As daylight shines over in Australia, the search planes are out again to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200.
Australia has already deployed a P3 Orion to begin the search anew today. There is a 4-5 hour flying time there, 2 hours endurance to search, and then the return to Perth. In real terms, the closest land is the Antarctic rather than Australia.
Further departures today include:
- A civil Gulfstream jet and a second RAAF P3 Orion is due to depart for the search area at approximately 11am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
- A third RAAF P3 Orion is due to depart for the search area at approximately 1pm.
- The United States Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft is due to depart for the search area at approximately 4pm.
One merchant vessel – The Norwegian Car Carrier The St Petersburg – is currently in the search area. A second merchant vessel is due to arrive, with a total of six ships involved so far. Military Navy ships are still some days away from the area.
The search looks like this:
Image – Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Conditions are improving compared to the previous day, but rain is expected for Saturday – and conditions expected to deteriorate, making today’s search critical.
So far, there has been no sightings of the plane, although efforts are being concentrated on this area.
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