Indian Ocean poses daunting challenge in search for missing Malaysia plane

Wardell, Jane. "Indian Ocean Poses Daunting Challenge in Search for Missing Malaysia Plane." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 30 Oct. 0000. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/indian-ocean-poses-daunting-challenge-search-missing-malaysia-031223287--sector.html;_ylt=AwrBEiJMLSZTBDcABRvQtDMD


The southern Indian Ocean, where investigators suspect missing Malaysia airline flight MH370 may have come down, is one place where a commercial airliner can crash without a ship spotting it, a radar plotting it or even a satellite picking it up. So far, search operations by navies and aircraft from more than a dozen nations have failed to find even a trace of Flight MH370, which went missing a week ago after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing and diverting from its intended flight path. With an estimated four hours fuel left when last spotted by radar off Malaysia's northwest coast, the plane could have flown a further 2,200 miles or so, assuming normal cruising speed and altitude. A potential crash site around 1,600 km (1,000 miles) northwest or west of the Australian coast would be well within the search and rescue area of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), one of the largest in the world. An AMSA spokesman said no request for assistance had been received from Malaysia as of Sunday.