sb_sfo mentioned:
As it's one year to the day since this accident, I wonder if we'll be any closer to an answer in another year.
South African Airways Flight 295
- Crashed into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius on 28 November 1987
- Abandoned the search on 8 January 1988 when the pingers were known to have stopped transmitting
- On January 6, 1989, the cockpit voice recorder was salvaged successfully from record depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft), but the flight data recorder was never found.
I would imagine that the sonar could be a lot better 20 years later, nearly everything else it.
So why not more progress on af477?
I found this a good read.
Blank Design page
I read it a while back and I recall thinking it might be somewhat self-congratulory however I was convinced overall.