MH370 crash zone search looks to complete within two months

The current underwater search area where the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 is being focussed will be largely complete by May.

In an update from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) which is leading the underwater search for the missing MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, the agency reports that more than 26,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have now been searched, which is over 40 per cent of the priority search area.

In addition to locating the aircraft, the underwater search aims to map the MH370 debris field in order to identify and prioritise the recovery of specific aircraft components, including flight recorders, which will assist with the Malaysian investigation.

The ATSB has used the data from the bathymetric survey work to prepare the initial plan for the underwater search, to be followed and referred to by all those participating in the search. The plan includes search timings, methods, procedures, safety precautions and the initial search areas for the various vessels.

Paul Kennedy, the project director for the search for MH370, said: “We run up and down the search area systematically covering every square metre. we actually create images of the sea floor of one metre resolution. And as everybody knows a 777 aircraft is definitely larger than one square metre so there is very little chance of us flying over it and not finding the aircraft. The acid test to the question ‘will you find it?’ is ‘if it’s in the area we are searching, we’ll find it’.”

Assuming no other significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the ATSB said the current underwater search area may be largely completed around May 2015.

There are three classifications for sonar contacts which are identified during the course of the underwater search. Classification 3 is assigned to sonar contacts that are of some interest as they stand out from their surroundings but have low probability of being significant to the search.

Classification 2 sonar contacts are of comparatively more interest but are still unlikely to be significant to the search. Classification 1 sonar contacts are of high interest and warrant immediate further investigation.

The underwater search so far has identified over a hundred seabed features that have been classified as category 3. There have been more than 10 features that have been classified as category 2. These objects may be man-made, but expert analysis of the imagery advises that none of them resemble an aircraft debris field.

Rather, they have been isolated objects, some of which have the dimensions of shipping containers. To date, no seabed features have been classified as category 1.