Posted on 03/24/2014 10:27:48 AM PDT by Star Traveler
In this particular case ... the information came from the Brits, by way of Inmarsat ...
They had information that Inmarsat gave them, saying that the plane didn’t go on the northern route, but the southern route. And they had a fairly precise location for the plane. That combined with the knowledge of the amount of fuel they had, plus the fact that there are no airports within any kind of reasonable distance - means that the ocean was the only place it could “land” or crash.
That’s how they know “they’re gone”. It only remains to try and find the black box before the signal quits and/or find some remaining debris on the surface of the ocean.
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