Newly detected objects draw searchers for Malaysian plane Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday that satellite imagery had detected floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean that might be parts of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished March 8. But he and an Australian rescue organizer both counseled caution about the sighting. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information based on satellite information of objects possibly related to the search, Abbott told Australias parliament in Canberra. Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified. Abbott said an Australian Air Force Orion surveillance plane would fly to the area off the coast of Western Australia and arrive later Thursday. Three more aircraft would follow, he said. Abbott said he had told Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of the developments. Yet Abbott also cautioned that we must keep in mind the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult, and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew. The plane disappeared on what was to be a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, sparking a search lasting nearly two weeks that has brought almost daily reports of apparent sightings that have later been discredited. John Young, the Australian Maritime Safety Authoritys emergency response division general manager, who is overseeing the ocean search off Australia, sought to calibrate any hopes that parts of the plane might have been found. One object, he said, appeared to be around 24 meters, or nearly 80 feet, long, but he could not describe the shape of the object nor say whether it had markings that would identify it. (Largest object sighted in MH370 search is 24 metres: authorities) On this occasion, the size and the fact there are a number located in the same area makes it worth looking at, Young said at a news conference in Canberra, adding that other search resources would be sent to the site. This is a lead; it is probably the best lead we have right now, he said, They are credible sightings. The indications to me are of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water. He said that that part of the south Indian Ocean is liable to contain some large debris, such as containers lost overboard from merchant vessels. An Australian Air Force plane has been asked to drop marker buoys near the objects, which searchers can keep in sight to track the pieces as currents move them. The area is four hours flying time from Perth for the RAAF Orion P-3, which would allow the surveillance aircraft to spend two hours at the site. The Royal Australian Navy ship Success was en route to the area but was some days away. She is well equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from MH370, the maritime authority said in a statement. A merchant ship that responded to a call to examine the objects was expected to arrive in the area around 6 p.m. Sydney time, Young said. After Abbott made his statement in parliament, Najib also issued a statement, saying that the two leaders had spoken about the sighting. But after nearly two weeks of almost daily hopes that brightened and then dimmed, Najib urged caution. Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the missing plane, he said in the emailed statement. (Malaysia says need to verify possible Australia MH370 find) An Australian official said the objects were about 2,500 kilometers, or 1,550 miles, southwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. In an email to reporters, Cmdr. William J. Marks, the spokesman for the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, which has coordinated the U.S. military contribution to the search, said he had no information at this time about the Australian prime ministers announcement. A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon, a long-range aircraft used for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare, has been flying out from a base in Western Australia to scan the area designated by search organizers. On Wednesday, Marks had said, If suspect debris were spotted, the aircraft would more than likely use the EO/IR camera at close range to identify exactly what was detected. He was referring to a camera with electro-optical and infrared functions that can discern objects much more sharply than can a naked human eye. The aircraft, he added, could provide the necessary information to lead salvage ships to the wreckage. As the possible break in what had been a fruitless search was being pursued, the Malaysian authorities were seeking help from the FBI to help retrieve deleted computer data from a homemade flight simulator belonging to the captain of the Malaysia Airlines jet, their first request for high-level U.S. assistance in solving the mystery of the missing plane. Malaysian and U.S. investigators are homing in on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, although they have not excluded other possibilities. Its all focused on the pilots, said a senior U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his access to information about the investigation. We, and they, have done everything we could on the passengers and havent found a thing. The FBI will relay the contents of the simulators hard drive to agents and analysts in the United States who specialize in retrieving deleted computer files. Right now, its the best chance we have of finding something, the senior law enforcement official said. Unless the pilot used very sophisticated technology to erase files, he added, the FBI will most likely be able to recover them. More than two dozen nations are searching for any trace of the missing airliner, a challenge that has seemed to grow more complicated and more contentious with each passing day. As the geographic scope of the search has widened, Australia, as well as China, India, France, the United States and other nations have offered ships, surveillance planes, satellites and experts to Malaysia, which is leading the effort. The investigators face a formidable set of mechanical, avionic and satellite communication puzzles. Flight 370 was about 40 minutes into a six-hour trip to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, early March 8 when it suddenly stopped communicating with air traffic controllers and turned far off course, cutting back across peninsular Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca and toward the Indian Ocean. Military radar tracked it for a while, but the operators did not seek to identify the plane or alert anyone. A satellite over the ocean picked up automated signals for several more hours - facts not released publicly for days after the plane vanished. The satellite pings led investigators to conclude that the plane had made its way to some point along one of two long, arcing corridors that together embrace 2.24 million square nautical miles of sea and land. Investigators have said the planes extraordinary diversion from its intended course was probably carried out by someone who had aviation experience. The Malaysian police, who found that Zaharie had built a flight simulator in his home, said Wednesday that some data had been erased from the simulator Feb. 3, more than a month before the ill-fated flight. Evidence suggests that whoever diverted the plane knew how to disable its communications systems and program course changes, and the data recorded in the pilots flight simulator may shed light on whether he was involved. But building and using flight simulators at home is a popular hobby among aviation enthusiasts, and the deletion of data from Zaharies simulator may have been routine housekeeping. Zaharie did not keep his simulator a secret: He posted a video on YouTube more than a year ago showing him sitting in front of it. The computer search could reveal impulses or plans linked to the planes disappearance. But the investigators could also conclude that Zaharie deleted files just as the average person does to clean out a computer. © 2014, The New York Times News Service
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 09:32:33 +0000
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