AFTER weeks of searching for MH370, scouring the Indian Ocean by air and by ship, international experts will go all the way back to the beginning.
They will sit down in Canberra tomorrow to re-analyse satellite images and data gathered about the possible fate of the Malaysia Airlines flight which disappeared in early March.
I think it’s important we review the data and all the information relating to the likely flight path of the aircraft and also take all the information we’ve acquired in the course of the search so far,” retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told ABC Radio this morning.
The search co-ordinator insisted the audit was necessary and “sensible” to ensure there has been “no oversights, no flaws in the logic”.
“There may need to be a fine adjustment to the search area that’s been defined,” he said.
US firms with deep ocean technology could hold the key in the next “new phase”, with a tender process to begin soon.
The Air Chief Marshal said organising towed sonar vehicles could take four to six weeks.
“There’s only a handful of them in the world,” he explained.
As crews prepare to widen the underwater search area and map the deep ocean floor, Air Marshal Houston warned it would “be very challenging indeed”.
“You could get lucky, you could find it right at the beginning of the search,” he said, but explained it was more likely to take a “long time”.
Nevertheless, the co-ordinator is sure they’re searching in the right area, denying the effort is back to being like a needle in a haystack.
“When I first came in we were looking at really the whole Indian Ocean.”
Now with a more “defined area”, he is confident “that we will find something in that area eventually”.
It was important to find wreckage he argued, not only to provide comfort to passenger’s families, but because of “wide and deep concern” amongst the travelling public.
Asked whether he would personally commit to continue leading the co-ordination effort over the next eight to 12 months, the Air Chief Marshal confirmed he would.
“I’ll keep going as long as I’m required to do so,” he said, insisting he could “manage” with his other commitments.
source: theaustralian.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 