MH370 - Missing

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Grahame Hutchison

Interesting flight plan for VH-TGG yesterday - Depart Perth, fly for 11 hours and only make two left turns, then return to Perth - all the time keeping your eyes peeled.

The flight plan would have the temporary restricted area as the turning point, movements within that area would not be planned as such but likely to the parallel runs up to 300-400km long.

[Greg Hyde]

Why aren't drones being used as part of the search effort ?

[MarkR]

There are none suitable for the task, with the ADF drones requiring a base station within 200km. The Global Hawk is not suitable for marine deployment, while its marine derivative is still in testing - the Talon.

[Stuart Trevena]

Hi All,

Given that time over search area is very limited to a few hours for the Orions, which can't be Air to Air Refuelled, why doesn't Qantas offer a B747-400ER for a few days with air observers onboard?

This way they could get at least 5 hours over target, based on 4 hours to / From Target = 8 hours + 5 hours search = 13 hours Total.

Just fill the bastard up with fuel, and you might just get 15-17 hours flying on 2 engines over search area.

Secondly, i hope someone at Defence ensures that any future aircraft, eg the P8 or the Wedgetail has the capability of Air to Air Refuelling, otherwise the KC30's have little use, if just for the Hornets!!

Also, why aren't the KC30's tasked for this job as well, given their range??

Stuart

[Ash W]

Probably for the same reason that Qantas doesn't fly Orions. Different aircraft, different rolls. Orion, although based on a passenger a/c can fly nice and low and nice and slow, thus making it ideal as a search a/c. No something a 747 can do all that easy. Also the windows on a 747 are not really designed for searching the sea too.

Same too with the KC30's.

[Greg Hyde]

The Orion was based on the Lockheed Electra which was used by Qantas in 1960's.

The Orion is a good platform as it can fly low (100ft) and slow and can operate on 3 engines to reduce fuel usage. You may notice in some of the news reports that the crew are sitting with their heads in blisters so that they can see over the side on the aircraft.

Does anyone know how much daylight is available in the search area ? (Dawn to Sunset) ?

All the sea-state determines the searchers ability to visually pick-up debris. (ie: Rough seas, debris could be hiding in the troughs of waves)

Still a needle in a smaller haystack

[Jason H]

Originally Posted by Greg Hyde

Does anyone know how much daylight is available in the search area ? (Dawn to Sunset) ?

According to NAIPS at 44S 091E near the search area, it's 2332z to 1233z hours of daylight; so 0735 to 2033 WST.

[Greg Hyde]

thanks Jason,

ABCNEWS24 is reporting that a French satellite has also picked up debris in the search area.

If only you had a geostationary (stays in one spot relative to the earth) satellite with a live hi-res video feed with GPS co-ords which could be feed directly to search aircraft and shipping.

What sort of range does the MH90 on HMAS Success have ?

[Dennis F]

MH90 has a theoretical range of 800km. However, I would assume HMAS crew won't launch the chopper until they are within 100 or 200km of the search zone. Otherwise, the chopper wont have sufficient fuel to comb through the area and return to the ship.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by Greg Hyde

The Orion is a good platform as it can fly low (100ft) and slow and can operate on 3 engines to reduce fuel usage. You may notice in some of the news reports that the crew are sitting with their heads in blisters so that they can see over the side on the aircraft.

Does anyone know how much daylight is available in the search area ? (Dawn to Sunset) ?

All the sea-state determines the searchers ability to visually pick-up debris. (ie: Rough seas, debris could be hiding in the troughs of waves)

Still a needle in a smaller haystack

The P3 will operate on two engines in marine mode, which allows around 17 hours endurance (the kiwis did 20.5 hrs in one). They are not using that in this search as the shorter cycles allow the crew to be used daily not to mention the 2000km transit would be a waste of time on two.