MH370: The Hunt for the Black Boxes as pings received

Black Boxes provide a useful hint to what went on during a flight – especially in the case of a disaster.

Flight data recorder – Image Honeywell Aerospace

It’s important to remember that there are two black boxes aboard a plane (painted orange, so they can be found in dark and murky conditions).

• The Cockpit Voice Recorder  – The Voice Recorder can record up to 2 hours of voice information from the cockpit
• The Flight Data Recorder – The Data Reorder can hold up to 25 hours of flight data

Whilst the search for debris has turned up with nothing so far, reports from the Australian ship “Ocean Shield” reviving two sets of pings from the locator beacon on Saturday.

These pings were re-acquired yesterday for two periods of time on Tuesday, making a total of four contacts.

The towed locator pinger being used aboard Ocean Shield will be used until the batteries have assumed to be expired.  More pings are needed to gain a better fix and location, creating a tight small area for the search to be conducted.

A Data Analysis by Joint Agency Coordination Centre 33.331khz, pulsed at 1.106 interval – indicating it was not a natural phenomena, rather an man-made one. The sound path is being partially obscured as the sea bed is made up of silt rather than rock. This could also impact the recovery of the data recorders  if they have sunk into the silt.

The search area has been tightened, with the area down to 75,423 square kilometres, approximately 2261 kilometres from Perth.

Search area, Image – Joint Agency Coordination Centre – http://www.jacc.gov.au/media/releases/2014/april/mr014.aspx

Australian authorities point out that there was no confirmation that these signals were from the missing plane, nor that any debris has been found in relation to MH370.

11 military aircraft, 4 civilian aircraft and 14 ships are involved today, with showers expected

The flight recorders have a locator beacon lifespan of 30 days – of which this time has expired (plus three days now). There may be further life in them, but this is not guarantee that the locator beacon is still functioning

The hunt is a hard one, but one that needs a successful conclusion – if for the families who are grieving for lost ones for over a month now.

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