Could it be…
…that Flight 370’s black box ping has been heard by a Chinese ship?
We’ve had so many previous reports that have turned out to be unrelated to Flight 370 that I’m highly skeptical that this one will turn out to be anything, either.
I think that, if the box is ever located, it will be on something resembling the time scale of Air France Flight 447. The recovery of that airplane’s flight recorder took approximately two years. In addition, it was known from the start where the aircraft had probably gone down, and some debris that was spotted as early as a day later included an airplane seat, highly likely to be from the plane. Then:
Early on 6 June 2009, five days after Flight 447 disappeared, two male bodies, the first to be recovered from the crashed aircraft, were brought on board the Caboclo along with a seat, a nylon backpack containing a computer and vaccination card and a leather briefcase containing a boarding pass for the Air France flight. The following day, 7 June, search crews recovered the Airbus’s vertical stabilizer, the first major piece of wreckage to be discovered.
And yet it took two more years to find the plane’s black boxes. So, considering how little we still know about Flight 370, it would be nearly a miracle to have heard a ping at this point.
That may be the pinger. Sound can travel for long distances underwater. The US Navy has sonobouys anchored in 2000 feet of water off both coasts of the US to listen for Russian subs. The Russian subs were so noisy they were called clangers (like ringing a bell). You could hear them a hundred miles away.
Ray:
Well, I certainly very much hope it’s the pinger.
I think it’s just plunks from Froggy’s magic twanger.
If they say they hear the pinger I don’t see how it could be anything else. It transmits at a certain frequency and interval. It could not be confused with anything else since nothing else makes that kind of noise in the ocean (in the middle of nowhere to boot).
My understanding is that the Air France plane was in very deep water. That translates into a difficult recovery.
I was an Anti-Submarine Warfare officer in the USN. The strength of the pinger cannot be compared to a nuclear submarine. The pinger frequency should be much higher (which travels shorter distances due to attenuation) than the machinery of a nuclear submarine.
According to the Strait Times there’s a bit of controversy over those batteries.
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-mh370-tragedy-font-pinggers-batteries-due-to-be-replaced-in-june-mas-ceo-1.551620
The manufacturer says the batteries were due to be replaced in 2012, but MAS never sent the black box back for overhaul.
The CEO of the airline seems to be saying they did it in house; that they’re certified to do so (although I can’t imagine the manufacturer not knowing that). And the batteries were due to be replaced in June of this year.
I’m not going to say this is a poor maintenance practice, because I don’t know if it is. The airline replaces the batteries before they expire. Still, assuming MAS replaced the batteries in 2012 I wonder what that might mean considering the plane has been missing for approximately 28 days now. I’m sure the batteries will work as advertised right up until the expiration date. But they’re only advertised to work for about 28 days.
I think the Strait Times messed up the story. Apparently other press agencies talked to the President of Dukane Seacom and he admitted it’s possible the underwater locator beacons are theirs, but he didn’t seem to know for sure.
He said Malaysian Airlines is a customer, and that they have installed their equipment on Boeings.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/pingers-on-missing-malaysian-jet-to-stop-emitting-by-april-6/459794-2.html
Reporters. What are you going to do with them? I’ve never seen a profession more dedicated to getting the facts wrong.
Vanderleun,
I haven’t heard from Froggy’s magic twanger in a long time. However, we have always called our TV remotes “twangers” in memory Buster Brown and his pals.