So far, there have been no results in the search of MH370 as yesterday’s release of wreckage by the Chinese State appears not to be related to the incident (although this is debated by the Chinese Government and the Malaysian Governments).
The search for the 9M-MRO – A Boeing 777-200 with 239 people aboard – is now being expanded westwards to the Indian Ocean.
The Wall Street Journal has indicated that the plane was still sending data five hours after it last left the radar, giving a range of up to 2,200 nautical miles to find the plane in – which is a lot of space. Malaysia Airlines has indicated it has not it received any such data from these satellite pings.
The Boeing 777-200 was not transmitting data to the satellite, but was instead sending out a signal to establish contact. This was to a Boeing subscription service that Malaysia Airlines did not subscribe to.
The pings however may not reveal the ultimate location of the plane – rather that it was functional that the plane was “alive”.
Meanwhile ABC News claims that systems were systematicly shut down aboard the flight, and may not be an accident, with the data reporting system, they believe, was shut down at 01:07 Local, whilst the transponder was shut down at 01:21 Local
Certainly, there are more questions than answers regarding MH370, and its ultimate fate. The clock is ticking however – with the black box underwater locator beacon only operable for 30 days – with 23 days remaining.
For the families involved – finding out this flights ultimate fate is now the most important thing to provide hope or closure.
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