Mach2point7 said:Ugh, no this is absolutely not any kind of official document. Simply my rough interpretation to illustrate what had been implied at yesterday’s press conference by the authorities regarding the corridors. I thought I had made that clear in my original post, but will go back and edit.

Going to a dance, send three and fourpence... :ugh:

Turn was programmed, Acars still recorded change writes NYT
 

March 18

"Flight 370’s Flight Management System reported its status to the Acars, which in turn transmitted information back to a maintenance base, according to an American official. This shows that the reprogramming happened before the Acars stopped working. The Acars ceased to function about the same time that oral radio contact was lost and the airplane’s transponder also stopped, fueling suspicions that foul play was involved in the plane’s disappearance."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/wo...t.html?hp&_r=1

Arch-conspiracy theories like that by LX-GB1 and others are not helpful and show a complete lack of undertsanding and credibility of the poster. Please stop speculating if you don't understand aircraft and ATC architecture.

Suggesting that the 9/11 aircraft were remotely piloted singles posters out for their own stupidity. Suggesting that a standard FBW aircraft could be remotely hacked and flown is equally stupid. Comparison to a specially equipped 707 and 727, just on principle that they were made by the same company as this missing aircraft surely has to qualify for some sort of cretins' award?

Australian Search Map
 

Another view

http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/532...x2-700x467.jpg

media press conference starting now

Live TV | Astro Awani

That a long way to fly ( and back again) before even starting a search.

Last time Australia was involved in a search this far out (Tony Bullimore), a private Global Express? was flown from Melbourne to Perth and then used to search for the yacht. No charge was requested for the use of the aircraft. Admittedly they had exact coordinates due to a PLB being activated, however if I'm not mistaken there weren't that many SAR aircraft capable of those distances out of Australia. I believe the P3 has a range of some 5,500m which makes searching somewhat difficult with a circa 2000km search range excliding transit.

What a way to end it all... a one-way no return trip to Antartica but without enough fuel.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/532...x2-700x467.jpg

For those interested in the surface current in the Australian search region for the last 10 days.

Buoy 14908

(Sorry don't know how to post the pic)

The northern limit of the westward drift of the roaring forties seems to be around latitude 47S. So if debris is in the region, it may not get washed away to patagonia.

Expected confirmation of southern track
 

"Informed" sources suggest that data will be revealed later this week that last placed MH370 on an established Southern track. The Australians may be closer than they first thought.

In due course, I would also not be surprised if the CVR/DFDR circuit brakers had been pulled...

Actually John Young does a really good job of explaining the search area from 5:00-6:30 for the impatient

If you look at the video on the 'RCC MH370 search B-Roll'.
Its a 1080p video, quite interesting
At 0:25 you can see their asset tracker, ships and aircraft.
At 0:40 you see the data from the search area, no indication as to what it is returned from
At 1:12 it shows the search area labelled

RSCU102
A11
1500FT

Press conference
After reviewing evidence the investigating partners are sticking to the notion that transponder was "turned off" by someone onboard.

Malaysian govt stressing 25 international partners now onboard.
Malaysians and other should put politics and differences aside.
North and South vectors divided into 7 sections, each section 400x400 nautical miles.
Australia and Indonesia searching southern corridor the area is "huge" so they are seeking help from usa "satellites and radar" to help.
Still not discounting any possible causes.
Govt has been consistent in focusing on SAR, he says CNN and UK daily mail have raised the concern of the effects of internal Malaysian politics ( inference is that foreign media are wrong)
Conference continues but ABC oz have ceased live coverage

Interestingly this is a similar search area to a few years back when Abby Sunderland needed rescuing Australia sent a Qantas A330 Airbus.

Later picked up by a fishing vessel. Tony Bullimore was picked up by an Australian Navy ship. You need some pretty decent sea-going vessels to look at a resuce in this area not to mention as a platform for searching for a CVR.

Solo sailor Abby Sunderland alive, awaiting rescue by boat | News.com.au

http://resources1.news.com.au/images...search-map.jpg

I'm looking forward to some good translation of the questions & answers section of this press conference because I can hardly understand a word due to poor sound setup! I'm particularly interested in the 3 questions that caused some amusement (from a French reporter?)

@Wantion

There seems to be a Chinese registered vessel south of the Planned Search Area

HANG SHENG 1 - Cargo ship

Where are they going?

On the search maps the possible aircraft track has been provided by the NTSB. So do they know it went South?

Why havent the position of the pings prior to 0811 been released?

ana1936 thks for the maps.

Press conference
 

Malaysian press briefing complete with nothing new really:


Care assistants are with family members who have threatened hunger strike

Decrompression affecting the pilots has not been ruled out

Malaysia pilots not previusly flown in the 'southern corridoor'

The last part of the French question was the only one I could make out, "Do you have protection", presumably alluding to the personal risks of being the acting Transport Minister at the moment as opposed to birth control ;)

Satellite images and persistent contrails
 

Yesterday (17th) Tim Vasquez provided links to weather satellite imagery of the SE Indian Ocean area on the 8th March.

http://www.pprune.org/8382068-post4888.html

His images are from around 0000 - 0200 UTC and are around 2km resolution. However there are 250m pixel images available from around 0300 to 0500 UTC available on this site:

Rapid Response - LANCE - Near Real Time (Orbit Swath) Images

It's necessary to type the date in the small box at top left, click on the relevant thumbnail and select a resolution. There are two sets of images, firstly the Terra satellite with earliest coverage, unfortunately about 3-4 hours after the last 'ping'. So only a persistent contrail would be visible. To my untrained eye there's no visible contrails over the open sea areas. I expect the professionals have already enhanced these images as part of the search.

3hr 40min transit 2 hours on station, then return....
Search for missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 begins 3000km south-west of Perth | theage.com.au

@OXCART
 

@OXCART
Apparently NAN TONG

HANG SHENG 1 - Cargo ship - Details and current position MMSI 413501228