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| Newly Detected Objects Draw Searchers for Malaysian Plane | Newly Detected Objects Draw Searchers for Malaysian Plane |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| SYDNEY, Australia — The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, said on Thursday that satellite imagery had detected floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean that might be parts of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished on March 8. | |
| Mr. Abbott and an Australian rescue organizer both counseled caution about the sighting, and the first Australian Air Force plane to fly over the projected location of the objects returned to base without spotting anything that fit the description – a reminder of how the hunt for the Boeing 777 could remain long, difficult and possibly fruitless. | |
| The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a message on Twitter that the P-3 Orion plane was “unable to locate debris. Cloud and rain limited visibility. Further aircraft to continue search.” | |
| A Navy P-8A Poseidon, a long-range aircraft used for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare, also reported that it had detected “no indication of debris” from the missing jet, Cmdr. William J. Marks, the spokesman for the United States Seventh Fleet, said in an email. | |
| Military long-distance surveillance planes from Australia, New Zealand and the United States are scheduled to continue flying out west from Western Australia to search a zone of the southern Indian Ocean for the possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. | |
| “The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search,” Mr. Abbott told Parliament in Canberra, the capital. “Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified.” | |
| Mr. Abbott said he had told Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, of the developments. | |
| Mr. Abbott cautioned that “we must keep in mind the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult, and it may turn out that they are not related to the search” for Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew, whose routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared. | |
| As well as the aerial searches, the St. Petersburg, a Norwegian-registered vessel on its way from South Africa to Australia, was redirected southward at the request of the Australian maritime search and rescue authorities two days ago and again Wednesday night to help search a patch of the southern Indian Ocean for any possible plane debris, Haakon Svane, the director for crisis management and contingency planning for the Norwegian Shipowners Association, said by telephone from Oslo. | |
| The crew of about 20, all Filipinos, used their eyes and the ship’s radar to search for debris. | |
| “I haven’t had any information that they’ve found something yet but the search will continue and we’re expecting this to take a little bit of time,” said Mr. Svane. | |
| John Young, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s emergency response division general manager, who is overseeing the ocean search off Australia, sought to moderate any hopes that parts of the plane might have been found. | |
| One object, he said, appeared to be around 24 meters, or 79 feet, long, but he could not describe the shape of the object, nor whether it had markings on it that would identify it. | |
| “On this occasion, the size and the fact there are a number located in the same area makes it worth looking at,” Mr. Young said at a news conference in Canberra. | |
| “This is a lead. It is probably the best lead we have right now,” he said. “They are credible sightings. The indications to me are of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water.” | “This is a lead. It is probably the best lead we have right now,” he said. “They are credible sightings. The indications to me are of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water.” |
| He said that part of the south Indian Ocean was liable to contain some large debris, such as containers lost overboard from merchant vessels. An Australian Air Force plane has been asked to drop marker buoys near the objects, which searchers can keep in sight to track the pieces as currents move them. Four other aircraft and several ships were rerouted to the area, Mr. Young said. | He said that part of the south Indian Ocean was liable to contain some large debris, such as containers lost overboard from merchant vessels. An Australian Air Force plane has been asked to drop marker buoys near the objects, which searchers can keep in sight to track the pieces as currents move them. Four other aircraft and several ships were rerouted to the area, Mr. Young said. |
| The area is four hours’ flying time from Perth for the Royal Australian Air Force Orion P-3, which allows the surveillance aircraft to spend two hours of search time at the site. The Royal Australian Navy ship Success was en route to the area but was some days away. “She is well equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from MH370,” the maritime authority said in a statement. | The area is four hours’ flying time from Perth for the Royal Australian Air Force Orion P-3, which allows the surveillance aircraft to spend two hours of search time at the site. The Royal Australian Navy ship Success was en route to the area but was some days away. “She is well equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from MH370,” the maritime authority said in a statement. |
| A merchant ship that responded to a call to examine the objects was expected to arrive in the area around 6 p.m. Sydney time, Mr. Young said. | A merchant ship that responded to a call to examine the objects was expected to arrive in the area around 6 p.m. Sydney time, Mr. Young said. |
| The satellite images, which were released to the public, are dated March 16. “The imagery has been progressively captured by satellites passing over various areas,” Air Commodore John McGarry of the Royal Australian Air Force said at the Canberra news conference. “The task of analyzing the imagery is quite difficult. It requires drawing down frames and going through it frame-by-frame. And the moment this imagery was discovered” to be a possible debris field, it was passed to the Australian maritime authority, Mr. McGarry said. | |
| After Mr. Abbott made his statement, Mr. Najib also issued a statement, saying that the two leaders had spoken about the sighting. But after nearly two weeks of almost daily hopes that brightened and then dimmed, the Malaysian prime minister urged caution. | |
| “Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related” to the missing plane, he said in the emailed statement. | “Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related” to the missing plane, he said in the emailed statement. |
| Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defense minister, said at a news conference in Malaysia later Thursday that the information from Australia had been “actually corroborated to a certain extent from other satellites.” He did not elaborate. | |
| An Australian official said the objects were about 2,500 kilometers, or 1,550 miles, southwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. | An Australian official said the objects were about 2,500 kilometers, or 1,550 miles, southwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. |
| In an email to reporters, Commander Marks, the spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, which has coordinated the American military contribution to the search, said he had “no information at this time about the Australian prime minister’s announcement.” | |
| On Wednesday, Commander Marks said, “If suspect debris were spotted, the aircraft would more than likely use the EO/IR camera at close range to identify exactly what was detected.” He was referring to a camera with electro-optical and infrared functions that can discern objects much more sharply than a naked human eye. The aircraft, he added, “could provide the necessary information to lead salvage ships to the wreckage.” | On Wednesday, Commander Marks said, “If suspect debris were spotted, the aircraft would more than likely use the EO/IR camera at close range to identify exactly what was detected.” He was referring to a camera with electro-optical and infrared functions that can discern objects much more sharply than a naked human eye. The aircraft, he added, “could provide the necessary information to lead salvage ships to the wreckage.” |
| Tim Farrar, a former systems engineer in California who advises companies on satellite and telecommunications issues, said the investigators appeared to have identified the broad area where the jet may have fallen into the southern Indian Ocean by building from the plane’s final “ping” signals to a satellite and using the bleak assumption that it was flying at an undeviating speed toward the Southern Ocean and, ultimately, Antarctica. | Tim Farrar, a former systems engineer in California who advises companies on satellite and telecommunications issues, said the investigators appeared to have identified the broad area where the jet may have fallen into the southern Indian Ocean by building from the plane’s final “ping” signals to a satellite and using the bleak assumption that it was flying at an undeviating speed toward the Southern Ocean and, ultimately, Antarctica. |
| “If debris from the plane is found in the predicted area, that suggests that the plane would not have been under active pilot control during the last few hours of flight,” Mr. Farrar said in an interview. “The assumption is if you’re going off into the Southern Ocean, presumably the pilots were incapacitated by a fire or something, and it was flying on autopilot until the fuel ran out. That’s sort of implicit in the Southern Ocean assumption.” | “If debris from the plane is found in the predicted area, that suggests that the plane would not have been under active pilot control during the last few hours of flight,” Mr. Farrar said in an interview. “The assumption is if you’re going off into the Southern Ocean, presumably the pilots were incapacitated by a fire or something, and it was flying on autopilot until the fuel ran out. That’s sort of implicit in the Southern Ocean assumption.” |
| As the possible break in what had been a fruitless search was being pursued, the Malaysian authorities were seeking help from the F.B.I. to help retrieve deleted computer data from a homemade flight simulator belonging to the captain of the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished 13 days ago, their first request for high-level American assistance in solving the mystery of the missing plane. | As the possible break in what had been a fruitless search was being pursued, the Malaysian authorities were seeking help from the F.B.I. to help retrieve deleted computer data from a homemade flight simulator belonging to the captain of the Malaysia Airlines jet that vanished 13 days ago, their first request for high-level American assistance in solving the mystery of the missing plane. |
| Malaysian and American investigators are homing in on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, though they have not excluded different possibilities. | Malaysian and American investigators are homing in on the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and his first officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, though they have not excluded different possibilities. |
| “It’s all focused on the pilots,” said a senior American law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his access to information about the investigation. “We, and they, have done everything we could on the passengers and haven’t found a thing.” | “It’s all focused on the pilots,” said a senior American law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing his access to information about the investigation. “We, and they, have done everything we could on the passengers and haven’t found a thing.” |
| The F.B.I. will relay the contents of the simulator’s hard drive to agents and analysts in the United States who specialize in retrieving deleted computer files. | The F.B.I. will relay the contents of the simulator’s hard drive to agents and analysts in the United States who specialize in retrieving deleted computer files. |
| “Right now, it’s the best chance we have of finding something,” the law enforcement official said. Unless the pilot used very sophisticated technology to erase files, he added, the F.B.I. will most likely be able to recover them. | “Right now, it’s the best chance we have of finding something,” the law enforcement official said. Unless the pilot used very sophisticated technology to erase files, he added, the F.B.I. will most likely be able to recover them. |
| More than two dozen nations are searching for any trace of the missing airliner, a challenge that has seemed to grow more complicated and more contentious with each passing day. | More than two dozen nations are searching for any trace of the missing airliner, a challenge that has seemed to grow more complicated and more contentious with each passing day. |
| As the geographic scope of the search has widened, Australia as well as China, India, France, the United States and other nations have offered naval ships, surveillance planes, satellites and experts to Malaysia, which is leading the effort. The investigators face a formidable set of mechanical, avionic and satellite communication puzzles. | As the geographic scope of the search has widened, Australia as well as China, India, France, the United States and other nations have offered naval ships, surveillance planes, satellites and experts to Malaysia, which is leading the effort. The investigators face a formidable set of mechanical, avionic and satellite communication puzzles. |
| Flight 370 was about 40 minutes into a six-hour trip to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur early on March 8 when it suddenly stopped communicating with air traffic controllers and turned far off course, cutting back across Peninsular Malaysia, over the Strait of Malacca and toward the Indian Ocean. Military radar tracked it for a while, but the operators did not seek to identify the plane or alert anyone. A satellite over the ocean picked up automated signals for several more hours — facts not released publicly for days after the plane vanished. | |
| The satellite “pings” led investigators to conclude that the plane had made its way to some point along one of two long, arcing corridors that together embrace 2.24 million square nautical miles of sea and land. | The satellite “pings” led investigators to conclude that the plane had made its way to some point along one of two long, arcing corridors that together embrace 2.24 million square nautical miles of sea and land. |
| Investigators have said the plane’s extraordinary diversion from its intended course was probably carried out by someone who had aviation experience. The Malaysian police, who found that Mr. Zaharie had built a flight simulator at his home, said Wednesday that some data had been erased from the simulator on Feb. 3, more than a month before the ill-fated flight. | Investigators have said the plane’s extraordinary diversion from its intended course was probably carried out by someone who had aviation experience. The Malaysian police, who found that Mr. Zaharie had built a flight simulator at his home, said Wednesday that some data had been erased from the simulator on Feb. 3, more than a month before the ill-fated flight. |
| Evidence suggests that whoever diverted the plane knew how to disable its communications systems and program course changes, and the data recorded in the pilot’s flight simulator may shed light on whether he was involved. But building and using flight simulators at home is a popular hobby among aviation enthusiasts, and the deletion of data from Mr. Zaharie’s simulator may have been routine housekeeping. Mr. Zaharie did not keep his simulator a secret: He posted a video on YouTube more than a year ago showing him sitting in front of it. | Evidence suggests that whoever diverted the plane knew how to disable its communications systems and program course changes, and the data recorded in the pilot’s flight simulator may shed light on whether he was involved. But building and using flight simulators at home is a popular hobby among aviation enthusiasts, and the deletion of data from Mr. Zaharie’s simulator may have been routine housekeeping. Mr. Zaharie did not keep his simulator a secret: He posted a video on YouTube more than a year ago showing him sitting in front of it. |
| The computer search could reveal impulses or plans linked to the plane’s disappearance. But the investigators could also conclude that Mr. Zaharie deleted files just as the average person does to clean out a computer. | The computer search could reveal impulses or plans linked to the plane’s disappearance. But the investigators could also conclude that Mr. Zaharie deleted files just as the average person does to clean out a computer. |