Even though Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is probably at the bottom of an ocean somewhere, and has been for 10 months, an Australian who is leading the search for the missing aircraft claims that it is “very likely” to be found and is expected to be “in good condition.”
Martin Dolan told 9News that he and his team are still confident they will find the missing aircraft, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board, even though it might take a bit more time.
As Dolan said:
“We are confident that if we are looking in the right area – as we think we are – we will find the aircraft – it’s just that it’s a very large area, so it’s going to take a long time. In this 60,000 square kilometres, it’s very likely we will find the aircraft, but we don’t know exactly where. We just have to cover that area thoroughly until we find the aircraft.”
Even though there’s still no sign of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Dolan spoke confidently about the search teams’ success so far, confirming that mapping had led to the discovery of previously unknown undersea features such as mountains, volcanos, and a rough, uneven sea floor.
To add to the existing three vessels, dispatched by both Malaysian and Australian authorities, to search for the aircraft, a fourth vessel, the Fugro Supporter, is set to join the search later this month.
While the existing three vessels, the Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and GO Phoenix, use sophisticated sonar systems attached to tow cables up to 6.2 miles long, the Fugro Supporter will have an autonomous underwater vehicle.
According to Dolan , “(It) can be programmed and cover areas much more thoroughly. It’s of course a lot slower. We need to go slow so that we can be 100 percent sure that we have covered that area totally.”
Surprisingly, the deep sea plays a vital role in preserving the Aircraft , “At the likely depth we think the aircraft is, around about 4,000 metres below the sea surface, there’s very little going on there… that’s likely to affect the components of the aircraft we are looking for. The second is that down there there’s very little or no oxygen, so there’s not anything in the way of oxidisation or decay going on with aircraft parts.”
