Jet search cut short; new satellite spots objects (link added)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

PERTH, Australia (AP) - Hints about the lost Malaysian jetliner piled up Thursday, but there was precious little chance to track them down. Bad weather cut short the air and sea hunt for the aircraft as satellite data revealed hundreds more objects that might be wreckage.

Not one piece of debris has been recovered from the plane that went down in the southern Indian Ocean on March 8. For relatives of the 239 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, it was yet another agonizing day of waiting.

"Until something is picked up and analyzed to make sure it's from MH370 we can't believe it, but without anything found it's just clues," Steve Wang, whose 57-year-old mother was aboard the flight, said in Beijing. "Without that, it's useless."

A Thai satellite spotted about 300 objects, ranging from 2 meters (6 feet) to 16 meters (53 feet) long, about 2,700 kilometers (1,675 miles) southwest of Perth, said Anond Snidvongs, director of Thailand's space technology development agency. He said the images, taken Monday by the Thaichote satellite, took two days to process and were relayed to Malaysian authorities on Wednesday.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140327/DACQ1OA81.html

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Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion is guided by a grownd crew man on the tarmac at RAAF Base Pearce following their search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Perth, Australia, Thursday, March 27, 2014. Planes and ships searching for debris suspected of being from the downed Malaysia Airlines jetliner failed to find any Thursday before bad weather cut their hunt short in a setback that came as Thailand said its satellite had spotted even more suspect objects. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

[marions ghost]

1. Link?

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[Omaha Steve]

2. Thanks

[marions ghost]

3. They are battling the elements out there

The search planes could only stay out two hours--not long enough. No visibility.

Some couldn't even get out.

[marions ghost]

5. Australia is pivotal in this search & deserves commendation

The Australian Prime Minister pledges to find whatever pieces of the plane they can, while four Australian families grieve for loved ones:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/the-pulse-live/politics-live-march-26-2014-20140326-35h7c.html

[tune]

4. Bad weather?

Where are the drones?

[TBF]

6. That's interesting -

I wonder if they are using drone technology in the search effort. It's a vast area so that would make perfect sense.

[MineralMan]

8. Drones need operators to control them.

Plus, there isn't an unlimited supply of drones, and perhaps no drones or operational bases close enough to the scene to be used there. Besides, drones are not any more capable in bad weather than manned aircraft, nor any better at seeing stuff. The satellites are doing a good job of spotting debris, with trained people to interpret what they're seeing.

I can't really see much application here for drone technology, and I don't think there are any drone operational bases nearby.

[TBF]

10. Thanks -

appreciate the comments on satellite as well and why they are more useful for this kind of exercise.

[MineralMan]

7. Why would you think that drones can operate in

bad weather any better than manned aircraft?

[cosmicone]

9. We should send

mid-air refueling aircraft like KC-135E or HC-130P.

The search is hampered by the distance -- 4 hours from Perth and 4 hours back to Perth leaves only 2 hours for each plane to do the actual search.

The in-flight refueling and relief pilots would allow the planes to search round the clock.

[MineralMan]

11. Most of the planes doing the searching do not

have in-flight refueling capabilities that are compatible with our refueling aircraft.

[cosmicone]

12. That explains it

It would be a good idea to implement for the future.