefin-21 has been scouring a 314-square kilometre zone centred around one of the transmissions believed to have come from the plane's black box flight recorders before their batteries died.

                    But it too has failed to find anything with poor weather hampering efforts on Wednesday.

                    Mr Abbott said an area of up to 56,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor would be scoured in the new search, with the Bluefin remaining in operation along with other technology, possibly a specialised side-scan sonar.

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