MH370 finally found?

As frustration continues over the fruitless search for where Flight MH370 ended over 100 days ago, a group of independent experts feel they may have identified its final resting place close to Antarctica, CNN reported.

The group, who had pushed for the release of satellite data, say “five separate computer models all place the plane in a tight cluster of spots in the south Indian Ocean” close to where initial searches had been conducted.

American Mobile Satellite Corp co-founder Mike Exner said the computer models place the aircraft in a “pretty tight cluster…plus or minus 50 miles of each other”.

He believes the authorities were narrowing in on the correct search site, but were thrown off course when searchers detected acoustic pings northwest of Australia.

The “breakthrough piece of information,” Exner said, was that the satellite terminal on the aircraft had been programmed to use a simplified assumption about the location of the satellite.

The terminal assumed that the satellite was geostationary – fixed over a spot on the equator – when, in fact, it drifted to the north and south.

But, Exner admits that the latest analysis is still just that and can only be proven if actual search is conducted on the site identified.

Earlier, UK satellite firm Inmarsat had claimed that the search for the Malaysia Airlines plane had yet to target a “hotspot” most likely to be the crash site in the Indian Ocean as priority was given to investigate “pings” that had led to a dead end.

Inmarsat told the BBC that the search for the missing jet had yet to go to the area its scientists thought was the plane’s most likely crash site.

The Boeing 777-200, carrying 239 people, including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals, mysteriously vanished on March 8 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

After reviewing all the efforts so far, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre – which is leading the search operations – said: “The search area will be confirmed before the end of June, after completion of extensive collaborative analysis by a range of specialists.”

source: therakyatpost.com