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| Sensors Are Dispatched In Search for Missing Jet | |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A crucial stage in the four-week search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane began on Friday as two military ships — one from Australia and the other from Britain — directed their sensor technology beneath the surface of the water and began the underwater phase of the hunt, hoping to pick up signs of wreckage lying at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. | |
| The ships searched a single 150-mile-long track of the ocean floor, starting from opposite ends and converging in the middle, officials said. Both vessels are equipped with listening devices that can hear any pings from the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders, or black boxes. | |
| The two ships — the H.M.S. Echo of the Royal Navy and the Ocean Shield of the Royal Australian Navy — were part of a deployment of 11 vessels involved in Friday’s search, about 1,050 miles off Perth, Australia. The ships were joined by 10 military planes and four civilian jets, which conducted surveillance flights over the search zone throughout the day. | The two ships — the H.M.S. Echo of the Royal Navy and the Ocean Shield of the Royal Australian Navy — were part of a deployment of 11 vessels involved in Friday’s search, about 1,050 miles off Perth, Australia. The ships were joined by 10 military planes and four civilian jets, which conducted surveillance flights over the search zone throughout the day. |
| The Ocean Shield is outfitted with a so-called towed pinger locator, a batwing-shaped device with a microphone that is towed below the vessel and can pick up any signals from Flight 370’s black boxes. | The Ocean Shield is outfitted with a so-called towed pinger locator, a batwing-shaped device with a microphone that is towed below the vessel and can pick up any signals from Flight 370’s black boxes. |
| A lot of hope is riding on the effectiveness of the underwater listening devices — and on the estimates of the data from analysts who have designated the search zone as the most likely location of the plane’s plunge into the ocean. | |
| The black boxes’ batteries, which have a life span of about a month, are expected to expire next week. When they die, so will the pinger signal, leaving the boxes to rest mutely on the seabed and making their discovery far more difficult. | The black boxes’ batteries, which have a life span of about a month, are expected to expire next week. When they die, so will the pinger signal, leaving the boxes to rest mutely on the seabed and making their discovery far more difficult. |
| Crews on the planes and other vessels continued to search for floating debris from the plane. If debris is found and confirmed, it might help searchers determine the plane’s point of entry into the ocean. | Crews on the planes and other vessels continued to search for floating debris from the plane. If debris is found and confirmed, it might help searchers determine the plane’s point of entry into the ocean. |
| But while search coordinators said there were some sightings of objects reported by ships on Friday, none of the items were linked to the missing plane. | But while search coordinators said there were some sightings of objects reported by ships on Friday, none of the items were linked to the missing plane. |
| “We’ll continue the surface search for a good deal more time because if we find a piece of wreckage on the surface, or some evidence on the surface that the aircraft went into the water nearby, that gives us a much better datum” to conduct the underwater search, said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the Australian official overseeing the coordination of the search. | “We’ll continue the surface search for a good deal more time because if we find a piece of wreckage on the surface, or some evidence on the surface that the aircraft went into the water nearby, that gives us a much better datum” to conduct the underwater search, said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the Australian official overseeing the coordination of the search. |
| “Instead of searching over an area the size of Ireland, we might be able to get into an area which is the size of the metropolitan area of Perth, for example,” he said during a news conference in Perth. | “Instead of searching over an area the size of Ireland, we might be able to get into an area which is the size of the metropolitan area of Perth, for example,” he said during a news conference in Perth. |
| Mr. Houston said there was still “a great possibility” that searchers might find debris from the plane floating on the ocean surface. | |
| On Thursday, the search zone was adjusted farther northward from the area where searchers had been exploring for the last week. | On Thursday, the search zone was adjusted farther northward from the area where searchers had been exploring for the last week. |
| The modification, Mr. Houston said Friday, was “based on continuing groundbreaking and multidisciplinary technical analysis” of satellite data and airplane performance. | The modification, Mr. Houston said Friday, was “based on continuing groundbreaking and multidisciplinary technical analysis” of satellite data and airplane performance. |
| “There is nothing unusual about this,” he added. “The search area will be adjusted on a semiregular basis.” | “There is nothing unusual about this,” he added. “The search area will be adjusted on a semiregular basis.” |