Canberra, Australia: Shortly after the missing Malaysian airliner disappeared from radar, airline officials on the ground tried repeatedly to call the crew of the Boeing 777 using a satellite phone that might have left clues to the jet’s flight path.
Now an analysis of those failed attempts to reach Flight 370 could alter the search for the plane.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said Thursday that the sprawling search area in the southern Indian Ocean may be extended farther south based on the new analysis, which suggests that the aircraft turned that direction earlier than previously believed.
Investigators have long been aware of the calls but only recently developed methods to analyze the phone data for hints about the plane’s final hours. It was through a similar analysis of satellite data from the plane’s jet engine transmitters that investigators were able to define the current search area.
Malaysia Airlines ground staff tried twice to call the crew. The new analysis applies to satellite data from the first call.
By the time the calls were attempted, the plane had become invisible to civilian radar and gone silent. It flew west past Sumatra and beyond the range of Malaysian military radar.
The analysis suggested the jet was already flying south when the first phone call was attempted, less than 20 minutes after the plane dropped off military radar.
28/08/14 Rod McGuirk/The State
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Now an analysis of those failed attempts to reach Flight 370 could alter the search for the plane.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said Thursday that the sprawling search area in the southern Indian Ocean may be extended farther south based on the new analysis, which suggests that the aircraft turned that direction earlier than previously believed.
Investigators have long been aware of the calls but only recently developed methods to analyze the phone data for hints about the plane’s final hours. It was through a similar analysis of satellite data from the plane’s jet engine transmitters that investigators were able to define the current search area.
Malaysia Airlines ground staff tried twice to call the crew. The new analysis applies to satellite data from the first call.
By the time the calls were attempted, the plane had become invisible to civilian radar and gone silent. It flew west past Sumatra and beyond the range of Malaysian military radar.
The analysis suggested the jet was already flying south when the first phone call was attempted, less than 20 minutes after the plane dropped off military radar.
28/08/14 Rod McGuirk/The State
