Australia still waiting for a request to review radar?
Reported today (15th March):
No Cookies | Perth Now
AMSA says no reliable information about report MH370 tracked to ocean off Australia
THE Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it had no reliable information to indicate Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may have approached Australia.
AMSA was responding to a single report today that the last satellite transmission from the missing jet was traced to the Indian Ocean off Australia.
<snip>
“MH370 may have flown beyond its last known position, about 1000 miles west of Perth, and that location may not be an indication of where the plane ended up,” the report states.
A search in Australian waters would be in the jurisdiction of AMSA.
A spokesman said:
“AMSA has not received reliable information indicating that Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH370 may have approached Australia or entered the Australian search and rescue region.
“Should verified information or request for assistance be passed to AMSA from authorities coordinating the search for flight MH370, it will be assessed on its merits.
“Australia is assisting the search efforts with two Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft deployed to the region.
“The Bloomberg report will be passed to coordinating authorities for their assessment in the context of all of the other information they have available to them.”
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interesting quote:
“Should verified information or request for assistance be passed to AMSA from authorities coordinating the search for flight MH370, it will be assessed on its merits.
So... Australia hasn't reviewed its primary radar data etc yet for any sign of MH370... Considering the IMARSAT data now available re the possible location west of Perth, I think this should have already been checked.
I didn't read it that way at all.
I used to deal with LoRs (Letters of Request - officially issued documents from investigating authorities to foreign jurisdictions) and due to legalities, it's not possible to confirm a sensitive negative (or positive) without official hoops being jumped through.
I think AMSA are saying is that they need a specific, officially-issued LoR (or similar) in order for them to respond officially and to confirm the area that they know the plane didn't fly over. And that currently nothing's leaping out at them.
Regarding reviewing the data, that should all be gathered and in the process of being 'de-sensitised' by now.