MH370 - Expert says other than seat cushions and light debris, MH370 may never be found

The Malaysian Insider – 3 hours ago

An aviation expert has added to the pessimism surrounding the search for flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, saying the area's silty condition could make detection by sonar more difficult as the debris would have sunk further.

"If we ever find parts from MH370, it may be when seat-cushions or other lightweight debris washes up on the shore of Australia or Antarctica. Unfortunately, I think this is the most probable scenario," wrote David Learmount on aviation news portal Flightgobal.

He said in the case of the Air France flight 447 which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, investigators knew that the plane, an Airbus A330, had "belly-flopped into the water" with very low forward speed, making wreckage parts easier to surface.

"We have no idea how MH370 impacted the water, but if it hit the surface much faster than AF447 and with a nose-down attitude, the pieces would be smaller and thus more difficult to detect," he added.

With no sighting of any debris connected to the missing Boeing 777-200, Learmount said the current search area, the result of calculation of satellite data rather than because of any floating wreckage, may not be the right place to look.

He said in the case of the Air France crash, floating wreckage was discovered within a couple of days and its last known position was firmly established.

Even then, he added, it took two years to find the main wreck on the sea floor.

Learmount, while refusing to endorse any of the theories to explain the missing plane saga, which enters the 45th day today, said assuming that the pilot had deliberately wanted to make sure no one would ever find the plane, as some theories suggest, the flight path followed by MH370 "would be a brilliant plan".

Flight MH370 disappeared in the early hours of March 8 with 239 on board. A massive search operation by 20 nations led by Australia has yet to show any sign of the plane, other than the detection of signals believed to be those from the plane's flight recorders.

Experts have forwarded a string of theories on its route, with most agreeing that it had made a turn-back in the South China Sea.

One theory is that the plane could have flown around Indonesian airspace in its journey to the southern Indian Ocean, thus avoiding radar detection in neighbouring countries. – April 21, 2014.