MH370:Australian PM ’very confident’ signals are from Malaysian jet black boxes

Mangalore Today News Network

Perth, Apr 11, 2014:  Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday told a press conference in China he’s very confident that the signals received in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane are from the black boxes of MH370.

While on a official visit to China, Abbott said that Australian authorities are confident they know the location of the black box from the Malaysian jet that disappeared without a trace on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

If recovered, the plane’s black boxes could help solve the mystery of why Flight 370 veered so far off course.

The Australian agency overseeing the search said it would use some of the most sophisticated resources at its disposal on the small search area after a new acoustic signal, that could be from the plane’s black box recorders, was detected on Thursday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that he was confident that the latest signal, which was captured by a listening device buoy, indicated that the search was focused on the correct area.

"We have very much narrowed down the search area and we are very confident that the signals that we are detecting are from the black box on MH370," Abbott told reporters in Shanghai.

The latest ping seems to lend credence to four previous "pings" detected by a U.S. Navy "Towed Pinger Locator" (TPL) towed by Australia’s Ocean Shield vessel.

The mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared more than a month ago, has sparked the most expensive search and rescue operation in aviation history.

The black boxes record cockpit data and may provide answers about what happened to the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished on March 8 and flew thousands of kilometres off its Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing route.

But the batteries in the black boxes have already reached the end of their 30-day expected life, making efforts to swiftly locate them on the murky ocean floor all the more critical, Abbott said.

"We are now getting to the stage where the signal from what we are very confident is the black box is starting to fade and we are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires," he said.

Search efforts are now focused on three areas.

Aircraft and ships are combing over two large search zones, some 2,390 km (1,485 miles) northwest of Perth, for possible floating debris related to the crash.