BOAC
Originally Posted by RichardC10
The final handshake/ping data had to be released to convince everyone that the aeroplane was far South (or North) and definitely not in the South China Sea.
- please explain that assumption. Why could it not be ANYWHERE on the arcs? What specific information would be available to position the ping at the extremes?
My interpretation is that NTSB will be modelling the track of the aeroplane and comparing it to the ping data, as I have described previously. On the assumption that a constant heading (or a great circle) course at constant (or near constant) speed was maintained the ping data will rule out all but a small range of possible courses. We must presume that on those assumptions NTSB believe the track West of Australia is the post probable course. Of course, a complex course with changing headings and speeds could emulate the ping data, but given the search time available NTSB will have gone for the simplest solution.
A further puzzle - the Inmarsat man said that during the 7 hours the 'pings got longer', yet they started around the 40 and finished around the 40. Huh?
I don't think we can parse the verbal statements of various officials to get closer to the unreleased ping data.