MH370: New twist as independent research group reveals previous search ‘may have missed something’

There’s been a significant twist in the search for missing airliner MH370, with the world’s leading independent research group revealing a previous search may have missed something. The exhaustive study — led by aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey aided by fellow independent group members Bobby Ulich and Victor Iannello — examined hundreds of flight paths. The independent group is working to redefine a new search area of manageable size and one with a reasonable chance of success. The group has been investigating a potential hot spot at around 34.4 °S, which is just south of the area identified by UWA and about 1800km due west of Margaret River. They say that the previous search may have missed MH370 or the airliner pulled up from its dive in the last few minutes into a glide and crashed just outside the area searched. University of Western Australia oceanographer Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi believes MH370 is lying just outside the area already searched. Prof Pattiaratchi said UWA drift modelling indicated that the priority region to target would be between 33°S and 28°S along the 7th arc. The Malaysian government has indicated it is open to restarting the search if credible new information becomes available and high-tech search company Ocean Infinity has said it is willing to undertake a further mission on a “no find, no fee” basis. In the latest review, the scientists say they have scanned the Southern Indian Ocean for possible MH370 flight paths using a degree of precision they believe had not been applied previously. They are planning another paper on their finding which, they say, merits deeper investigation. Each had independently developed an MH370 flight model using the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft performance data, Rolls Royce Trent 892 fuel range and endurance data, Inmarsat satellite data and the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) weather data. “The goal was to find all possible MH370 flight routes that fit the data within appropriate tolerances,” a paper on the study said. “Additionally, the data would be checked using a set of correlations.” Using satellite data, the study assumed that the flight was automated and with no pilot inputs after it completed its turn south. It looked at seven parameters: start time, latitude and longitude, flight level, lateral navigation method, initial bearing and speed control mode. The study found three regions of interest but singled out one in particular at 34.4s near near the 7th Arc. There have been a number of potential crash sites put forward over the past five years but there has been no sign of the plane despite two extensive searches. CSIRO modeling raised hopes that the wreckage would be found during the second search by Ocean Infinity by identifying several hot spots. The failure to find the wreckage in a 120,000 sq km area swept by Ocean Infinity’s high-tech fleet of sophisticated underwater autonomous vehicles left experts grappling with where to look next. There have been several suggestions as experts rake over the data but little likely to be enough to convince the Malaysians to back another search.