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Flight MH370: Chinese and Australian ships draw blank
BBC ^ | March 29, 2014

Posted on 03/29/2014 8:00:25 AM PDT by don-o

A Chinese and an Australian ship have failed to identify remains from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight after their first day in a new search area.

The two ships retrieved objects from the Indian Ocean but none was confirmed to be from missing flight MH370, Australia's maritime authority said.

Chinese aircraft also flew over the area, north-east of the previous zone, and have spotted more objects.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: australia; china; mh370; waronterror
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: bigbob
But what are the odds, given all the technology that’s been brought to bear, that after 20 days there isn’t one single piece of debris?

High. The region is enormous with little in the way of human activity.

22 posted on 03/29/2014 8:31:48 AM PDT by fso301
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To: ken5050
Even the smallest piece from the plane would be fairly easy to determine as in fact part of the aircraft.

How long do you think it would take to search an area the size of the State of Alaska for a piece of an airplane?

23 posted on 03/29/2014 8:32:59 AM PDT by fso301
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To: bigbob
And so far the only proof we have that’s it’s in the Indian Ocean is the word of the leader of an Islamic county

Not correct. Data from the British company Inmarsat is what indicated the crash site as being in the South Indian Ocean.

24 posted on 03/29/2014 8:34:44 AM PDT by fso301
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To: SunkenCiv

A relative in the Coast Guard described the amount and composition of the crap floating on the surface of the ocean, and trying to figure out what an object it is when a fishing boat out of Florida goes missing. He said if you are able to bring the stuff on deck, most of it is just garbage that could be from anywhere/anything-rarely is anything significant found right away.

That floating stuff in the Indian Ocean they are seeing from a distance-plane or ship-probably is everything from flood/tsunami trash to crash debris-takes awhile to sort it out...


25 posted on 03/29/2014 8:35:18 AM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: fso301

The satellite and aircraft images show hundreds of “pieces of debris” and yet not a single one is there when the ships arrive?


26 posted on 03/29/2014 8:37:03 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: fso301

Perhaps someday something will wash up on shore. If someone has this plane, I would think we would have some hard information about it by now. This plane is a complex beast and requires maintenance. If they have some intended purpose for it, they will use it sooner rather than later. It’s most likely crashed somewhere. How perplexing that a aircraft with state of the art communications could just vanish without a trace.


27 posted on 03/29/2014 8:40:58 AM PDT by virgil
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To: Kirkwood
The satellite and aircraft images show hundreds of “pieces of debris” and yet not a single one is there when the ships arrive?

Debris spotted by satellite doesn't mean debris from flight-370. All flotsam will be called debris.

28 posted on 03/29/2014 8:43:16 AM PDT by fso301
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To: fso301

I haven’t seen that actual data, but I did listen to a video from an INMARSAT spokesperson who only gave a very general reference to having used doppler calculations to determine the southern route was “most likely”. He also added that this is the first time in their 34 year history they have ever attempted to locate a missing plane by this method, and went on to give a commercial for mandating the use of tracking systems like ADS-B (which I agree with).

My comment should have bee more specific, that the Malaysian PM is the one who made the absolute no-doubt proclamations. What I heard from INMARSAT was more tentative. Still, it’s a big ocean, and a crash at sea has always been the most likely outcome. I’ll accept the INMARSAT analysis, but I guess I just don’t have a good enough sense for why no debris has been recovered yet.


29 posted on 03/29/2014 8:43:51 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: fso301

As I understand it, the last radar returns showed it turned twice, with the last turn heading to India. The only reason we are searching where we are is that the pings to Inmarsat were decoded and the time shifts proved that at some time after the last radar “paint” the dead or unconscious “person” at the controls took control and headed south. Or the auto-pilot
(HAL) took control. Am I correct?


30 posted on 03/29/2014 8:43:57 AM PDT by Gadsden1st
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To: Spartan302

Well, and see...they can’t ‘magically’ find the black boxes until they ‘discover’ something on the surface, now can they? /s

If the ‘southern’ route hypothesis holds water (pun intended), I predict they will find a debris field in short order and then, within hours, a “Got something!!!” (iow, a ‘signal’).

I’m of the opinion the USN knows exactly where the plane is and that these poor folks (the searchers) are risking their lives sailing through/flying over one of the most inhospitable patches of ocean on the planet looking for debris to justify the location that is already known...


31 posted on 03/29/2014 8:45:39 AM PDT by logi_cal869
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To: virgil
How perplexing that a aircraft with state of the art communications could just vanish without a trace.

It's really not perplexing. The state of the art communication systems are designed to permit communication if the crew wants to communicate. In the case of flight-370, whoever was flying the 777 did not wish to avail themselves of the plane's communication systems.

32 posted on 03/29/2014 8:46:30 AM PDT by fso301
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To: bigbob

Excellent statement, and very well put.


33 posted on 03/29/2014 8:47:07 AM PDT by stillfree? (I am the Tea Party)
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To: ronnie raygun

Do you really think that the Israelis will hesitate to do so?

Do you think we would if it were heading in the direction of NYC?


34 posted on 03/29/2014 8:49:30 AM PDT by 353FMG
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To: fso301

Lots of pictures, but they aren’t finding ANYTHING.


35 posted on 03/29/2014 8:51:43 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: bigbob
I guess I just don’t have a good enough sense for why no debris has been recovered yet.

My understanding is that the initial search area in the South Indian Ocean was about the size of Alaska. How long do you think it would take when searching from air and satellite only to find a plane that crashed somewhere in Alaska?

In the case of flight-370, any debris may now be +1,500 miles from the crash site and widely dispersed amongst all manner of other floating trash.

36 posted on 03/29/2014 8:52:18 AM PDT by fso301
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To: fso301
The state of the art communication systems are designed to permit communication if the crew wants to communicate.

That's probably something that will change in these times of terror. If the operator wants to fly commercial service or fly into an airport, the plane must be hardwired to communicate whether like it or not. There'll be some kind of system in front or running in the background. No choice will be given about it.

37 posted on 03/29/2014 8:55:50 AM PDT by virgil
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To: ronnie raygun
What can you do with a civilian aircraft and 235 hostages? right! pack it with explosives load up the hostages and force Isreal as it heads toward them to shoot it down. Just saying

It wouldn't take them three weeks to do that, though.

38 posted on 03/29/2014 8:58:51 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: logi_cal869

“I’m of the opinion the USN knows exactly where the plane is....”

.
Probably everybody and his mother flying around in that area know where the plane is but were told to keep up the pretense of searching.


39 posted on 03/29/2014 8:59:13 AM PDT by 353FMG
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To: fso301

Allegedly aircraft are dropping buoys when debris is sighted and yet nothing is being reported to be picked up by any ship in the search zone. Then they change the search zone entirely so the aircraft don’t have to fly as far. This is just a lot of nonsense to placate certain people. Declare the plane missing forever and be done with this nonsense. It is all theater.


40 posted on 03/29/2014 8:59:40 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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