Plane search sub begins second mission
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A ROBOTIC submarine looking for the lost Malaysian jet began its second mission yesterday after cutting short its first because the waters where it was sent were too deep.
Monday’s planned 16-hour search lasted just six and none of the data collected by the US Navy’s Bluefin 21 submarine offered clues to the whereabouts of the plane.
The unmanned sub is programmed to hover 30 meters above the seabed, but it started searching on top of a patch that was deeper than the sub’s maximum operating depth of 4,500 meters, the search coordination center and the US Navy said.
A built-in safety feature returned the Bluefin to the surface and it was not damaged, they said. Data collected by the sub was later analyzed and no sign of the missing plane was found, the US Navy said.
Crews shifted the search zone away from the deepest water before sending the Bluefin back for yesterday’s mission.
Search authorities knew the primary search area for the plane was near the limit of the Bluefin’s dive capabilities. Deeper-diving submersibles have been evaluated, but none is yet available to help.
A safety margin would have been included in the Bluefin’s program to protect the device from harm if it went a bit deeper than its 4,500-meter limit, said Stefan Williams, a professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney.
The Bluefin can create a 3D sonar map of any debris on the ocean floor. But the search is more challenging in this area because the seabed is covered in silt that could potentially cover part of the plane.
“What they’re going to have to be looking for is contrast between hard objects, like bits of a fuselage, and that silty bottom,” Williams said.
“With the types of sonars they are using, if stuff is sitting up on top of the silt, say a wing was there, you could likely see that ... but small items might sink down into the silt and be covered and then it’s going to be a lot more challenging.”
Malaysia’s defense minister, Hishamuddin Hussein, yesterday pledged to reveal the full contents of the black boxes if they are found.
“It’s about finding out the truth,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “There is no question of it not being released.”
Up to 11 planes and as many ships were scouring a 62,000-square kilometer patch of ocean about 2,200 kilometers northwest of Perth in western Australia yesterday, hunting for any floating debris.
Meanwhile, officials are investigating an oil slick about 5,500 meters from the area where the last underwater sounds were detected. An oil sample has been sent back to Perth for analysis.
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