Lost: Malaysia Airlines—Flight MH-370

[Cochise]

As a non-expert blogger , can I just point out what a load of bunkum the shoot-down theory is? Can you imagine how many people would have to keep silence on such a mistake and the resulting cover up operation?

As another non-expert blogger, I would point that I don't believe in this argument. I don't advocate an accidental shoot-down theory here. But it is plausible that it was done, and the secrecy ensured despite the number of people involved. A number of instances of unrecognized accidents caused by lost missiles are likely, like Itavia 870, TWA 800, or the case of the Maison des Têtes I had reported elsewhere*, but nobody has come public in them.

*see here, post 25/9/2009 :
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... c&start=45
I can say from a firsthand source that everybody in the navy base of Toulon knew the truth. But nobody has spilled the bloods in public.

Usually something leaks out, though. In the case of Hillsborough people have known almost since the day after that a huge official cover up was going on, despite an orchestrated media campaign etc. Also, without wishing to cast doubt on your acquaintance at Toulon, I've been told things by ex-Military types which simply cannot be true. Just like anyone else, they like the odd bit of exaggeration and tale-spinning.

While not totally ruling out some sort of conspiracy, at the moment there is simply insufficient data to theorise on MH370. Nor, incidentally, do I think a missile was involved in TWA800 - the investigation afterwards I believe found a combination of an electrical fault and one of the fuel tanks being left empty to save weight was most likely to blame. I was living in CT when it happened and naturally was exposed to all the conspiracy theories, but I simply don't think they carry any weight. They are in the same class as those folk who claim no plane rammed the Pentagon on 9/11 despite dozens of eye-witnesses that saw it.

Please don't imagine I think there are no conspiracies, But usually the simplest explanation is the best.

 

[Rosebud]

Looks like the pings heard by Ocean Shield were not MH370:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mh370-relativ ... ml#2pNNCbd

It doesn't offer any explanation in the report as to what was making the sound, but I have read suggestions that some tracking devices on sharks, whales etc. operate at frequencies near those of a ULB.

 

[markrkingston1]

This kind of dilatory tactics have been used since the beginning of the case. Here again, we have officials of various countries trying to evade their responsabilities by shifting the blame to others, in a classic bureaucratic way to muddy things.

That's what bureaucrats do. In my opinion, one should rarely see conspiracy where incompetence will suffice: It is the nature of bureaucracy and bureaucrats to shift blame as a first response rather than to do something useful.

Admittedly the attitude which I demonstrate here could allow a conspiracy some time to build but on the balance of probabilities in this case incompetency still seems more likely to me than there being some massive secret.

But then, if it was really heard, why was it lost ? It only deepens the mystery. A black box is build to withstand the worst conditions and doesn't cease its emmissions suddenly.

A black box does case emissions suddenly when its battery runs out and the pinger was heard only a few days before the battery was due to run out.

If you are looking for anything suspicious then the timing (i.e. the pinger was heard only a short time before the battery died) could be seen as suspicious. On the other hand, perhaps it was found as quickly as possible with the evidence and equipment available.

 

[Analis]

That's what bureaucrats do. In my opinion, one should rarely see conspiracy where incompetence will suffice: It is the nature of bureaucracy and bureaucrats to shift blame as a first response rather than to do something useful.

Admittedly the attitude which I demonstrate here could allow a conspiracy some time to build but on the balance of probabilities in this case incompetency still seems more likely to me than there being some massive secret.

But what blame would they have to put at others exactly ?
In my opinion, incompetence should not be presupposed as more 'natural' or parsimonious than wrongdoing. Some people prefer to see incompetence because it fits better their preconceptions, as others prefer to see sinister schemes for similar reasons, while others have a more balanced view. But when similar pattern emerge again and again, this is a strong indication against mere incompetence – and there is no motive, at least no innocent motive, for the fact that they would not seriously try to find the wreckage. Hints of skullduggerry have been apparent since the early days, when the Malaysian government tried to mislead the public for no apparent reason. In this case, I don't know what happened, but I have the distinct feeling that something fishy happened.

A black box does case emissions suddenly when its battery runs out and the pinger was heard only a few days before the battery was due to run out.

If you are looking for anything suspicious then the timing (i.e. the pinger was heard only a short time before the battery died) could be seen as suspicious. On the other hand, perhaps it was found as quickly as possible with the evidence and equipment available.

I've read contradictory versions, but it seems that the signal ceased a few days before the limit.
Also, I believe I remember that in the case of the Air France 447 crash, search teams were trying to find faint signals months later. So it would seem that the signals don't end completely 30 days after a crash, or that there is another transmitter aboard planes.

 

[Analis]

Usually something leaks out, though. In the case of Hillsborough people have known almost since the day after that a huge official cover up was going on, despite an orchestrated media campaign etc.

I suppose that by people, you mean a few people, not the public. A small number of persons were aware, but it had not become public knowledge. The problem when one tries to expose an unconvenant truth, is usually not that nobody speaks, but that nobody hears them. In the Hillsborough scandal, the mediatic barrier was efficient, there were a few newspapers that had broken the blockade, but the public as a whole was not made aware.

Also, without wishing to cast doubt on your acquaintance at Toulon, I've been told things by ex-Military types which simply cannot be true. Just like anyone else, they like the odd bit of exaggeration and tale-spinning.

While not totally ruling out some sort of conspiracy, at the moment there is simply insufficient data to theorise on MH370. Nor, incidentally, do I think a missile was involved in TWA800 - the investigation afterwards I believe found a combination of an electrical fault and one of the fuel tanks being left empty to save weight was most likely to blame. I was living in CT when it happened and naturally was exposed to all the conspiracy theories, but I simply don't think they carry any weight. They are in the same class as those folk who claim no plane rammed the Pentagon on 9/11 despite dozens of eye-witnesses that saw it.

I know this official explanation about TWA 800 but they're not able to sustain it, in fact their theory seems to rely on the belief that engines explode as in a Hollywood movie, but in real life they don't (the same belief was seen in the case of the recent death of journalist Michael Hastings).
In the instance of the Maison des Têtes, what is important is that the whole evidence supports the missile or rocket scenario, while the case for the official version is empty. People who served in the military (and in countries where conscription is applied, it means many people) are not in my opinion more prone to lie than the average people, however they often repeat false information they've been fed, whether mere rumours and whispers or deliberate disinformation (because yes, it happens). But in this case, no, the man (a former conscript) was not joking. I had not even had the time to utter the words 'missile', 'projectile' or 'cover-up', I had just asked him what he knew about the Maison des Têtes, and he immediately told me that everybody in the base, from the mere sailor to the highest ranking officers, knew that it was a lost missile. Incidently, before I had any time to ask him more, he added that the military secret services had been present very quickly at the scene to clean away the evidence. Which accounts for the sightings of unidentified police officers spotted shortly after the explosion. Such a speed may seem unlikely, but it is not so if there are specialized procedures for cover-ups, whether in case of blunders of deliberate bad actions. Certainly, this case, and a number of others, suggest that there is a secret manual titled « How to handle a cover-up » or « The secret agent's guide to the cover-up ».
The existence of special cells may help to explain how lids are kept shut and such manipulations pass unnoticed or almost unnoticed.

 

[Cochise]

I know this official explanation about TWA 800 but they're not able to sustain it, in fact their theory seems to rely on the belief that engines explode as in a Hollywood movie, but in real life they don't (the same belief was seen in the case of the recent death of journalist Michael Hastings).

Engines don't, but fuel tanks do. Especially empty or nearly-empty ones. I was surprised to discover - although its not relevant here - that diesel is even more dangerous in this respect than petrol.

 

[Analis]

Well, fuel tanks are the part that can explode in engines... But the kind of big explosions we see in a bad Michael Bay movie for example just don't exist (with the only exception of liquefied petroleum gas, and even in this case the cinematic detonations appear exagerated). The paradoxe is that, indeed, the tank needs to be almost empty to explode, which can result only in a small explosion. Not the kind that can cut an airliner in half or do to a car what we see in the video of the death of Michael Hastings.
Many teams, the MythBusters and others, have tried to reproduce the hollywoodian explosions, to no avail. It just doesn't happen in real life. Hollywood does have a nefarious influence on our perceptions of the world.

 

[Cochise]

It's off topic, but I can give you two cases where fuel tank explosions have happened, both railway related and both with diesel rather than petrol .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY446h4pZdc

and, much more seriously but no film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash

In both of these, however, the explosion was a result of the impact rather than causing it. And indeed, in neither case was the explosion as spectacular as Hollywood would have it, but I don't see the relevance of that argument.

Planes have, factually, exploded in mid air in real life, vary rarely, but it does happen. The most common cause of such an explosion, at least recently, is a bomb on board. On older prop-driven planes it was usually caused by a fuel leak.

Jet engines also have exploded (or 'disintegrated violently', if you prefer), and extreme cases can destroy the plane, although it is not fire that causes the problem but the big chunks of metal that get hurled around. A modern multi-engined plane is designed to survive a single engine explosion, however.

I can't rule out that a missile strike took out TWA800, no-one can prove a negative, but if you don't accept the official explanation, I'd say a bomb in the luggage is more likely. The only actual evidence supporting an explosion is the discovery of traces of explosive materials inside the plane.

However, nothing else supports the theory, in particular the pattern of damage to the wreckage does not indicate a bomb or missile. Of course, if the investigation was corrupt, anything is possible, but if we work on that basis then we can believe nothing about anything.

 

[krakenten]

The real issue here is getting lost-what in the world was going on in the cockpit?

The airplane fell down, they do that. But why? Why was this aircraft off course?

We may never know.

 

[Cochise]

Perm one of three - hijack, mad pilots, decompression. We may never know which.

Having said which, you do fasten on the critical issue, the behaviour in the cockpit up to and including the change of course. It seems to be unprecedented, so maybe something happened which is also unprecedented.

 

[rynner2]

Flight MH370: Malaysia releases raw satellite data

The Malaysian government has released the raw data used to determine that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.
The data was first released to relatives of passengers, who have been asking for greater transparency, before copies were also provided to media.
The document released on Tuesday comprises 47 pages of data, plus notes, from British firm Inmarsat.

Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
There were 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on board. No trace of the aircraft has been found, nor any reason for its disappearance.

The satellite data released includes the hourly "handshakes" between the plane and a communications satellite that led investigators to conclude that the plane ended its journey far off Australia.
"Inmarsat and the DCA have been working for the release of the data communication logs and the technical description of the analysis," Malaysia's civil aviation authority said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a sea-bed search for the missing plane is continuing in waters far west of the Australian city of Perth.
The robotic submarine Bluefin-21, on loan from the US, is still being operated off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield.
The Bluefin-21, which can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor, restarted its mission last week after experiencing technical problems.

It is expected to leave the search area on Wednesday and return to base on 31 May, said a previous statement from Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is leading the search.

The Bluefin-21 completed the initial search of the area where acoustic signals thought to be from flight recorders were heard without finding anything concrete.
The Australian government is now preparing for a fresh deep-sea search using commercially-contracted equipment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27576409

 

[pornosonic1975]

I'd like to know why Rolls Royce are so quiet? The Trent engines send date every thirty mins back to Derby and RR will be able to tell us whether the throttle setting were ever changed and if a normal descent profile was ever instigated and most importantly, when.

This whole event stinks. 270 Tonne jet aircraft do not disappear entirely and certain items will float forever.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'd like to know why Rolls Royce are so quiet? The Trent engines send date every thirty mins back to Derby and RR will be able to tell us whether the throttle setting were ever changed and if a normal descent profile was ever instigated and most importantly, when. ...

Rolls Royce is quiet because MH370 was quiet - no data was transmitted after the plane's comm systems went dead.

If the ACARS data feed had been working, there would have been regular engine data updates transmitted. As it was, nothing more than comm network pings were transmitted. Whatever was left of the airliner's operating systems could still check for network connectivity, but not transmit anything.

 

[krakenten]

Out in the Pacific, oceanographers have been tracking a bunch of rubber duckies for years. These cheerful little scientists are of an odd sort, therefore, easy to identify. They washed overboard in a storm.

They will float for a long time, but they are not easy to identify any more. Because they are now sun bleached crumbs of plastic

Photodegradation. Sunlight photodegrades plastic into smaller and smaller bits.

Yes, there are things that will float forever.

But will we recognize them?

Somehow, I think that airplane went to the bottom and is now mashed flat by water pressure.

Gone, Baby Gone!

 

[Cochise]

The black box pings are apparently now not thought to be anything to do with MH370:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... inues.html

 

[Iris]

I know it's foolish but every time they find nothing I keep hoping that they landed somewhere. I did have a flash right at the beginning but it didn't seem to fit in.

 

[rynner2]

Somehow, I think that airplane went to the bottom and is now mashed flat by water pressure.

Probably not flattened though - even if the plane was undamaged from hitting the ocean, as soon as the fuselage started to crumple, leaks would begin, and the incoming water would equalise the pressure.

 

[Anome]

Well they're now saying they've been looking in the wrong place.

Again.

How have we managed to completely get this wrong? I never really believed the Southern Indian Ocean thing, but everyone seemed to think it was right. Now they're saying it's not.

 

[rynner2]

I never really believed the Southern Indian Ocean thing, but everyone seemed to think it was right. Now they're saying it's not.

MH370 is not where the pings were heard, apparently. But they still plan to resume the search in the Indian Ocean:

As questions arose about the source of the apparent pings from the plane’s black box locator beacon, the search authority has ruled out the area where the sets of pings were detected in April as a possible crash point for the missing aircraft.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre said an unmanned submarine, Bluefin-21, had spent almost two months searching across 328 square miles but found no signs of wreckage. The next phase will only begin in August and will cover more than 23,000 square miles across a zone based on the likely path of the Boeing 777 as determined by its satellite handshakes.

“No signs of aircraft debris have been found by the autonomous underwater vehicle since it joined the search effort,” the centre said in a statement.
“The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ce=refresh

I wonder if the 'acoustic pings' came from underwater creatures. We know that on land many birds are incredibly good mimics, and in the sea we know that many creatures communicate by sound, aquatic mammals especially, some of which dive to great depths.

It's possible that some of these creatures have heard other black box pings, remembered the sounds, and included them in their own vocalisations. Such memes might get passed to following generations, so a sea creature using such a sound may only have heard it from others of its species. (Or indeed, from other species.)

Just a thought!

 

[krakenten]

It's probably Cthulhu, playing the ocarina in his underwear.

 

[Analis]

It's off topic, but I can give you two cases where fuel tank explosions have happened, both railway related and both with diesel rather than petrol .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY446h4pZdc

and, much more seriously but no film

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash

In both of these, however, the explosion was a result of the impact rather than causing it. And indeed, in neither case was the explosion as spectacular as Hollywood would have it, but I don't see the relevance of that argument.

Thanks for these interesting links, but they were not really necessary to the discussion, as it didn't revolve around the possibility of tank explosions ; I can provide examples of small explosions occuring in fuel tanks in cars. With TWA 800, there were indeed accusations of corrupting the inquiry, sometimes from insiders (people speak after all...), one of their goals being seemingly to downplay the strenght of the explosion. While the plane was appearingly destroyed suddenly, witnesses mentionned seeing sections of it falling into the sea and/or spotting a huge explosion (and we had many witnesses, who also described a bright object colliding with the plane). More hollywoodian style, and which doesn't fit with the ignition in the tank theory.

As you say, it's off-topic, but it remembers us that TWA800 and a number of others were priviliged over MH370 due to the presence of witnesses. Unless we take into account the sightings in the Maldives... Now, what is the official explanation for them? Is there one at least ?

 

[Analis]

I've read contradictory versions, but it seems that the signal ceased a few days before the limit.
Also, I believe I remember that in the case of the Air France 447 crash, search teams were trying to find faint signals months later. So it would seem that the signals don't end completely 30 days after a crash, or that there is another transmitter aboard planes.

Here's what I could unearth on the search for AF447 :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11843453

The last search for the voice and data recorders ended in failure in May 2010, and some families have questioned the way it was handled.

In May 2010, so almost one year after the crash. I don't know how we should understand the word 'voice' here.

 

[rynner2]

Here's what I could unearth on the search for AF447 :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11843453

The last search for the voice and data recorders ended in failure in May 2010, and some families have questioned the way it was handled.

In May 2010, so almost one year after the crash. I don't know how we should understand the word 'voice' here.

The same article answers that question:

"Finding the black boxes, which record flight data and cockpit conversations, could finally allow investigators to explain the mystery of why the plane came down."

There are two black boxes, one for technical data from the plane, and the other for voices in the cockpit, ie, pilots and other crew members.

 

[Rosebud]

I know it's foolish but every time they find nothing I keep hoping that they landed somewhere. I did have a flash right at the beginning but it didn't seem to fit in.

There is nothing foolish about wanting people to be safe, it just shows that you are decent.

I wished for the same thing and, like you, still do.

I have had a feeling all along that there is more to this than anyone is telling and that someone knows exactly what happened. What that may be we can only take a guess at the moment, but we owe it to the people on board, and their families, to keep asking.

The press whitewash on Hillsborough made sure that anyone who tried to get the truth out looked like a police-hating nutter and it took nearly a quarter of a century for the real sequence of events to be revealed.

What was your 'flash'? As we are nearly three months on from this event and no closer to knowing anything for certain, your intuition is just as valid as any other possibility.

 

[Iris]

Rosebuds it was really fast. There was a group of people milling around, calling out although I couldn't hear anything. It seemed to be in a dark place, there wasn't much light.
Why I thought it didn't fit in is because most of the people on the plane were Chinese and the men I saw had dark skins,seemed to be in uniforms and didn't look asian. There were other people further away but I didn't have time to see them properly.

 

[Rosebud]

Isis, my first thought was that your vision bore a striking similarity to the Entebbe hijack in 1976.
The hostages that were held were mainly Israeli or Jewish. Amin's guards were Ugandan. Interestingly the twin plane of MH370 is in Tel Aviv, so you may be tuning in more accurately than you think.

 

[rynner2]

More grist for the confusion mill:

MH370 search: 'underwater noise' detected off southern India
Scientists examine sounds suggesting new location for missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 as British woman reports seeing burning plane above Indian Ocean
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
9:12AM BST 03 Jun 2014

Scientists are investigating a mysterious low-frequency underwater noise detected off the southern tip of India at about the time the missing Malaysia Airlines plane had its last satellite transmission and disappeared.

The noise, outside the range of human hearing, reportedly travelled across the Indian Ocean and was picked up by receivers off the west coast of Australia. But its original location – about 3,000 miles north-west of Australia – would not be consistent with the current search area off the Australian coast which is based on analysis of satellite data by British firm Inmarsat.

Alec Duncan, a marine scientist at Curtin University near Perth, said he believed the chances of the sound being from the missing Boeing 777 were about “25 to 30 per cent”. The plane, carrying 239 passengers, disappeared on March 8.
"It’s not even really a thump sort of a sound — it’s more of a dull oomph,” Dr Duncan told The New York Times.
“If you ask me what’s the probability this is related to the flight, without the satellite data it’s 25 or 30 percent, but that’s certainly worth taking a very close look at.”

The noise was picked up by a receiver operated off the coast of Perth by Dr Duncan – used mainly for monitoring whales - and another about 220 miles south of Perth by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation in Vienna. The scientists have established the direction in which the sound was travelling but not the distance it travelled, leaving a potential search area spanning more than 200,000 square miles.

Mark Prior, an acoustics expert at the test ban organisation headquarters, told The New York Times the sound was consistent with an ocean impact or with a sealed, air-filled container sinking until it crumpled due to the water pressure. [I've already commented on the unlikelihood of that.]

Authorities in Australia said last week they has found no wreckage in a targeted zone - based on sounds believed to have been from the plane’s black box locator beacon - and will now shift to a 12-month hunt across a broad stretch of the Indian Ocean. The next phase, which will involve private contractors, will only begin in August and will cover more than 23,000 square miles.

Adding to the uncertainty surrounding the plane’s possible final location, a British woman sailing with her husband across the Indian Ocean from India to Thailand has claimed she may have seen the plane on fire.

Katherine Tee, 41, was on night watch on March 7-8 but said she did not report the sighting until Sunday because she was having marital problems and thought she was losing her mind. She said recent media reports about the ailing search prompted her and her husband Marc Horn to examine their GPS logs and they discovered they were within the plane’s projected flight path.

“I looked back through our GPS logs and lo and behold, what we saw was consistent with the confirmed contact which the authorities had from MH370,” she told Thailand’s Phuket Gazette.

Ms Tee said she saw other planes nearby and thought they would have reported the burning plane.
“I saw something that looked like a plane on fire,” she said. “Then I thought I must be mad. It caught my attention because I had never seen a plane with orange lights before so I wondered what they were… It looked longer than planes usually do. There was what appeared to be black smoke behind it.

“There were two other planes well above it — moving the other way — at the time. They had normal navigation lights. I remember thinking that if it was a plane on fire that I was seeing, the other aircraft would report it.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ce=refresh

 

[ramonmercado]

Images and charts at link.

Missing Malaysia jet MH370: 'Whistleblower fund' set up

Relatives of passengers of the missing Malaysian plane have launched a fund-raising campaign to seek information on flight MH370.

They aim to raise at least $5m (£2.9m) "to encourage a whistleblower to come forward", families said in a statement.

Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Officials say they are reviewing search data, surveying the sea floor and bringing in specialist equipment, having failed to find any trace so far.

Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the airliner, which had 239 people on board, ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, north-west of the Australian city of Perth.

A submersible robot carried out an extensive search of the area in the Indian Ocean where acoustic signals had been detected, but could not locate the plane's flight recorders.

There is no explanation for the plane's disappearance.

"We are convinced that somewhere, someone knows something, and we hope this reward will entice him or her to come forward," said Ethan Hunt, who heads the "Reward MH370" project.

Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on board, said families wanted to look at the tragedy with "a fresh set of eyes".

"Governments and agencies have given it their best shot but have failed to turn up a single shred of evidence, either because of a faulty approach or due to intentional misdirection by one or more individuals," she said.

Danica Weeks, wife of Paul Weeks, another missing passenger, said: "We've been cut off so many times at the gate that we're just now having to take things into our own hands, think outside the box and just try and do something to find this plane." ...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27754002

 

[kamalktk]

The data has been publicly released for awhile, and the conclusion is it went... pretty much right where authorities said it did.
http://www.slate.com/articles/techn...data_showing_mh370_definitely_went_south.html

 

[rynner2]

Malaysian MH370: Inmarsat confident on crash 'hotspot'
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
Pallab Ghosh reports on the latest twist in the search for MH370

The UK satellite company Inmarsat has told the BBC that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has yet to go to the area its scientists think is the plane's most likely crash site.
Inmarsat's communications with the aircraft are seen as the best clues to the whereabouts of Flight MH370.

The hunt for the lost jet is currently taking a short break while ships map the Indian Ocean floor.
When the search resumes, the Inmarsat "hotspot" will be a key focus.

But so too will a number of areas being fed into the investigation by other groups.
Australian authorities are expected to announce where these are shortly.

The BBC's Horizon TV programme has been given significant access to the telecommunications experts at Inmarsat.
It was the brief, hourly electronic connections between the jet and one of company's spacecraft that are currently driving the search.
Inmarsat's scientists could tell from the timings and frequencies of the connection signals that the plane had to have come down in the southern Indian Ocean.
An Australian naval vessel was sent to investigate the region west of Perth, and followed up leads as they emerged.

But as Horizon reports, the Ocean Shield ship never got to the Inmarsat hotspot because it picked up sonar detections some distance away that it thought were coming from the jet's submerged flight recorders.
The priority was to investigate these "pings", and two months were spent searching 850 sq km of sea bed. Ultimately, it turned out to be a dead end.

"It was by no means an unrealistic location but it was further to the north east than our area of highest probability," Chris Ashton at Inmarsat tells Horizon.
The company's experts used their data to plot a series of arcs across the Indian Ocean where its systems made contact with the jet.
By modelling a flight with a constant speed and a constant heading consistent with the plane being flown by autopilot - the team found one flight path that lined up with all its data.

"We can identify a path that matches exactly with all those frequency measurements and with the timing measurements and lands on the final arc at a particular location, which then gives us a sort of a hotspot area on the final arc where we believe the most likely area is," said Mr Ashton.

The Australian authorities leading the hunt have now recognised the need to make a high-resolution bathymetric (depth) survey of the wider search zone - some 60,000 sq km in area.
This is likely to take several months, but once they know precisely the shape of the sea bed and the height of the water column, they can then better choose the most appropriate vehicles to continue the underwater sweep.

MH370 was lost on 8 March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A total of 239 passengers and crew were on board.

BBC Horizon: Where is Flight MH370? will be broadcast on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Tuesday, and will be available on the iPlayer thereafter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27870467